First Listen: Hailey Whitters, Jesse Daniel and the Albums You Need to Hear This Week

This week we've got big new albums from Hailey Whitters, Jesse Daniel and Crowe Boys, plus a new one from Waylon Wyatt and Rascal Flatts get back on the road with their Life Is A Highway: Refueled Duets.

After spending the morning listening to all of this week's new releases, the Holler staff have their say:

Whitters sings on her titular track chorus, “She ain’t all that but she ain’t half bad”. Well, we’d be inclined to disagree. Corn Queen is all that. Billed as a ‘rousing reflection of her Midwestern roots’, Whitters delivers the humility of small-town life through 16 tracks of clever, insightful lyrics and twangy, foot-tapping melodies.

A standout track, ‘Shotgun Wedding Baby’, epitomises Whitters distinct vocals and playful, 90’s country sound. Fans of Miranda Lambert will love ‘It’ll Do’, while the uptempo ‘Hearsay’ has an Ella Langley-esque style. ‘The Nail’ carries the sass and empowerment of Megan Moroney’s ‘Man On The Moon’, amalgamated perfectly with the classic country sound that Whitters has worked so hard to authentically weave throughout the album. 

With three beautiful collaborations – ‘Prodigal Daughter' ft. Molly Tuttle, ‘I Don’t Want You’ ft. Charles Wesley Godwin and ‘DanceMor’ ft. The Wilder Blue – Whitters ensures each of these tracks carries their own individual sonority. There is beauty in the story behind the final track, ‘DanceMor’, which is the name of the dance hall her family used to attend, making it a perfect bookend to the album.

~ Georgette Brookes

Take a drive through Bakersfield, tune into a local station on an old truck radio, and the crackle of “next up from the heart of California: the Son of the San Lorenzo” would transition flawlessly between classics from Merle Haggard, the Flying Burrito Brothers and the Eagles. Anyone else with an affinity for the music of the Golden State will dive into this album and get caught up in those crystal blue waters of crying steel guitar, Telecaster twangs and sentiments of a never-ending road.

A healing album from the soul of an artist, it’s the sound of Daniel’s musical heritage as he unabashedly writes ‘Jodi’ a love letter, recalls the country tradition of murder ballads on ‘The Ballad of Love Creek’, and overarchingly explores addiction struggles and growth, all with authenticity and passion. This might be the story of the Son of the San Lorenzo, but there’s always another story to be told. Daniel has managed to weave that nostalgia, longing and optimism into a deeply personal, eleven-track reflection on a life truly lived - so far.

~ Daisy Innes

Made To Wander, the debut album by the Crowe Boys, serves as a light folk record where its roots land in the quiet chaos of feeling too much, with a sound as if it was written in the middle of a lonely night.

The opening track, ‘Bootstraps’, sets the tone with one of the record’s most cutting lines: “Easy to say cause you’ve got bootstraps”. It’s a sharp, honest rejection of toxic positivity and a preview of the unfiltered emotion to come.

‘Let Me be Alone’ is a dark, brooding standout about recognizing the danger in someone you once trusted: “You are my sin.” It’s sparse, raw, and hits with a quiet devastation. Meanwhile, ‘Where Did I Go Wrong’ turns inward - “I wish I wasn’t so driven by status” - offering a confession disguised as a chorus.

But there’s a warmth here too. ‘Bonfire in My Soul’ strikes a chord of longing, and ‘Made to Wander’ is a tender declaration of love’s ability to anchor us: “You are the rain… that makes me wanna grow.” Sonically, the album flows effortlessly. The instrumentation of light folk texture with occasional swelling strings or soft acoustic strumming never competes with the lyrics.

While the lyrics often lean into blunt simplicity, their strength lies in the sincerity - and that seems to be the point. These are straightforward, unfiltered reflections of thoughts many people have, but don’t always vocalize aloud. That simplicity lends a kind of raw purity to the project.

Made To Wander isn’t revolutionary, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s a collection of truths that feel like hushed confessions you scribble in the margins of a journal, or make up on long drives at night. For a debut, it shows promise and a strong emotional pull.

It’s not trying to be flashy or overly profound - it just wants to be real. And that’s more than enough.

~ Caitlin Hall

The Rascal Flatts were never innovators. So, on the 25th anniversary ‘refuel’ of some of their greatest hits, they sensibly allow a string of pop, rock and country vocalists to change the oil, whilst they rest easy on a backseat built on their trusted formula of honeyed vocals and major key chirpiness, serving up their own cheese so convincingly that it creams rather than curdles.

Case in point: did we need to hear 27-year-old Ashley Cooke and 54-year-old Gary LeVox singing a duet about ‘teeny French bikinis’ and ‘summer nights when everybody’s feeling sexy’? In theory, absolutely not. Yet, on the record Cooke’s clear reverence and LeVox’s sincerity is too irresistibly harmless and fun not to be charmed by.

There’s the odd blip in production choice, such as the predictably on-the-nose dramatic pop stylings of Backstreet Boys duet, ‘What Hurts The Most’. Then there’s the unnecessarily grandiose Phantom of the Opera-esque opening of Brandon Lake duet, ‘Stand’, saved only by virtue that the edge in Lake’s voice makes him the first guest on the album with a hint of contrasting vocal texture against LeVox’s syrup.

Yet the wiser choices claw back ground, with the finest vocal showcases sensibly saved for those with a chance to compete, such as Carly Pearce and Kelly Clarkson. The latter breathes new life into ‘I’m Movin’ On’, making the Flatts background players on their own song, where they seem quite content to languish against Clarkson’s powerhouse pipes.

Both on paper and in reality, it’s Lzzy Hale’s feature on ‘Life Is A Highway’ that provides the most interesting contribution, her raspy voice allowing itself to skirt minor key coolness in a way LeVox never would, harking back to some of the spark of Tom Cochrane’s original.

The world needs this album as much as Chris Stapleton needs another CMA Male Vocalist of the Year award, which is to say that it doesn’t. And yet, like Stapleton’s creaking trophy cabinet, it leaves you feeling warm and comforted that the old faithfuls have got life in them yet.

~ Holly Smith

Two weeks ago, Waylon Wyatt opened for the Turnpike Troubadours at Red Rocks on a glorious Friday night, and that following Monday graduated from high school. This puts listening to his astoundingly mature second EP Out of the Blue into full perspective.

With easy classics like ‘Arkansas Diamond’ and ‘Everything Under The Sun’ already under his belt, the eighteen year old phenom proves with his latest collection that his instant notoriety is most assuredly earned. On the haunting duet, ‘Smoke & Embers’, Wyatt sings with unshakeable longing, aptly matching the intensity of the always excellent Willow Avalon. Though it's on standout ‘I’d Be Delighted’ where his inexplicable vocal abilities drive the hopeful lyric into irresistibly soulful places.

While comparisons to Tyler Childers and Zach Bryan abound, Wyatt showcases his unique abilities in such an assured manner that it's evident he deserves to be in a league of his own making.

~ Soda Canter

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For more on this week's artists, see below: