Every week, the Wide Open Country team rounds up its favorite newly-released country, folk, bluegrass and Americana songs for the Six Pack.
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This week's playlist includes Michelle Rivers' love letter to the American West, Luke Combs' contribution to a John Anderson tribute album and the latest teaser of Kelsea Ballerini's forthcoming album, Subject to Change.
Here are six crucial listens.
"Going West," Michelle Rivers
Montana-based artist Michelle Rivers backs up the tried-and-true argument that there's plenty of fresh and rootsy country music to be found with Chasing Somewhere: an album that, as a press release puts it, is "as broad, wild and beautiful as the American West it celebrates."
On standout track "Going West," a stacked list of session players --highlighted by Union Station bassist Barry Bales, Dobro and slide guitar innovator Al Perkins and award-winning fiddler Jenee Fleenor-- further elevate Rivers' soaring vocal delivery and arresting way with words.
-- Bobby Moore
"Drunk Enough," Christopher Seymore
Texas-based singer-songwriter Christoper Seymore's "Drunk Enough" would sound at home during Honky Tonk Tuesday Nights at the American Legion in East Nashville-- not that one city or scene has the market cornered on weekly events that amplify current acts informed by country music's varied past.
Fiddle and steel guitar accompaniment gets guided along by an infectious bass groove, setting the mood for a whiskey-soaked tale of drinking to forget about lost love.
-- Bobby Moore
"Aesop Mountain," Andy Thorn
In Nov. 2021, Leftover Salmon's Andy Thorn gained widespread attention with a video of a feral fox stopping in its tracks to hear a clawhammer banjo tune. A studio recording of that song, "Aesop Mountain," previews Songs of the Sunrise Fox, a forthcoming album with a painting of Thorn and his canine companion as its cover art.
-- Bobby Moore
"What Makes a Man," Ben Rector & Thomas Rhett
Ben Rector may best be known for his indie-pop music, so this new collaboration with Thomas Rhett is a welcome surprise for country fans. The song is a stunningly personal statement of parenthood, looking back to Rector's father before him and speculating how his children will remember him down the line. It's something that also hits home for Rhett as the father of four daughters who strives to be the best dad he can be. This new song definitely pulled at my heartstrings as I listened to both incredible performers open up about such an emotional journey.
Rhett said in a statement, "I've always been a fan of Ben's, so when he reached out wanting to collaborate, I jumped at the opportunity to work with him. He's an incredible artist, writer and performer and this song hit me as something that I could immediately connect to."
-- Courtney Fox
"THE LITTLE THINGS," Kelsea Ballerini
Every new song Kelsea Ballerini releases gets me more and more excited about her upcoming new album, Subject to Change. It's a '90s-inspired country bop that will definitely be one of the big songs of what's remaining of summer. It's breezy, fun, upbeat and the perfect reminder to feel excited about the little things in life. Ballerini sings about how she once thought she knew what love was, but it's actually the little things, not the romantic notions like kissing in the rain, that make life so beautiful.
"But it's when we're in a crowded room, put your hand on my back/ And waiting on me in the morning with my coffee black/ Back to the basics 'cause they're bigger than they seem, yeah/ Give me that typical, simple love, it's the little things"
-- Courtney Fox
"Seminole Wind," Luke Combs
To say there's a wide variety of artists included on Something Borrowed, Something New: A Tribute to John Anderson is an understatement. Eric Church, John Prine, Brothers Osborne, Ashley McBryde... this tribute album is stacked.
Luke Combs' cover of "Seminole Wind" in particular stopped me in my tracks. As far as I'm concerned, Combs really can't do any wrong, and he proved to be the perfect voice to breathe new life into this standout '90s country song from Anderson's 1992 album of the same name. Unfortunately, the fiddle accompaniment that was such a fun addition to the original got omitted, but Combs' voice is so good you easily forget about it.
-- Courtney Fox
