Be Her – Ella Langley Written By Jack Humphrey
With one elegant blend of contemporary wit and old-school instrumentation after another, Ella Langley has bridged the fickle gap between fans young and old in a way few stars, even the format’s very biggest, can, which makes this wimpy track that much more befuddling. Dandelion’s most recent offering single-handedly throws a cold, wet blanket on the hype for country music’s most ascendant artist of the moment. Nothing that you’ve grown to love about Ella shows up here; no razor-sharp word-play, no memorable titular line in the vein of her two biggest hits, nor a fun, throwback feel. Instead, Ella and producers Ben West and Miranda Lambert seem to take cues from the muddled, genre-less tedium of Maren Morris’s GIRL, in its tasteless “wall of sound,” swallowing up an otherwise decent chord progression in a monotonous sea of bass and drums. Just as egregious, “Be Her” is a mess as a lyrical concept; Ella paints a portrait of a well-adjusted adult woman and laments that she isn’t that person, but it feels like we miss several steps in understanding her discontent. Some contrast between that idealistic vision and our narrator’s self-perception would’ve been nice, as well as a hook that doesn’t mercilessly whine the same nine words in desperate succession. On virtually every level, “Be Her” is a thoroughly unspecial song from an artist who’s shown more than a few inklings of really being special.
3.9
Thorns – Jelly Roll Written By Jack Humphrey
Plenty can be said about Jelly Roll’s over-the-top public persona and blase singles, which have leaned far more into the contemporary Christian format than anything resembling country music as of late. However, Jelly Roll’s biggest fault in the Year of Our Lord 2026 is his woefully stagnant character development. When he first broke into mainstream country music, his album Whitsitt Chapel was a somber illustration of sin and sadness, which was mostly resolved in the hopeful (yet painfully mellow) Beautifully Broken. After two years and several sermonic award-show acceptance speeches, Jelly Roll has never felt less creatively invigorated. “Thorns” is a gushy tribute to his wife, as he once again laments his inner brokenness, speed-running one paper-thin metaphor after another; in just a few lines, Mr. Roll compares himself to a thorn, a diamond, a cloud, a poker hand, and a candle, without a single one landing as very poetic or poignant. There’s little doubt that Jelly is being sincere, but that commitment to the bit doesn’t go very far when he’s already spent so much time singing about his spiritual dichotomy and road to redemption. Ultimately, everything about “Thorns” exists to simply fill space in the aftermath of Jelly Roll’s Grammy win. Even if you’re a fan, you would be hard-pressed to cite anything about this song that makes it different from the rest of his more recent catalogue.
4.3
If You Ain’t In Love By Now – Thelma & JamesWritten By Aishwarya Rajan
In 2025, country music found its modern-day Sonny and Cher or The White Stripes. Except this married duo sings not of devotion, but of the quiet, harrowing throes that breathe before holy matrimony. With Thelma and James, love is not a sanctuary; it’s home to a pain that lingers indefinitely, and hopelessness dances in the shadows of memories. “If You Ain’t In Love By Now” delivers another tear-jerking addition to their growing canon of tragedy. Instrumentally, the track is markedly contrasted from the powerful sadness exploited in “Canaries in a Coal Mine” and “Chainsmoken Memories.” Where these previous releases leaned on intricate, carefully layered arrangements for violin or harmonica, this song takes flight with a heightened, upbeat production, often eclipsing the intimacy of their perfectly matched voices. That being said, this new single underscores their powerhouse capabilities as a duo. Though the emotional devastation remains consistent with their most praised work, its lyrical approach departs from the untouched metaphors that typically define their songwriting. Instead, the duo focuses on a more digestible vision: the aftermath of a romance so consuming that one cannot forge a new path in love. “If You Ain’t In Love By Now” settles easily into the couple’s growing chest of melancholic songs, further cementing Thelma and James as purveyors of heartbreak. If love lost can be beautiful, they may very well be its most convincing portrayal and country music’s most devastatingly tender of partnerships.
