April 19, 2024 6:55 am GMT
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Waking up on a Friday morning is easy for us! Especially when you know you’re waking up to a brand-new Taylor Swift album. It’s the most exciting day of the week! We all woke up at 5am in London this morning just so we could listen to The Tortured Poets Department with the rest of the world.
If that wasn't exciting enough she released another 15 songs two hours later, so now The Tortured Poets Department:The Anthology version features a whopping great 31 songs in total.
We’ve included the title track on our Best New Country playlist for you today. Just in case you’ve only just woken up or haven’t gone to bed yet - depending on where you are in the world - and haven’t had time to listen. Is the song a reference to Joe Alwyn and Paul Mescal's WhatsApp group? Who is the "tattooed golden retriever"? Wasn't it Matty Healy who likes typewriters?! Let the Easter egg hunts and conspiracy theories begin!
Along with Taylor, we’ve got a treat from the Tyler Childers’ vaults for you. Taken from the brilliant new Live on Mountain Stage: Outlaws and Outliers out on Oh Boy Records today, featuring rare live ive performances from various artists captured during Mountain Stage tapings over the past four decades, including Rhiannon Giddens, Molly Tuttle, Eric Church, Steve Earle, Margo Price, John Prine, Jason Isbell, Indigo Girls and Birds of Chicago featuring Allison Russell among many others.
Since its inception in 1983, Mountain Stage has become an institution, standing as one of the most beloved and enduring programs in public radio history, broadcasting thousands of unforgettable live performances by rising stars and veteran legends alike. Now celebrating over 40 years of shows, Mountain Stage is the second longest running nationally distributed performance radio show, behind only the Grand Ole Opry.
We could have included the whole album on our Best New Country playlist today – it’s that good - but we’re whetting your appetite with Tyler Childers’ contribution. ‘Going Home’ is a previously unreleased song that is exclusively available on the compilation, captured during Childers’ appearance on Mountain Stage in 2015.
This week’s cover star is Wyatt Flores. He pips Tyler Childers and Taylor Swift to the top spot with ‘Running Out of Time,’ taken his new 8 track Half Life project released today, just because we love him so much and he’s gone to the effort of having some new press photos taken (Scotty McCreery take note).
An urgent call to grab life by both hands and start living in the moment and appreciating life for the gift it is, Running Out of Time’ is Flores at his gloriously life affirming, existential best.
“Most people die at 27 and get buried at 72,” he sings on the opening track. “Do you ever think of heaven or where you’re headed to?”
It’s enough to make us want to pack in our jobs and go sailing around the world!
Danielle Bradbery is having a little life affirming existential crisis of her own as she reflects on the vitality of youth in her latest track, ‘Younger and Wiser.’ Written by Emily Weisband, Lydia Vaughan and Sam Bergeson, the song delves into the empowerment that comes with inexperience, encouraging listeners to take risks and trust in themselves.
“Kids always seem to live a bit more fearlessly…at least I did,” she says. “We would act reckless, fall and get a few scrapes then get back up and keep playing. Even though we were young, we still marched to the beat of our own drum and knew how to do things with so much freedom in our hearts. Where did that go? When I think of my younger self I think, I wish I could get her back. I tell myself ‘I need to be more like her!’ This song is a tribute to our younger selves and a reminder of how strong we really are. Let's not forget to tap into our younger selves as we go through this life. Our inner child knew how to just live.”
Hot off the back of being featured in our Holler 10 Artists You Need to Know for April this week, we’ve got a couple of new ones from Sarah Gross and Don Louis. Another artist very much on our radar is Braxton Keith and he’s back in Best New Country with his follow up to last month’s ‘Cozy.’
"I'm trying to bring back the traditional values of old-school country music, with a modern twist," says the singer from Midland, Texas, and he does exactly that on his tribute to the all-night life, ‘Under Them Neons.’
Holler favourite Gabe Lee is back and this time he’s brought his friends with him. He’s teamed up with Lucianna Costa and Rylie Bourne for the delightful ‘Long Time Ago.’
