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:
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"All Broken Hearts Break Differently," Mary Chapin Carpenter
Singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter's newly released The Dirt And The Stars, her first album of all new material since 2016's The Things That We Are Made Of, is yet another reminder of the Grammy-winning artist's incomparable talent. The gorgeous and stirring "All Broken Hearts Break Differently" is one of many standouts on the 11-track album, produced by Ethan Johns and recorded entirely live at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios in Bath, in southwest England.
-- Bobbie Jean Sawyer
"Simple Math," Kathleen Edwards
Kathleen Edwards looks beyond romantic relationships on "Simple Math," an ode to the power of childhood friendships.
"I give full credit to my childhood best friend for helping me finish the story behind 'love is simple math,' a line I had churning in my mind for a long time, with no idea where to place it," Edwards says in a press release. "We reconnected after a long period of not being in contact, but we picked up where we left off and she reminded me of so many beautiful things about friendship and how powerful childhood love is."
"Simple Math" is the latest release from Edwards' forthcoming album Total Freedom (out August 14).
-- Bobbie Jean Sawyer
"Me About Me," RaeLynn
Amazing things happen when current stars with an ear for radio-friendly hits embrace the catchy melodies and widely relatable stories that made '90s country special. Examples of this include Luke Combs' entire career, Luke Bryan's refreshingly earnest "Build Me a Daddy" and new RaeLynn song "Me About Me."
RaeLynn's always told great stories that should appeal to fans of both throwback sounds and the pop end of the mainstream spectrum, and she's upped the ante by co-writing her latest song with rising songwriter Jeff Garrison and the great Bob DiPiero. Even if you don't know DiPiero's name, you've heard his work, dating back to the Oak Ridge Boys' 1983 chart-topper "American Made" and including George Strait's "Cowboys Like Us," Pam Tillis' "Cleopatra, Queen of Denial" and Shenandoah's "The Church on Cumberland Road."
The song deals with a sad reality-- Sometimes, one romantic partner puts in way more effort than the other.
"We were talking about past relationships, and I told her about a situation with an ex where I knew everything about him, but he never asked me about me," says RaeLynn in a press release. "It made me realize that I wasn't alone, a lot of people have probably had the experience of a relationship being one-sided like that."
"Me About Me" will appear on RaeLynn's Baytown EP (out Aug. 14 on Round Here Records).
-- Bobby Moore
"Beers and Sunshine," Darius Rucker
Darius Rucker planned on waiting a little while longer for his first country single since 2018's "For the First Time," but like most of us, his 2020 plans changed drastically because of COVID-19.
To make the best of a situation that's unprecedented in his lifetime, Rucker worked via Zoom chats with producer Ross Copperman co-writers Josh Osborne and J.T. Harding to create "Beers and Sunshine." It's a song about the bright side of spending way more time at home during the summer.
"It's certainly been a hard year so far with a lot of heaviness around us constantly," the three-time GRAMMY award winner shared in a press release. "Like it says in the song, I don't know how we fix any of these big, real issues that we're facing, but while we work through this time I think it's important that we find the silver lining where we can really enjoy the little moments and the simple joys of time spent together with friends and family."
--Bobby Moore
"I've Got It Made," Josh Turner and John Anderson
Josh Turner lends his deep baritone voice to some of his favorite tunes by such heroes as Randy Travis, George Strait and John Anderson on forthcoming album Country State of Mind (out Aug. 21 via MCA Nashville).
To honor Anderson, Turner landed a duet with the man himself. The kindred spirits slap a shiny, new coat of paint on Anderson's 1993 hit "I've Got It Made."
Anderson's classic about appreciating the simpler things in life was written by Max D. Barnes, a frequent collaborator of Vern Gosdin and the lyricist behind George Jones' "Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes" and Keith Whitley's "Ten Feet Away."
--Bobby Moore
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