Music City has some good stuff
Nashville’s 2018 has been productive so far.
They all start in a similar spot – with a melody, a riff or a rhyme – but from there, Nashville music-makers take their songs in all sorts of directions. ❚ The best songs to emerge from Nasvhille in the first half of 2018 include country hits, of course, but also windows-down rap anthems, indie-rock rave ups, murder ballads and freewheeling instrumental jams. ❚ Music City is booming, and its soundtrack goes all over the map. Here, Nashville’s best tracks of 2018 so far. Dave’s list
❚ Liza Anne, “Small Talks” (from “Fine But Dying”) She’s had her fill of trivial conversation – “Small talk’s too much, somebody get me out of here!” – but through two and a half minutes of restless indie rock, Liza Anne creates a scruffy pop gem well worth your attention.
❚ Jack White, “Corporation” (from “Boarding House Reach”)
“Who’s with me?!?” White extolled listeners to go on a bizarre, genre-obliterating journey with his boldest solo album yet, and funky experimental jams like “Corporation” get to the heart of his mission.
❚ Kacey Musgraves, “Mother” (from “Golden Hour”)
An acid trip inspired one of the most lucid, spare – and perhaps the best – tracks on Musgraves’ new album. “Wish we didn’t live so far from each other,” she sings over contemplative piano. “I’m just sitting here thinking ’bout the time that’s slipping and missing my mother.”
❚ Brian Brown, “The Dreamer’s Anthem” (from “Journey”)
“I’m’a keep on doing wrong ’til I get right,” the rising Nashville rap artist sings on this jazz-inflected summer jam. We say he’s definitely onto something here, with introspective lyrics and a breezy vibe reminiscent of Kendrick Lamar’s “Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City.”
❚ Bantug, “Our Apartment”
(from “Red”)
This buzzworthy track from Nashville indie-pop standout Bantug is a 21st-century snapshot of young domestic bliss – “And everything we wanted is here in our apartment,” she croons over frosty synthesizer and jangly electric guitar.
❚ Jessie Baylin, “Supermoon” (from “Strawberry Wind”)
A dreamy, ’60s-styled standout from Baylin’s new children’s album, produced by Richard Swift. The song was inspired by the night sky views Baylin and her family have from their hilltop home outside of Nashville.
❚ Joe Pisapia, “There But For the Grace of God I Go” (from “Connection”)
This lush, Beatles-esque ballad is a call for compassion in its tale of a man living on the streets. “There in his eyes/a humanness goes unrecognized,” Pisapia expresses via an arresting melody.
❚ Ron Gallo, “Really Nice
Guys” (from “Really Nice
Guys”)
A sharp and humorous garagerock gem that resonates with any music-maker who’s used to sharing the stage with other fledgling acts. “They’re really nice guys,” Gallo belts. “But when they start playing, I wanna rip out my eyes.”
Juli’s list
❚ Tommy Emmanuel feat. Jerry Douglas, “Purple Haze” (from “Accomplice One”) Two of the most talented musicians on this planet deliver a dizzying, guitar-and-dobro take on a Jimi Hendrix classic.
❚ Ashley McBryde, “American Scandal” (from “Girl Going Nowhere”)
McBryde’s debut album is one of the strongest country records of the year, and this love song is its highlight.
❚ John Prine, “When I Get to Heaven” (from “The Tree of Forgiveness”)
The masterful songwriter is at his Priniest on his first album of new material in more than a decade. His plans for the afterlife – “I’m gonna have a cocktail: vodka and ginger ale” – had us singing (and sipping) along. ❚ Gretchen Peters, “Wichita” (from “Dancing With the Beast”) When Peters and Ben Glover wrote murder ballad “Blackbirds,” she described the process as similar to solving a crime. The singer-songwriter-detective duo isa tit again with the grim “Wichita,” a song told from a 12-year-old girl’s point of view.
❚ Reality Something, “Hate Yourself ” (from “Life Noise”) “Our love is an open sore,” Elana Franklin sings on “Hate Yourself,” the lead single from Reality Something’s first fulllength album. “I need a place to scream.” 1990s alt-rock vibes abound on this song – which the Nashville foursome released on Valentine’s Day – and it’s impossible not to screamsing along with the chorus.
❚ Joshua Hedley, “Mr. Jukebox” (from “Mr. Jukebox”) The toe-tapping title track of Hedley’s Third Man debut sounds like a country classic from the 1960s. We’d expect nothing less from a man who’s got the chord changes to the intro of Merle Haggard’s “Swinging Doors” tattooed on his knuckles.
❚ Brandi Carlile, “The Joke” (from “By the Way, I Forgive You”)
Carlile’s not based in Nashville, but she recorded this powerful song at Studio A with Dave Cobb, so we’re going to claim it. The stirring strings were arranged by one of her heroes, Paul Buckmaster, just months before his death last November.
