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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"Back On the Bottle," Brothers Osborne
Brothers Osborne continue to prove themselves to be one of modern country's saving graces and providers of barn-burner honky tonk jams. Like a revved up version of The Hag's "Swinging Doors," the boys hide a heartache with a heavy dose of swagger on "Back on the Bottle" (co-written with Hayes Carll). The song is from the duo's recently released album Skeletons.
-- Bobbie Jean Sawyer
"Hold On," Yola
On the Dave Cobb-produced "Hold On," country sensation Yola delivers an uplifting message about the importance of visibility, featuring Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Sheryl Crow and Jason Isbell.
"'Hold On' is a conversation between me and the next generation of young black girls," Yola says in a press release. "My mother's advice would always stress caution, that all that glitters isn't gold, and that my black female role models on TV are probably having a hard time. She warned me that I should rethink my calling to be a writer and a singer. . . but to me that was all the more reason I should take up this space. 'Hold On' is asking the next gen to take up space, to be visible and to show what it looks to be young, gifted and black."
"Hold On" was recorded at the historic RCA Studio A. Yola released her album Walk Through Fire in 2019.
-- Bobbie Jean Sawyer
"Better Than We Found It," Maren Morris
Maren Morris' powerful new single "Better Than We Found It" is capable of opening up something in all of us. What will the world look like if we don't change it for the better together? Morris explained to Rolling Stone that her new song is most definitely a protest song.
"I wanted to write something to address exactly how I feel right now, and this came together pretty quickly," Morris said of the ballad. "It's a protest song. It's the most American thing to protest and protest songs have been so embedded in American culture: Bob Dylan, Nina Simone. I think the world right now is sort of in a perpetual mourning period and I wanted to have a song that had weight but also had hope. I still have hope for this country and for the future of it, and as a new mother I wanted to promise my son that I'm going to do everything in my power to leave this world better than the one I came into and the one I see right now."
-- Courtney Campbell
"Hate You Like I Love You," Granger Smith
Granger Smith's wrote every song on his recently released album Country Things Vol. 1. Smith has a knack for writing songs that are incredibly easy to sing along with and "Hate You Like I Love You" is no different. It's a breakup song that we can all relate to, showcasing how difficult it is to transform your love into hate after the relationship ends.
-- Courtney Campbell
"Unchained Melody," The Unrighteous Brothers (Orville Peck and Paul Cauthen)
Powerhouse vocalists and independent spirits Orville Peck and Paul Cauthen recreated one of the great studio creations in pop history when they recorded the Righteous Brothers' "Unchained Melody" for a Record Store Day release. It's an even more interesting collection of genre-defiant talents when you factor in that Atlanta music mainstay Butch Walker's one of the co-producers.
It's an interesting and exciting new step from both Unrighteous Brothers. Peck's gone from drumming for punk band Nu Sensae to collaborating with Shania Twain, while Cauthen's still riding high off "Cocaine Country Dancing."
-- Bobby Moore
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