Dierks Bentley- “Something Real” (Capitol)
The venerable country veteran follows up “Gold’s” arduous chart climb with another solid single from this year’s Gravel & Gold, and it falls squarely in line with the core strengths that have given him two solid decades of hits. Namely gravely vocal goodness, muscular country instrumentation, and insightful lyrics that lobby for honesty and substance in both music and life itself. It’s really the continuous chronicling of Bentley’s classic musician’s tussle between the road and domesticity, but it’s hard not to read it as a plea to modern country radio. This is especially true on the second verse which basically serves as a eulogy for the bro-country movement that even he occasionally championed: “I like a long drive down a backroad/Pretty girl sitting at a bar/But those roads don’t go forever, pickup lines don’t always get her/And that neon just goes dark.”
Black Pumas- “More Than a Love Song” (ATO)
The long awaited first taste of Black Pumas’ sophomore album, now set for a November release, is just as much the sublime, soulful revelation that they bestowed upon music lovers as the buzz of their 2019 landmark debut became its own super-spreader during the COVID-19 pandemic. “More Than A Love Song” is stacked with the band’s now trademark excellence, overflowing with pure and passionate vocals, emotional peaks and valleys, and far-reaching soul production that is both classic and innovatively fresh all the same. At the heart of it all is a stirring message reminding us all that life is never meant to be an idyllic dream, and it’s the grit and challenges of day-to-day experiences that really give the whole experience its undeniable beauty. This is a gorgeous performance that at once feels new and exciting, and also like a classic that’s been a part of our musical fabric for decades.
Cannons- “Desire” (Columbia)
This band’s reputation for concocting some of modern music’s most tantalizing and alluring stylistic auras only grows stronger with this latest potion. Lead vocalist Michelle Joy emotes with such a silky smooth seduction, and the popping, slightly funk-inflected guitar licks add a nice, subtle layer to their already irresistible dream-pop trance.
Miley Cyrus- “Used to Be Young” (Columbia)
A tremendously tender turn from one of today’s bona-fide pop behemoths. This surprise bonus single from the superstar unflinchingly confronts–and beautifully reconciles—the present with her dazzlingly controversial past, a full decade since the peak of her infamous Bangerz era. Miley delivers this ballad with such a clear-eyed sense of maturity, acceptance, and grace; it’s another high-water mark in a career that has been churning them out at an impressive pace in recent years. I love the grin you can hear in her voice when she delivers moments like “I know I used to be crazy/Messed up, but God was it fun/I know I used to be wild/That’s cause I used to be young.” “Used to Be Young” perfectly captures the trajectory of a young woman’s coming-of-age, while encapsulating all the essence of what makes her story and artistry so damn fascinating and relatable. It’s messy and layered and beautifully flawed. Just like real life itself.
Deer Tick- “Forgiving Ties” (ATO)
Daaaamn, is this a smorgasbord of musical goodness. The rapid-fire onslaught of delicious instrumental variety will leave you in a hot sweat trying to keep up and decide what your favorite section might be. Is it the fierce cowbell? The fiery horns? The blistering rock riffs? It’s all tied together by John McCauley’s rapturous vocal energy. It’s a joyously schizophrenic lightning bolt of frenetic musical madness, and it’s likely going to stand as my favorite rock moment of the year.
Billie Eilish- “What Was I Made For?” (Atlantic)
The gorgeously devastating heartbeat to Barbie: The Album, which is easily one of the best soundtracks in eons, and supports what is a tremendously entertaining and deeply thoughtful film. Billie Eilish spends so much time in her standard soft-spoken, downbeat realm that it’s become so damn easy to forget how fantastic she really is when she’s firing on all cylinders in that emotional space. This track gracefully cuts to the underlying social conflicts explored in the film, but is also wholly representative of the cultural problems plaguing both celebrities and everyday people alike in today’s superficial world. That closing verse in particular? It’s easily Eilish’s best moment on record thus far.
Vince Gill and Paul Franklin- “Kissing Your Picture (Is So Cold)” (MCA)
The two country standard-bearers reunite a full decade after their fantastic Bakersfield project, this time to tackle the twangiest realms of Ray Price’s storied catalog, namely his records with his crack country band, The Cherokee Cowboys. All of these ingredients unsurprisingly add up to timeless country magic. The legacy arc of Gill’s career has been just as exalted as his superstar days, and his voice remains as pure and crystalline in any setting, but none better than one bolstered by Franklin’s inimitable steel playing and luminous fiddle. They carry on Price’s trademark style of joyous country heartbreak flawlessly.
Selena Gomez- “Single Soon” (Interscope)
A slinky, smooth pop banger from a maturing artist who continues to steadily blossom into a reliable hitmaker. I’m still waiting for her vocals and production to ascend to that next level of the undeniably electric contagion that permeates a Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus or Olivia Rodrigo track. She’s not quite there yet, but “Single Soon” is a step further in that direction. She can hardly find the time to feel any remorse for the poor schmuck that she’s about to dump. She’s got way too much single-life fun to plan. I’m sure they’ve both earned their respective side of that lopsided coin, right?