❚ Old Crow Medicine Show, “Whirlwind” (from “Volunteer”)
In this wistful song, Old Crow follows a couple through “the worst years and the best,” but “Whirlwind” could just as easily describe the string band’s
20-year history.
❚ Kim Richey, “Chase Wild Horses” (from “Edgeland”) Perhaps one year Richey will record a bad song; 2018 is not that year. “Edgeland” is full of alt-country gems, and “Chase Wild Horses” – about a person who’s “all done running from the way (she) was before” – shines the brightest.
❚ Kyshona Armstrong, “The Riverside (Acoustic)”
This soulful, acoustic version of her 2014 song “The Riverside” only makes us more excit-
ed for Armstrong’s next album, which will, according to her Kickstarter campaign, share the stories of “those who feel silenced, unheard and forgotten.”
❚ Del McCoury Band, “I Fell in Love” (from “Del McCoury Still Sings Bluegrass”)
This irrepressible take on Carlene Carter’s 1990 country hit is proof that bluegrass legend McCoury can and should sing whatever he damn well pleases.
❚ Brandy Zdan, “Run Away” (from “Secretear”)
I first heard Zdan several years ago when she was a self-described “utility player” with Texas alt-country band The Trishas. Now she’s in Nashville, and the Lone Star State’s loss is our indie rock gain.
Cindy’s list
❚ Chris Janson, “Drunk Girl,” (from “Everybody”)
“Drunk Girl” is a timely, poignant piano ballad that Janson penned with top country songwriters Tom Douglas and Scooter Carusoe. Written from a father’s perspective well before the #MeToo movement, “Drunk Girl” emphasizes the importance of treating women with integrity and respect.
❚ Luke Bryan, “Most People are Good” (from “What Makes You Country”)
In a time when mass shootings and hateful rhetoric often populate the news cycle, Bryan released this thoughtful, hopeful reminder that positives are everywhere. You only need to turn off the screen and look for them.
❚ For King & Country, “joy.” (from “Burn the Ships,” out Oct. 5)
Members of For King & Country spent one year crafting “joy.,” an infectious, upbeat anthem about choosing to be joyful in the face of hardship. The video, co-starring Candace Cameron Bure, is also noteworthy – a
1960s mini-movie that showcases the Grammy-winning Smallbone brothers at their creative best.
❚ Scotty McCreery, “5 More Minutes” (from “Seasons Change”)
McCreery needed a song he could hang his career on, and country music fans always love a personal, heartfelt dose of nostalgia. He co-wrote “5 More Minutes” in 2015, two weeks after losing his grandfather. The song explores the passage of time through the recollection of precious memories.
❚ Cam, “Diane” (album still pending)
This harmony-rich female cheating song is Cam’s answer to Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.” “Diane” is a brilliant showcase for the emotion, range and intricacies in Cam’s voice and provides her perspective on how painful it might be to be “Jolene” in Parton’s famous song.
❚ Kip Moore, “Last Shot” (Slowheart)
Moore has one of the most distinct, passionate and soulful voices on country radio, and it’s on full display in this song. With lyrics including “If you were my last breath, I’d just wanna hold ya,” “Last Shot” is a love song in which Moore describes the depth of his feelings for someone while intentionally avoiding the four-letter “L” word.
❚ Sugarland feat. Taylor Swift, “Babe” (from “Bigger”) Leave it to Sugarland to rope Swift back into country music. “Babe” is a catchy, clever, popleaning break-up song in which both a wife (Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles) and a mistress (Swift) dump the same man for his relationship with the other woman.
❚ David Lee Murphy and Kenny Chesney, “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright” (from “No Zip Code”)
“Everything’s Gonna Be Alright” is a much-needed singalong reminder that this too shall pass. Produced by Chesney, the song is Murphy’s first No. 1 hit in 23 years. ❚ Dan + Shay, “Tequila” (from “Dan + Shay”)
“Tequila,” Dan + Shay‘s first multiweek No. 1 hit, is a contemporary spin on an old-fashioned country heartbreak song. An easily relatable story song for most, “Tequila” is one of only 48 songs released in 2018 to go platinum and is among the five most-streamed country songs of the year.
❚ Carrie Underwood, “Cry Pretty” (from “Cry Pretty,” out Sept. 14)
Following her much-publicized tumble down the stairs, “Cry Pretty” is Underwood’s soaring, rock-inspired return to country radio. The song provides her the opportunity to be emotionally vulnerable while highlighting the strength and dexterity of her unmistakable voice.
❚ Jason Aldean feat. Miranda Lambert, “Drowns the Whiskey” (from “Rearview Town”) When two of country music’s hottest pair for an alcoholfueled heartbreak song, their star power is sure to attract attention. However, it’s the thoughtful songwriting, heavy use of steel guitar and the singers’ vocal blend that elevates “Drowns the Whiskey” above the celebrity attached to those singing it.