Every week, the Wide Open Country team rounds up our favorite newly released country, folk, bluegrass and Americana songs. Here are six new songs you need to know.
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"Heart Like a Truck," Lainey Wilson
Lainey Wilson embraces the scars that made her who she is today on the triumphant "Heart Like a Truck," a mid-tempo ballad filled with the heartfelt soul-searching and clever country wordplay that the Lousiana native is known for.
"'Heart Like A Truck' is all about self-discovery, growth and embracing scars as badges of honor," Lainey Wilson said in a statement. "After all, a truck that has hit a few bumps and earned some scratches has proved itself and its tenacity—the shiny one on the lot can't say that."
Written by Lainey Wilson, Trannie Anderson and Dallas Wilson, "Heart Like a Truck" is the lead single from Wilson's forthcoming album.
-- Bobbie Jean Sawyer
"Nation of Heat (Revisited)," Joe Pug
Joe Pug revisits his 2008 debut album with Nation of Heat Revisited (out July 22), which allowed the acclaimed singer-songwriter to re-imagine the songs and record them just as he'd always wanted.
"It's how I would've wanted the record to sound in the first place if I'd had the money and the ability to do it this way," Pug said in a statement. "But I knew this album couldn't just be the original songs with a bar band behind me as I played an acoustic guitar. I didn't want to just add a rhythm section. It had to be a complete reimagining."
Nation of Heat Revisited,
which features Brandon Flowers of The Killers, Courtney Hartman, Derry deBorja (The 400 Unit) and Carl Broemel (My Morning Jacket), is available for pre-order here.
-- Bobbie Jean Sawyer
"Blue Jean Country Queen," Kimberly Kelly (Feat. Steve Wariner)
Hitmaker and guitar slinger Steve Wariner's first songwriting collaboration with Kimberly Kelly and her husband, Brett Tyler (co-writer of Jameson Rogers and Luke Combs' "Cold Beer Calling My Name") took place over Zoom and resulted in a homage to the uptempo country hits of the '90s.
"It was the first-time meeting and writing with Steve for both Brett and I," Kelly shared in a press release. "Brett was complementing Steve on his signature tempo like the one on 'Nothin' but the Taillights' that he wrote, and I already had the title 'Blue Jean Country Queen' which just seemed right for a Steve tempo. Then to top it off, Steve ended up playing guitar on the song. He had us out to his home studio to play us the track. It was incredible. This track might be the theme of the whole album."
It's the second song of note titled "Blue Jean Country Queen," with the original written and recorded in the 1970s by Linda Hargove and revisited in 2021 by Summer Dean. It's also the second sign that Kelly's I'll Tell You What's Gonna Happen (out July 8 via Show Dog Nashville) will whet your '90s country whistle, following period-specific homage "Summers Like That."
-- Bobby Moore
"Country Pie," Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Bob Dylan's Nashville era --spanning the albums Blonde on Blonde (1966), John Wesley Harding (1967) and Nashville Skyline (1969)-- lent immeasurable credibility to country music for hippies, rockers and folk revivalists who otherwise would've dismissed the genre as being as lame as their parents. Nashville Skyline alone proved the hipness of special guest Johnny Cash and a stacked list of session players that included Country Music Hall of Famers Pete Drake and Charlie Daniels.
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band achieved similar ends almost 50 years ago with the first volume of its Will the Circle Be Unbroken trilogy, which narrowed a musical generation gap by proving unequivocally that country-rockers could mesh creatively with the likes of Roy Acuff and Mother Maybelle Carter.
On new album Dirt Does Dylan, the band celebrates the songs of a musical forerunner, including Nashville Skyline's whimsical ode to the country blues, "Country Pie."
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's acoustic, whistle-along take on "Country Pie" points to the group's jug band beginnings, which coincidentally date back to the same year Dylan first recorded in Music City.
-- Bobby Moore
"Be That For You," High Valley
High Valley just released their latest album Way Back and honestly, it's hard to choose my favorite song because they're all so good. One of the coolest parts about the album is the band let their fans vote on social media to decide which songs made the final cut, so you know that you're getting an album full of catchy country music and lyrics that resonate. "Be That For You" is a standout because I'm a sucker for a good love song. The lyrics express that it doesn't matter what happens; it's the singer's love for his significant other that he will always be fighting for. "You're gonna find me living for you down to my last breath." If this song doesn't make you swoon, I don't know what will.
"Letting our fans behind the scenes of the songwriting and demo process was so much fun. We had the Way Back album almost complete and couldn't decide which of the most recent cowrites should make the cut, so we asked our fans to vote on our socials," High Valley front-man Brad Rempel shared. "I love knowing that this album is a collection of songs I feel very strongly about, messages I believe need to be heard, and jams that our fans literally chose themselves!"
-- Courtney Fox
"Don't Do it in Texas," Catie Offerman
Catie Offerman may be new to the Nashville scene, but if we've learned anything from her debut "Happyland Trailer Park" and now "Don't Do It In Texas," it's that her lyrics will certainly stand the test of time. "Don't Do It In Texas" is a refreshing new song about breakups and heartbreak. The song finds Offerman explaining that she doesn't mind if things have to end -- just don't do it in Texas, her special place.
"If you know me, you know Texas has a very special place in my heart. It's everything I love, where my story began, and the place that holds so many special memories," Offerman says in a statement. "I think everybody knows how a heartache hurts a little more when it steals a special place from you. This song puts me right back home. It may be Texas for me, but it can be anywhere for you."
-- Courtney Fox
Check out all our favorite new country songs on Wide Open Country's Six Pack Roundup below.
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