Hiss Golden Messenger- “Nu-Grape” (Merge)
The bluesy folk-rocker returns with another strong dose of his soulful, evocative brand of Americana. “Nu-Grape” boasts all of HGM’s very best qualities, among them strong vocals, a crisp and breezy production, and a classic, self-deprecating wit that makes a winking mockery of mortality and how we honor our dead.
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit- “When We Were Close” (Southeastern)
When The 400 Unit is by his side on a rollicking tempo, Jason Isbell proves that he’s as much a bona fide rock star as he is the ultimate musical poet of his generation. And as one who could never record anything frivolous, his rocking moments fabulously retain all of the lyrical potency that his most intimate ones do, making for a combination of sonic and lyrical sustenance that only the truly great artists can achieve. To the crash of rocking guitar riffs, “Close” is an excavation of what must obviously be his relationship with wife and fellow artist, Amanda Shires, and all of the layered dynamics that come with any marriage, but especially one between two musicians in the public eye. It’s gorgeously messy, complicated, and gloriously unconditional. And it’s all filtered marvelously through one bad-ass rock & roller.
Jonas Brothers- “Summer Baby” (Republic)
The JoBros’ contribution to this year’s slate of summer anthems fully lives up to the expectations set by the sunny, simple song title. This is two and a half minutes of bright, catchy, carefree summer pop. Every summer season needs tracks like this one, and the brotherly trio pulls it off effortlessly. It’s not going to change your life, but you will undoubtedly still be singing along to it in two, five, and ten summers’ time.
The Killers- “Your Side of Town” (Island)
In an interesting bit of press that accompanied this latest Killers single, bandleader Brandon Flowers pretty much confirms that “Your Side of Town” is the sole remnant of a scrapped album session that basically brought him to the decision that the band’s days of recording synth-layered alt-rock were over, instead choosing to follow the more confessional Heartland leanings of 2021’s Pressure Machine. I love that album, so I’m not complaining about that direction, though I also don’t subscribe to the belief that they need to choose one over the other. Though, after listening to the choppy production of “Your Side of Town”, maybe he was onto something. It’s a solid heartbreak song, but the choice to drown the voice of one of my favorite rock frontmen in so much autotune is a puzzling one. Leave these sonic choices to dawn-of-the-millennium Cher. I’ll still bop to it no doubt, but it would have been a far better performance with Flowers’ captivating vocals left intact.
Macklemore- “1984” (ADA)
While the Killers may feel the need to choose between certain stylings, tracks like “1984” give me much gratitude that Macklemore doesn’t feel inclined to select a straight rap or pop lane, as he’s incredibly proficient in both arenas. This is an unadulterated jam, an impressively durable bop that ranks right up there with any other banger on the current pop or dance charts.
Carly Pearce- “Country Music Made Me Do It” (Big Machine)
This is Carly Pearce delightfully schooling all those posturing bros that have tortured us with all those nauseating “I’m so country” anthems for what feels like an eternity. And yes, this track may offer its own fair share of cliched country tropes. But they all land in such an authentic and entertaining way because Pearce tastefully delivers them with a relatable and actually country-sounding vocal, paired with a fiddle-laced arrangement. It’s not trying to prove anything. It’s merely celebrating the artist’s musical styling of choice, and relating that choice back to its impact on her own life. This lady’s on a roll.
Orville Peck- “This Masquerade” (Primary Wave)
“This Masquerade” serves as the lead single from the upcoming tribute album to the chameleonic musical genius of the late Leon Russell, whose music certainly serves as a fitting match for an idiosyncratic country visionary like Orville Peck. The song itself has been recorded in excess of seventy-five times at this point, but Peck has no trouble putting his own stamp on it, thanks to the seemingly limitless boom of his voice and his skill in crafting a singular C&W-noir sound.
Pink- “Runaway” (RCA)
Your standard 80s inflected synth-pop, charismatically elevated by Pink’s flawless voice. We’ve heard her do it a million times by now, but that doesn’t mean we don’t welcome more of it. This is a surging adrenaline rush that begs for, and is definitely worthy of, continuous spins.
Margo Price- “Strays” (Loma Vista)
The country-rock queen finally allows us to experience the would-be title track to the fantastic album that she launched 2023 with in excellent fashion. Price has emerged as one of the most consistently reliable artists of the past decade, so it should come as no surprise that “Strays” is another excellent outing, rather than some cutting floor outtake that didn’t live up to the standards of the rest of the original album. The neo-trad honky tonk of her first two records is outstanding, but she’s really found her stride in this rousing Heartland-country-rock-Americana hybrid. She glows on this charming tale of two lovers who only seem to fit in this world when they’re with the other.
