Each week the Wide Open Country staff rounds up our favorite newly released country and Americana songs. Here are five new songs we can't stop listening to this week:
Videos by Wide Open Country
"Shut Up and Sing," Brent Cobb
Artists the caliber of Eric Church, The Chicks and Taylor Swift have challenged the notion that popular acts should mince their words because both sides of the political aisle buy concert tickets and stream albums. Those superstars have yet to hit the nail on the head in song quite as effectively as Brent Cobb, whose new track "Shut Up and Sing" addresses a phrase often suggested behind the scenes.
The Georgia-born singer-songwriter suggests that his peers "take these binders off our eyes and pull the cotton from our ears" at a time when the headlines are particularly hideous, regardless of how you vote or whether or not you think singers with differing views than yours should speak their minds.
--Bobby Moore
"She's a Rainbow," Molly Tuttle
Great songs like the Rolling Stones' "She's a Rainbow" hold up across 50-plus years of popular culture and leap across made-up genre barriers without a hitch. Molly Tuttle proves as much on .. But I'd Rather Be With You, a bluegrass master's celebration of not just the Stones but also Harry Styles, Rancid, FKA Twigs and other disparate acts.
We spotlight "She's a Rainbow" under the assumption that it's more universally known than Rancid's back catalog, but really, you don't have to be familiar with every song to appreciate Tuttle's personal touch on everything from street punk to mainstream pop.
--Bobby Moore
"South Gotta Change," Adia Victoria
Nashville singer-songwriter Adia Victoria's "South Gotta Change," produced by T Bone Burnett, was inspired by the life and legacy of Congressman John Lewis, an American hero and Civil Rights legend who was beaten by police during a landmark 1965 march in Selma, Alabama. Lewis passed away in July after a battle with cancer.
"'South Gotta Change' is a prayer, an affirmation, and a battle cry all at once," Victoria said in a statement. "It is a promise to engage in the kind of 'good trouble' John Lewis understood necessary to form a more perfect union. No other place embodies the American experiment with the precision of the South. It is home to both unspeakable horror and unshakable faith. It is up to us, those who are blessed enough to be Southern, to take up the mantle Brother Lewis left us. As the old saying goes, 'As the South goes, so goes the nation.'"
Victoria's latest album, Silences, produced by Aaron Dessner of The National, was released last year.
-- Bobbie Jean Sawyer
"Old Swingin' Bell," Skyway Man
Singer, songwriter and producer Skyway Man (James Wallace) delivers a cosmic country-folk message of love and unity on "Old Swingin' Bell," a tune inspired by the late gospel legend and artist Reverend Anderson Johnson's song "Jesus Loves Us All."
Skyway Man's forthcoming album The World Only Ends When You Die will be released on Oct. 23.
-- Bobbie Jean Sawyer
"I Could Fall For You," Heidi Newfield feat. Jim Lauderdale
Heidi Newfield chronicles a reluctant romance on "I Could Fall For U," a honky tonk barn burner featuring Jim Lauderdale. Newfield's new album The Barfly Sessions features collaborations with Delbert McClinton, Randy Houser and more.
-- Bobbie Jean Sawyer
Now Watch: Willie Nelson's Children Are Carrying On His Legacy
https://rumble.com/embed/u7gve.v5xmfb/