7.9
Wildfire – Jackson Dean Written By Aishwarya Rajan
As if the hypnotism of “Heavens to Betsy” wasn’t enough to send a listener spiraling for two years, Jackson Dean has proven himself fluent in infectiously catchy hooks and melodies that linger. The production feels familiar in structure, yet unmistakably removed from anything currently dominating the country landscape. “Wildfire,” the newest release from the forthcoming Magnolia Sage, feels like a natural extension of this concept, which parallels the world built in On the Back of My Dreams. However, Dean adds a sonically lighthearted chapter to his previous era, aligning his sound more closely with “Big Blue Sky” than with the inimitable complexity of “Sweet Appalachia” or “Fearless.” Its musical arrangement invokes simpler melodies and storytelling. It’s more open and less layered, yet intentional. It succeeds in reinforcing the cohesive framework first laid out by the upcoming album’s “Make a Liar.” Within this evolving soundscape, the song tells the story of an all-consuming romance in which passion and destruction converge. Echoing age-old tragedies like Romeo and Juliet or Wuthering Heights, the intimate vow of mutual destruction is rewritten as “will you let me burn you, if I let you burn me?” In the final verse, he tightens his grip over the listener just before the last strike of the chorus. The melody then quiets, stepping back to let Dean’s slick, commanding vocals take full control. His wickedly tantalizing voice meets the melody in such a way that softness and grit coexist. In doing so, Dean’s propulsion of music carves a road in country music that is unexplored and sculpted to him and only him.
8.3
Fear in God – Sam Barber and Avery Anna Written By Aishwarya Rajan
Taking center stage and swooning the listener deep into the imagery of an intense narrative are the hums of a grunge-tinged electric guitar resting beneath Sam Barber’s characteristically deep vocals. In “Fear in God,” powerful guitar chords and simple drums come together for a truly compelling sound. At the same time, the voice of an angel (Avery Anna) is complemented by a darker voice (Sam Barber). Entrenching the listener in a space that feels perilously close to loneliness and far from comfort, Barber musters the courage on a journey that leads him to realize that “fear in God is your saving grace.” Soon after, in a spectacular show of pain and enlightenment, Avery Anna’s voice glides into the atmosphere with a haunting elegance, weaving seamlessly into the darkness that Barber establishes. While a repetitive structure in nature, the duo’s varied approach to their vocal performance, paired with slight shifts in the instrumental ensemble of each chorus, delineates each from the rest. The commanding shifts in melody from verse to verse showcase a simple floor tom roll into the snap of a snare, grounding the listener even as the vocals soar. By the third hook, Anna makes the song her own. The “Girl of Constant Sorrow’s” powerhouse vocals are electrified with the touch of a guitar, elevating her into the rock-stardom witnessed in her cover of “No More Tears.” Within a snap, she brings herself down into the trembling ache of an unshakeable falsetto. “Fear in God” conveys a powerful message, paired with an undeniably strong duo that together strike elusive perfection.
9.3
Hell Without the Flames – Josiah and the Bonnevilles Written By Aishwarya Rajan
Four years later, the Bonnevilles are still suspended in a sad country 2022 playlist, replaying “Blood Moon,” or letting “Easy to Love” provide a softer touch to spring sadness. But in “Hell Without the Flames,” Josiah pulls the Bonnevilles (his listeners) into a place where aspirations are a blue-collar mule. “Hell Without the Flames” traps you in an eerie rhythm that parallels the sentiment “rat inside a cage.” He approaches the song with a mechanically familiar three-chorus structure that mirrors the monotony of factory life itself. “I’ll be coming back again… Well, it’s just another day in hell without the flames.” In factory life, a dream is coddled by entrapment in a perpetual mindset that dictates that today’s pain is the promise of a better tomorrow. One that leads to moments such as “she left on a Monday,” where love erodes as it is swallowed by a blue-collar factory job that pays just enough to get by, leaving an empty well of energy. The cage is a societal creation whose isolation instills anger emulated through Josiah’s captivating lower register and textured belting from verse to chorus. Cinematically, the song fits into the same Rust Belt history line as movies like “Norma Rae” or “Blue Valentine.” It’s a storyline that has been lived in, but untouched by many for decades. And just like that, the simple strumming ends exactly as it began, as though it’s “just another day.”