Purple Disco Machine & Sophie and the Giants- “Paradise” (Positiva)
The DJ master of modern dance unites once again with elastic vocal powerhouse Sophie Scott and her shimmering ensemble to dig from the same goldmine that spawned their two previous smash collabs, “Hypnotized” and “In the Dark”. “Paradise” makes it three for three, completing a hat-trick of dazzling disco that is as glittery and rewarding as any banger on either side of the pond.
Olivia Rodrigo- “Bad Idea, Right?” (Geffen)
Pop’s newest dynamo follows up the magnificent “Vampire” (which, God willing, should be the launch of a new “pop opera” craze in the modern-day top forty), with a return to the angsty emo-leaning pop-punk of the very best tracks on her iconic debut disc. Following a narrator as she humorously and dismissively weighs the pros and cons of a one night stand with an ex-lover, the track once again asserts the truly diverse breadth of Rodrigo’s stylistic range that was such an impressive and rewarding surprise once you got past “Driver’s License” and heard the rest of Sour. Avril Lavinge deserves just as much influential credit on Rodrigo’s sound as previously and more obvious names like Taylor Swift and Hayley Williams have to date. It has the same polarizing but infectious nature as Lavigne staples like “Sk8r Boy”, but there’s no denying it’s a revitalized and fresh sound in today’s pop scene.
Allison Russell- “Snakelife” (Fantasy)
First off, the album artwork for this forthcoming release by Allison Russell is utterly beautiful. “Snakelife” is equally breathtaking, though it certainly taps into the more complicated darkness that is hinted at just slightly on the aforementioned cover. Russell’s vocal reaches new, Annie Lennox-recalling heights of wonder, while the ominous production slithers and at times, literally hisses and rattles. The lyrics clearly are evoking the personal challenges that race continues to plague minorities within our society, which is flat-out confirmed in the final line of the song. Overall though, this is a rousing anthem for anyone feeling lost in their own skin, and serves as another triumphant release from a woman continuing to prove herself as a pivotal modern-day voice.
Harry Styles- “Daylight” (Columbia)
The superstar continues to pull from the deep bench of songs on the Grammy-winning Harry’s House, with the unveiling of this new vingle, and what is likely the album’s final release. The circus-themed clip is equally as charming as the track itself, a wistful folk-pop romp that is equal parts romance and flirtation, and dutifully displays the most resonant realms of his voice: “You’d be the spoon/Dip you in honey so I could be sticking to you.”
Joshua Ray Walker- “Cuz I Love You” (Soundly)
I’d been mildly aware of the buzz that Joshua Ray Walker has been stirring up on the indie-country scene over the past few years. But it wasn’t until I caught his earthquaking set at our local music festival this month that I really tuned in. Wow, what a highly recommended revelation that was! Walker’s latest collection reinvents a slew of female anthems (among them classics from Whitney Houston, Cher, The Cranberries, and Beyonce) by throwing them in a twanging, yodeling, shuffling vat of unapologetic honky-tonk. It’s so damn entertaining, but perhaps none more so than this lead-single interpretation of Lizzo’s 2020 hit. When he wails that he “don’t wanna ho no mo”, it kills me every time.
Morgan Wallen- “Last Night” (Republic)
There’s simply no denying this song its status as one of the defining hits of the summer of 2023. For me, 90% of that can be attributed to that entrancing acoustic guitar line that remains a constant throughout the track. I’ll be waking up to that lick every morning until next Christmas. But the song obviously reaches the finish line thanks to Wallen’s common-man vocals and endlessly clever turns-of-phrase. Feel how you want to feel about the man, but he is 100% authentic and true to himself in the music he creates. There’s no posturing or character-playing at hand, and it’s allowed him to become one of the moment’s truly impenetrable superstars. And he’s delivered one hell of a contagious booty-call/non-break up anthem here.
Wilco- “Evicted” (dBpm)
With couplets like “I’d laugh until I’d die, if it wasn’t my life/If it wasn’t me in the mirror”, it’s immediately evident that Jeff Tweedy is in his full-blown, down-trodden, self-deprecating mode on “Evicted”, the lead single from Wilco’s pending thirteenth LP. And isn’t that precisely where we really love Tweedy & his bandmates to be? He makes it clear throughout this track that his heartache is his own doing, but he still manages to get you to place your sympathy with him rather than his lover. Delivering astute, quality music is a mighty strong influencer; I particularly love the ringing folk-rock guitars and their interrupting cadence on the chorus. Wilco has consistently been one of the true standard-bearers for modern rock for nearly three decades now, with really no extensive interruptions or hiatuses. They don’t get damn near enough credit for it, either. Based on “Evicted” alone, album No. 13 stands to keep that lofty status in tact once again.
