Track 1: Kenny Chesney – Da Ruba Girl
With “Da Ruba Girl” the country singer places a musical monument to his deceased pit bull dog Ruby. With fine guitar sounds reminiscent of sunshine and lightness, she sings of the boundless love between dog and owner. It’s not just animal lovers who have tears in their eyes. (IH)
Track 2: Zach Bryan – Something In The Orange
Zach Bryan’s ode to lost love is also wonderfully sad. When the Oklahoma singer-songwriter sings melancholy against acoustic guitar and harmonica, he creates an emotional roller coaster ride. Because every glimmer of hope at dawn is extinguished again at dusk. sigh! (IH)
Track 3: Ashley McBryde – Brenda put on your bra
On the other hand, Ashley McBride’s “Brenda Put Your Bra On” makes you smile. The acoustic version is particularly worth listening to. With a lot of grit and a rhythm reminiscent of Garth Brooks’ “Papa Loves Mama”, it tells the story of two friends, a riot in the neighborhood and why frau should wear a bra. (IH)
Track 4: Miranda Lambert – Actin’ Up
Palmolino, due out in April, isn’t the best album from country music superstar and Grammy winner Miranda Lambert. But opener “Actin’ Up” is fantastic from the very first note—and shows how Lambert can transform what is lyrically and musically familiar about her. In the video there is the desert (rhymes “Mojave” with “hotter than wasabi”), Lambert in a cowgirl outfit with a low-cut top. serve the target groups. But maybe it’s something else: “Senorita needs some fun!” (CZ)
Track 5: Morgan Wade – Wilder Days (acoustic)
Blond and long-haired like Miranda Lambert, but otherwise her high-necked opposite. Morgan Wade of Floyd, Virginia had his artistic breakthrough last year with “Reckless”, his second album – the American Rolling Stone voted it the best country album of the year. “Wilder Days” is the opening. This year hasn’t been very productive, but a five-song acoustic session EP was still great. The fact that her song is even more intense in the sparse arrangement speaks for itself. A voice all of her. Village? Another country? Still good music. (CZ)
Track 6: Blake Shelton – No body
Oh my God, the mullet is back! With the song “No Body” the country singer goes back to his beginnings and revives the 90s (including long hair). A feel-good song with beer, partying and line dancing. Here the feet dance by themselves. (IH)
Track 7: Plains, Waxahatchee, Jess Williamson – Problem With It
One of the best songs of the year: the endless highway, the desert, the dust. But the collaboration between three great voices of contemporary (American) music is by no means outdated. Thinking about a relationship (“If you can’t get any better than this, baby, I’ve got a problem with this”) doesn’t end in doubt. The companion album “I Walked With You A Ways” has success from the simple “Summer Sun” to the slow and reserved title track. 31 beautiful minutes. Retro and contemporary at the same time. (CZ)
Track 8: Wilco – Cruel Country
The title track of the new Wilco album, the second of 22 exceptional songs of this new venture by Jeff Tweedy & co. “I love my country like a little boy / Red, white and blue / I love my country, stupid and cruel / Red, white and blue.” Long live patriotism works differently, but a contemporary and reflective American album works the same way. Countryesk, slow, melancholic. With this reserved, but only deceptively simple and less experimental album, Wilco proves once again that one of the greatest bands he is talking to us about our time. (CZ)
Track 9: Big Thief – Change
One of the albums of the year, Big Thief’s “Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You” was released in February. Not just a long title, with 20 songs and 80 minutes of duration also a long album. However, one where you don’t want to miss a song. “Change”, the opening, sets the seemingly simple, slow, melodic, philosophical tone. “Change, like the sky/Like leaves, like a butterfly/Death, like a door/To a place we’ve never been before.” (CZ)
Track 10: Taylor Swift – Anti-Hero (acoustic version)
“Folklore” and “Evermore,” both released in 2020, marked Taylor Swift’s departure from the female country pop of her early days. A musical and content reorientation, the Corona albums, written in almost self-isolation and recorded with a small but still top-notch guest list. This year’s successor was supposed to be a disappointment for those who only really appreciated Swift through the two albums of 2020. Pop to the dance floor, well written, well produced, but without the strength-in-the-peace brilliance of the predecessors. This also applies to “Anti-Hero”. But with the strong acoustic version one can dream that “Midnights” is not a step backwards but a parenthesis on the road to new endeavours. “Sometimes I feel like everyone is sexy babes/And I’m a monster on a hill.” (CZ)
Track 11: Eros Ramazotti & Alejandro Sanz – I am
It doesn’t always have to be campaigning and jumping across the pond. Because when the Italian superstar and the “Spanish Robbie Williams” team up, you just have to listen. In the ballad “Soy” Eros & Ale look back on their lives and sing about their self-confidence. The next summer vacation will be booked right away! (IH)
Track 12: Nockis – More to come
Even after 40 years in the music business, Austria’s most successful pop band knows: There’s more to come! Hit melody input with a chorus that you simply sing along with. Bonus: The video was partly shot in the Kleine Zeitung service center in Klagenfurt. (IH)
Bonus Track: Slaid Cleaves – Through the Darkness
Imagine: You’re driving with someone you really like on the freeway at night, and after the last note of the “Nockis” has faded, there’s silence. They shut up and drive, and only after a while do they notice that no more music is coming out of the speakers. And then suddenly “Through The Dark” starts. Slaid Cleaves is eternal insider advice. And the fact that it’s been a few years since he’s released an album (“Ghost on the Car Radio”, 2017) doesn’t help either. A new song was released in November. 3:03 by Cleave standards, very relaxed minutes anyway. They ride together in the dark, and it was made a little lighter by Slaid Cleaves. It sort of fits into times like these. (CZ)
Spotify-Playlists
Favorite songs collected by our editors are available in a playlist on Spotify.