8.2
Kentucky Too Long – Charley Crockett Written By Adam Delahoussaye
The “Son of Davy” may let verbal shots fly faster than a six-shooter, but under the gun of his guitar, it sounds like he’s rarely trying to prove something to anyone besides himself. As his commentary has become more pointed in the last year, so has his pen, constantly harping on societal woes and speaking up for the downtrodden crowds he approaches as kindred spirits. It’s been a pretty central theme of his “Sagebrush Trilogy”; so far, the first taste of its finale continues and evolves through a brutally breezy number where solos sound like they’re being picked through calloused hands and bleeding fingers. “Daddy was in Vietnam, it says it on his old sedan, he’s been fightin’ with Uncle Sam about somethin’” he growls on the second verse, just one of many examples displaying Crockett’s propensity to spin meditated social critiques as an off-the-cuff freestyle. The singer has a knack for keeping his vessel of commentary from becoming a caricature, partly because his aura feels insulated when set against his more rank-and-file counterparts. This is coupled with the ability to sift through the identity obstacles that block the broader struggles at the core of culture that he’s constantly interrogating. “Kentucky Too Long” fires off a few rounds from the hip, a sure shot in the arm for the singer while maybe doubling as a key moment of self-reflection.
8.4
Be By You – Luke Combs Written By Adam Delahoussaye
p
So far, the rollout for The Way I Am has seen its most fine-tuned moments when Luke Combs has been absent from the writers’ room. Is that damaging to the ethos of one of country music’s most relatable stars? Potentially, given his pen’s frequent appearance on so many previous fan favorites. Does it also highlight an encouraging confidence in his personal taste? Absolutely. “Be By You” is one of just a few tracks where Combs’s own ink is missing from the sheet music (the eventual title track will also not include the singer as a songwriter). Yet, it’s undoubtedly the moment that sounds like a more natural progression of the stadium singer. He feels less bothered by the sound having to fill those vast spaces, as he was on “Back in the Saddle” or “Sleepless in a Hotel Room,” and more focused on how the lyrics will linger from the sideline to the nosebleeds. His vocals, a murmur in the tone of an intimate exchange, recall some of his softer-spoken melodies, which felt as conversational as they did sharply written and executed. Combs has always had a knack for turning the cache of lyrical country tropes into something that feels more profound than the sum of its parts, and he returns to it here by infusing otherwise by-the-book storytelling with trademark earnestness. It’s how he’s maintained his reputation, and it might be how he keeps it even as the stages get bigger and the pitches get more grand. It’d be selling “Be By You” short to call it a return to form, when in reality it’s a growth moment that sticks out because it doesn’t sound like it’s trying to be profound. Like most of us, Combs is far better at recognizing the moment rather than awkwardly trying to conjure it out of thin air.
8.9
COUNTRY MUSIC – Graham Barham Written By Joel Reuben Pauley
Graham Barham’s new single, “COUNTRY MUSIC,” might be the least “country music” sounding song you could imagine clicking on with that title. When you press play, whatever’s on your country playlist probably isn’t what comes to mind. Instead, you get a fast-paced trap beat that feels like it’s one Pitbull verse away from being complete. Lyrically, the song is blunt and efficient; Graham lays out his game plan with zero subtlety: take a girl to the woods, use the truck’s lights and subwoofers to create his own private Broadway strip, drink, hook up, live it up. He’s vivid and direct about the kind of night he wants, leaving nothing open to interpretation. The problem here definitely isn’t clarity; Barham’s desire doesn’t feel charmingly reckless. Instead, it comes off as pent-up, which makes it hard to root for. There’s a halftime break after the second chorus where a piercing synth lead crashes in, and it feels completely out of place, like it was lifted from a different track entirely. Moments like that, along with the abrupt shift from the tinny, computer-generated guitar sample to the blaring 808s, are jarring on their own. But it’s Graham’s fratty, sex-obsessed bravado that ultimately makes the song impossible to stomach.
