Chris Stapleton, Tyler Childers, Colbie Caillat with Sheryl Crow, and more turn up stellar new releases this week. Tyler Hubbard aims to make his duo of chart hits into a trio, while bluegrass whizkid Wyatt Ellis and gravel-voiced J.R. Carroll continue forging their signature styles. See those and more Billboard country picks below.
Tyler Childers, “Phone Calls and Emails”
With albums like his breakthrough Purgatory and successors Country Squire and Long Violent History, Childers’s mix of country, folk and bluegrass elements has inspired a rise in counter-programming to mainstream country’s usual pop and hip-hop fusions. He continues that with latest album, Rustin’ in the Rain. At only seven tracks, Rustin’ in the Rain is succinct yet solid, melding originals with renditions of the Kris Kristofferson-written “Help Me Make It Through the Night” and S.G. Goodman’s “Space and Time.” Among the standouts in those originals is this solo write from Childers, whose vigorous vocal conveys the hurt and confusion when a loved one stops responding to his correspondences. “It’s so unnerving to get no reply,” he sings in a desperate attempt to gain closure. Piano and mournful steel capture the song’s arc from clinging to the last remnants of hopefulness, but giving way to angst and despair.
Chris Stapleton, “Think I’m in Love With You”
Stapleton gets funky on this solo write, slightly quickening the pace, his signature guttural, husky voice working within the evergreen topic of love, registering romantic grit and ‘70s soul. Sonically, it’s a further confirmation of Stapleton’s genre-traversing capabilities, following his previous outing, “White Horse.” “Think I’m in Love With You” is the latest preview of Stapleton’s upcoming album Higher, out Nov. 10.
J.R. Carroll, “Diamondhead”
Oklahoma native Carroll issued his debut project in 2020, ad followed with 2022’s Raging in the Dark and his OurVinyl Sessions EP which released earlier this year. Those projects largely put the spotlight on his gospel-inflected voice and acoustic-based songwriting. Carroll has been on the road playing keyboards for Zach Bryan, but on this chugging, percussion-fueled romp, he offers a potent reminder of his own songwriting and vocal prowess. Here, he sings of a woman whose romantic allure beckons him on a wild day spent near the river, with hours of booze and cigarettes, and dancing to Turnpike Troubadours tunes on the jukebox. “Ain’t much that I can do/ Can’t bear to see it stop,” he deadpans, with a voice filled with urgency and surrender.
Colbie Caillat feat. Sheryl Crow, “I’ll Be Here”
These two laid-back vocalists team up in a mighty way for this rootsy, yet calmly uplifting anthem, which revamps “Never Gonna Let You Down,” a song featured on Caillat’s 2014 album Gypsy Heart. Caillat wrote this song 13 years ago, with Brett James, Jason Reeves and Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, but the sunny production and timeless message here feel fresh and polished, while their intertwining harmonies feel familial. “I’ll Be Here” is included on Caillat’s upcoming country album, Along the Way, out Oct. 6.
Tyler Hubbard, “Back Then Right Now”
Hubbard issues his third solo career single, following his No. 1 Billboard Country Airplay hit “5 Foot 9” and the No. 2-peaking follow-up “Dancin’ in the Country.” He follows those two gratitude-filled, light-hearted tracks with a similarly-styled up-tempo track, a nostalgic ode that finds the singer reminiscing on youthful days, before various town developments put up big-box stores over old fishing spots and blacktop over gravel roads — times when “you took a pic and you didn’t have to post it.” This sounds like another solid, radio-ready single.
Wyatt Ellis feat. Jake Workman, “Get Lost”
Wunderkind mandolin player Ellis, who has performed alongside music luminaries including Sierra Hull, Sam Bush and Bobby Osborne, continues his penchant for traditional-leaning bluegrass on this song he wrote with multi-instrumentalist Jake Workman, when Ellis was 12.
Together with Ellis and Workman on sprightly mandolin and guitar, this track offers up a loose jam-band feel, meshing fiddle from legendary instrumentalist Michael Cleveland, as well as bass from Mike Bub and banjo from producer Justin Moses. “Get Lost” is the second release from Ellis’ upcoming album, set to be released on Knee-High Records.
Ashley Anne, “She Ain’t Texas”
Virginia native Ashley Anne is known for the track “Dear Dolly,” which was released earlier this year. But on her latest, she laments that an ex-lover has moved on — but this perspicacious lady also knows his new love lacks country bonafides. “if she ain’t country and she ain’t your cup of sweet tea,” Anne maintains she has something better to offer, singing with a honey-dipped-in-whiskey voice over a swirl of country and blues.
Alex Hall, “Her to Here”
Singer-songwriter-guitarist Hall issued his debut EP, the star-studded Six Strings, in 2021, and is gearing up to follow it with his latest album, Side Effects of the Heart, out Sept. 15.
“Her to Here” previews the new album, as Hall sings of a lover who calls his bluff and leaves him in the dust. He copes by ruminates on the choices he made and should have made. “Her to Here” reads more polished than some of his earlier work, while this Hall/Todd Clark/Travis Wood co-write offers an evocative depiction of romantic loss.
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