Every week, the Wide Open Country team rounds up our favorite newly released country, folk, bluegrass and Americana songs. Here are six songs we currently have on repeat.
Videos by Wide Open Country
"Girl, Where You From?," Hannah Juanita
On "Girl, Where You From?," Hannah Juanita reminisces fondly about fish-out-of-water experiences from when she first ventured outside of the Bible Belt as a young adult.
"As the saying goes, 'you get more bees with honey.' For me, the Southern charm that I naturally possessed was more valuable than any money I could have had while traveling and making my own way in the world," she shared in a press release. "I was brought up to be a warm and cordial person- you oughta meet my mama. We're from Tennessee, the Volunteer State, where we are proud of being the friendliest people you'll ever meet. So I never really had much trouble going to new places or meeting new folks, even all alone, because I was friendly and carried that 'Southern hospitality' that everyone always talks about."
Juanita recorded the song with fellow country traditionalist Mose Wilson on guitar plus such elite Nashville pickers as bassist Dennis Crouch (Loretta Lynn, Allison Krauss & Robert Plant), fiddler Billy Contreras (Béla Fleck, Sierra Ferrell, Riley Downing) and dobro player Pat Lyons (Colter Wall, Dustin Lynch).
-- Bobby Moore
"Sweet Little Girl," Kelsey Waldon
The traditional country instrumentation on new Kelsey Waldon song "Sweet Little Girl" -- driven by pedal steel guitarist Brett Resnick and guest fiddler Aubrey Richmond-- sounds more ethereal than retro thanks to Waldon's self-reflective wordplay and the genre boundary-shattering production work of Shooter Jennings.
"'Sweet Little Girl' is in part about me, but perhaps it's also about you," Waldon shared in a press release. "It's about the rage and unrest inside during a process to find healing. It's simply just about a gal who is trying to find her way back 'home.'"
It's the first song shared off of No Regular Dog (out Aug. 12 via Oh Boy Records).
-- Bobby Moore
"In Our Blood," Dylan Scott and Jimmie Allen
Dylan Scott has a new album coming up in August, Livin' My Best Life. If his new collaboration with Jimmie Allen indicates what's coming, I'm totally on board. Written by Matt McGinn, David Fanning and Brad Rempel, the song is all about how regardless of your choices in life, you can't get away from who you really are because it's "in our blood."
"From the moment I heard this song, I was in love and knew it was something special," said Scott. "I'm honored to deliver such a powerful message with my buddy Jimmie Allen."
"No matter where you're from, we got a lot in common. We all bleed red, we all want to love, [and] we all want to be successful. That's what I love about this song. It's a beautiful song," Allen said in a behind-the-scenes clip.
-- Courtney Fox
"Whiskey on You," Nate Smith
"I ain't gonna waste another drop of whiskey on you," sings Nate Smith in his catchy new song. Written by Smith, Lindsay Rimes and Russell Sutton, the song is really a powerful breakup anthem about getting sick of drowning in drinks after a lost love. It's also got a great beat, making it a perfect summer song you'll want to play on repeat.
Smith explained, "I've recently gone through some personal stuff, and this song was an avenue for me to express what it feels like getting to the other side."
-- Courtney Fox
"Kind of Girl," MUNA
Indie-pop band MUNA (Katie Gavin, Naomi McPherson and Josette Maskin) go country on "Kind of Girl," a gorgeous, stirring call for self acceptance.
"This song is the album's country moment, and in some ways we feel it is the heart of the record," Gavin said in a press statement. "This song explores the power of language and the words we use to describe who we are and who we want to be. Even though it is a happy, hopeful song, I shed the most tears of the record in the vocal booth recording this chorus. I think there's something very vulnerable about plainly expressing my desire to be kinder to myself and comfortable receiving love (and my desire to garden even though I kill everything I plant)."
The band recently released the song's music video, directed by Taylor James.
"The video for this song highlights another layer of meaning that we feel the song holds, which is that we as queer people are particularly vulnerable when we are sharing how we identify and how we would like to be perceived," Gavin says. "We wanted to play with the gendered nature of this song because we all three have different relationships to girlhood (and Naomi is non-binary, so not a girl at all!). It was a gift to be able to king for this video in a way that felt earnest and comfortable and hot. The experience brought home the fact that it's not enough for queer and trans people to be clear about who we are - we also need a community around us that hears us, believes us, honors us, and supports us. We're very proud of what we made and grateful to everyone who was a part of it. We hope the bigots absolutely hate it."
MUNA's self-titled album, featuring the Phoebe Bridgers collaboration "Silk Chiffon," is out June 24.
-- Bobbie Jean Sawyer
"Love Like We're Drunk," Kylie Morgan
It looks like Kylie Morgan has released the perfect summer anthem! "Love Like We're Drunk" was written by Morgan, Jeff Garrison and Brian White. The song went viral on social media due to its catchy lyrics and Morgan's vibrant vocals and harmonies.
"I wrote this feel good, summer song as a hope to bring this divided world back together again," Morgan told UMG Nashville. "A hope that we can all treat people with the love and happiness so many of us get after a couple cocktails. Whether we're buzzed or sober, in a bar or on the street. It's just a lighthearted reminder to love one another."
Morgan released her EP, Love, Kylie, in June 2021, and was named one of VEVO's 2021 DSCVR Artists to Watch. It's safe to say we'll be hearing more of Morgan soon.
-Silke Jasso