See also
1.0
Come On Whiskey – Chandler Walters Written By Joel Reuben Pauley
It goes without saying that Chandler Walters is very talented. There are great aspects to every song he has released to this point. He has credits on major records and runs with some big names. The problem shows up in his own music. When Chandler Walters sings his own lyrics, you cannot believe him. It feels impossible to think that he has lived or truly means a single word he is saying. “Come On Whiskey” is built around the idea of leaning on whiskey to get over a girl, but that darkness is nowhere to be found in the track. There is no sense of weight, no sense of hurt. It sounds like Walters is here to party all the time. With the loud production and the almost gimmicky, slapped-on twang, nothing about it convinces you that he is heartbroken. Even looking at the cover, it feels like Walters is playing dress up. Watching Chandler transition from playing steel for some of the biggest names in the genre to releasing his own material, listeners want something they can latch onto as real. Instead, it feels like they are being asked to buy into something that comes off half-serious, rather than a fully formed artistic statement. Even so, the music itself is fine. Maybe the timing is off. Maybe the persona is not believable. But the writing is fine, and the instrumentation is solid. However, if Chandler Walters is ever going to be a household name, it will likely be after he takes a real leap, putting his heart on display.
4.0
PSYCHOLOGICAL – The Band Perry Written By Max Buondonno
Marking the return of one of country music’s hottest bands of the early 2010s, The Band Perry has released a new single that will instantly feel familiar to any TBP fans of the past. Drawing on similar twisted romance themes of previous Band Perry chart-toppers, “PSYCHOLOGICAL” tries to justify all the perceivably crazy ways one might fall in love with someone as completely normal. Written by Clara Park, Grace Tyler, and Colton Venner, the song lands in the same bucket as “Better Dig Two” from a thematic standpoint, which keeps it wholeheartedly on brand for the now-duo. Between memorizing Nirvana to faking your death to test her love, Kimberly Perry holds no punches when reciting what she’d do for her partner. The song gradually builds to an anthemic chorus that’s loud and bombastic, commanding your attention when performed live. Yet despite sounding, acting, and feeling like a Band Perry crowd-pleaser, something is missing. It isn’t nearly as catchy as the band’s older work, which could affect its performance, given that this is the band’s big return to country radio. It also feels less impactful and unique than when “If I Die Young” was spinning on people’s iPods; while it still carries hauntingly beautiful elements between the harmonies and production, “PSYCHOLOGICAL” doesn’t leave much to latch onto besides the clever interpretation of the track’s title. This song is going to be revered by anyone who’s been hanging onto hope that The Band Perry would return, and for them, it’s proof there’s still juice left in the tank. For the rest of us, it’s more of a nostalgic check-in to see what they’re up to, not necessarily an instant playlist-add.
6.9
Getaway Car – Dustin Lynch Written By Max Buondonno
What a shame. From the moment you hit play on Dustin Lynch’s latest single, “Getaway Car,” you can tell what’s coming: an over-processed pop-leaning festival track that probably gets old in a matter of seconds. As it turns out, it also incorporates a house, EDM backbeat throughout the chorus to really prove to you that the only time you’ll likely listen to it is at a festival this summer. Granted, Lynch has been leaning heavily into the party scene for the past few years, making rowdy appearances at Stagecoach, CMA Fest, and Luke Bryan’s Crash My Playa, where EDM and country continue to procreate. These are the only scenarios where this song might make sense; outside of that, it’s the polar opposite of what made Lynch popular. The more he releases music, the more it seems like he believes another “Cowboys & Angels” won’t pay the bills, despite neotraditionalism taking over many facets of the country music scene. It’s been a long time since Dustin Lynch has put out a good song, and by the looks of it, he’s not interested in doing so any time soon. Instead, keep chugging reposado and jumping up and down to house music about the countryside.
0.2
Let’s Get Stoned – Clay Street Unit Written By Aishwarya Rajan
“Let’s Get Stoned” underscores the quiet simplicity that can often define love. It opens with slow, acoustic tones that feel worn and gray, then lifts into a warmer sound where gratitude meets modest living. The convincing nature of “Come on baby, let’s get stoned / And turn on all those love records on” drives away from escapism and towards ritual enjoyment. Those records become a moniker of what remains when everything else feels scarce: riches in love that outlast any measure of material wealth. With a single brush of strings, the melody becomes weightless, making way for the banjo. The song reads as an homage to quality time nestled in the romanticism of an evening in a house made a home, where old records and companionship fill the quiet. Yet the story runs deeper than a simple ode to existing as a couple side by side; It speaks to a life where only the essentials are affordable. When the fire burns out, the oven can keep you warm, and when the well of money runs dry, love keeps the basin full. The song illuminates listeners to a life that is forged in pairs: good and bad, rent that is high but cheap weed.
8.5