“Coupla mics and a beat up guitar is all we needed for this track folks,” Gabe Lee wrote on Instagram. “Hope y’all enjoy the harms on this side project I started with Lucianna Costa and Rylie Bourne way back in 2020.”
Hopefully they did more than record just this one song and we can look forward to even more from the trio.
After joining ERNEST on his cover of Radiohead’s ‘Creep’ last week, HARDY is back with his version of the Snoop Dogg classic ‘Gin and Juice.’ Sadly it’s not as good as The Gourds’ seminal bluegrass version, but he gets an A for effort.
Elsewhere in our Best New Country playlist we’ve got new ones from Joshua Quimby, Lauren O’Brien, Emily Ann Roberts, Mackenzie Porter, Anne Wilson, Corey Kent. Maya Lane, Adeem the Artist, as well as the first taste of new music from Jeffrey Silverstein with the epic 'Gassed Up.'
We hope you enjoy listening. Have a fantastic weekend. We’re all feeling completely revitalized after all the life affirming songs we’ve had on today’s playlist.
In the words of the great Wyatt Flores, “We’re gonna die so do what makes you feel alive.”
Check out this week's new country song releases and listen to the full playlist below:
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1.
Running Out Of Time
Wyatt Flores
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2.
Going Home - Live
Tyler Childers
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3.
Better With Age
Sarah Gross
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4.
The Tortured Poets Department
Taylor Swift
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5.
Younger and Wiser
Danielle Bradberry
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6.
Songs About Whiskey
Anne Wilson
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7.
Have Your Beer
Mackenzie Porter
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8.
Long Time Ago
Gabe Lee, Rylie Bourne and Lucianna Costa
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9.
Back Home
Emily Ann Roberts
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10.
Under Them Neons
Braxton Keith
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11.
Rust
Corey Kent
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12.
Long Time Comin'
Don Louis
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13.
Drinking Over Me
Lauren O'Brien
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14.
Pirates & Parrots (feat. Mac McAnally)
Zac Brown Band
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15.
Growin' Up
Joshua Quimby
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16.
Heart For A Heart
Maya Lane
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17.
Socialite Blues
Adeem the Artist
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18.
First Place (feat. Little Big Town)
Elvie Shane
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19.
Country Back
Randy Houser
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20.
Tractor Time
Darry Worley, Chris Janson and Justin Moore
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21.
Raised Right
Eli Young Band
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22.
Gassed Up
Jeffrey Silverstein
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23.
Hubbardsville Store
Lost Dog Street Band
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24.
Green Jesus
Mipso
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25.
Confessional
Stephanie Lambring
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26.
In The Other Room
Nolan Taylor
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27.
Heartless
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
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28.
Weighing Down
Julian Taylor
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29.
Going to Georgia
Jake Xerxes Fussell
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30.
Good Graces
Tyler Halverson
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31.
Whiskey With You
Shane Profitt
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32.
Only Smoke When I Drink
Hayden Coffman
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33.
Makes Two of Us
Colin Stough
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34.
Mary Jane
Wade Bowen
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35.
Somebody Like You
Presley Tennant
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36.
Hunnids In A Honky Tonk (feat. Paul Wall)
Rvshvd
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37.
Off The Wagon
Ollie Joseph
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38.
Off the Map
Michael Warren
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39.
Hometown Home
LOCASH
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40.
Ghost On The Canvas (with Sting)
Glen Campbell
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41.
Easy To Love
Seaforth
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42.
Gin & Juice
HARDY
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43.
God Knows Where
Nate Good and Nick Nash
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44.
Bigger in Texas
Bri Fletcher
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45.
Hold
Michael Ray
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46.
Carnival Heart - from Cirque du Soleil Songblazers
Sam Williams
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47.
Sunflowers Seeds
Remy Sher
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48.
Where Did We Go Wrong
Prinz Grizzley
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49.
Ain't Nothing Good About Goodbye
Luther Black and the Cold Hard Facts
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50.
Bluest Eyes In Texas
Craig Campbell
Items featured on Holler are first selected by our editorial team and then made available to buy. When you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
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Written by Jof Owen
