Best New Country Songs

After a tentative start to the year last week, it feels like the first big week of releases in the world of country and Americana of 2026 this week with some of the genre's biggest names bursting out of the gate to get going on what promises to be a great year for new music.

We've got new songs from big hitters like Luke Combs, Jason Aldean and Cody Johnson in this week's playlist, as well as from established names like Emily Scott Robinson and Amy Grant and some absolute bangers from up and comers like Ashley Kutcher, Meels and Ian Harrison.

Listen along to our Best New Country playlist on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and Amazon.

This week's Best New Country cover star is Zach Bryan. The Oklahoma singer songwriter releases his brand new studio album, With Heaven on Top, today.

The 25-song set was written, recorded and produced by Bryan over the last several months in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We've got four songs from the album in our playlist today, and don't worry if you don't like the way they've been produced, he plans to release all the songs as stripped back acoustic songs in a couple of days.

"I’m assuming this record is just like all the other ones and there’s gonna be a billion people saying it’s over produced and shitty so I sat down in a room by myself and recorded all the songs acoustically so I didn’t have to hear everyone whine about more stuff," Bryan wrote in a post on his socials. "There’s mistakes and I didn’t redo any of them but this’ll be out three days after With Heaven On Top drops tomorrow."

Listen to 'Bad News' below

Jason Aldean has released three new songs to get the year going, including 'Easier Gone,' a duet with his wife Brittany Aldean, and global country superstar and all-round good egg, Luke Combs has announced his new album, The Way I Am, for March with his new song, 'Sleepless in a Hotel Room,' written by Combs, Randy Montana and Jonathan Singleton.

Produced by Combs, Singleton and Chip Matthews, the new 22-track album includes previous releases 'My Kinda Saturday Night,' 'Days Like These,' '15 Minutes,' 'Giving Her Away' and 'Back in the Saddle' as he dives deeper than ever into his life behind the scenes—the challenges of balancing family and career, self-doubt and self-belief and the clarity that comes from focusing on what truly matters.

“It’s been a long process getting this thing going, but I’m really proud of this record," says Combs about the album. "I’ve loved the song ‘Sleepless in a Hotel Room’ for a long time, and it’s been awesome to see how excited the fans are for that one as well.”

A couple of our 10 Artists You Need to Know alumni from November last year have released new singles this week, starting off with Rival Sons frontman turned Americana star in waiting, Jay Buchanan who releases 'True Black' from his upcoming album, Weapons of Beauty, and Meels releases her first single since 'Willow Song' as she announces signing to the legendary Lost Highway label and her upcoming EP Across The Raccoon Strait due on 30 January.

Today, she shared 'Vultures,' a joyously rattling toe-tapper from the forthcoming EP, offering a reflection from the highway with characteristic warmth and humour.

Kentucky-bred Brit Taylor is back with the first song of her new album that takes inspiration from Appalachian life. Land of the Forgotten will be released in March and she shares 'Warning You Whiskey' today.

"I was thinking of stories I’d heard of strong-willed Appalachian women in my life," Taylor says. "They loved their men fearlessly even when all they really deserved was a good ass-whoopin. I love that the women in this song is never mad at her man. But she’s mader’n hell at the bottle of whiskey in his hand. She’s willing to fight her man’s demons for him at all cost. I’m not sure if it’s healthy and a therapist probably wouldn’t recommend it but that’s what these Appalachian women did. It’s what my mamaw did. When we were recording this I wanted it to sound like late 80s or early 90s country but very Appalachian."

Another singer celebrating the Appalachian way of life, Emily Scott Robinson continues to tease her forthcoming album, Appalachia, due out at the end of the month with her new single, 'Hymn for the Unholy.' A song that marks a deeply personal moment on the record and sets the emotional foundation for the album as a whole, it was the first song Robinson wrote for Appalachia, born out of an unexpected period of stillness during a winter storm in Crawford, Colorado.

“I got happily stuck at Smith Fork Ranch around New Year’s Eve in 2021 after a snowstorm dropped several feet overnight,” Robinson recalls about writing the song in a quiet cabin while snowbound and surrounded by new friends. “I was fresh out of my marriage and completely unmoored - everything I thought I knew about my life was suddenly gone. Instead of making resolutions, I wrote a song to myself in my state of confusion, wonder, and grief. I wanted to give myself - and the listener - permission to not know what’s coming next, and to feel their cozy smallness inside the wild mystery of life.”

Brandon Lake teams up with Cody Johnson for 'When a Cowboy Prays' and Tyler Halverson and Wade Forster are wondering if their girl could ever love them 'Like The Rodeo' in their new collaboration, while Lucie Tiger is just a girl, standing in front of a cowboy asking him to love her on her new single.

Ashley Kutcher has announced her new double-sided album Back To My Roots & These Roots Run Deep with the last teaser from it 'Hard Pill' before it comes out on 23 January andwith just a couple of weeks to go until his debut album, Act I, comes out, Kashus Culpepper drip feeds us the gorgeously soulful 'Cherry Rose.'

Elsewhere we've got new songs from Lakelin Lemmings, Mumford & Sons, Ian Harrison, Clay Street Unit, Kaylee Rose, Tyler Nance and lots more.

Unafraid of coming up against the mighty Zach Bryan, a few brave souls have also released new projects this week, including Coleman Jennings with his new Ride On EP and Vince Gill who looks back wistfully on a life well lived in 50 Years From Home: Brown's Diner Bar.

Meghan Patrick closes the book on her 2024 album with Golden Child (The Final Chapter) with six new songs written in the aftermath of deep healing that trace her journey from confrontation to clarity. Reckoning with old wounds, choosing forgiveness, and ultimately stepping into the woman she’s become. This deluxe album adds the missing pieces: the shadows she had to face, the love that carried her through it, and the perspective that finally set her free. It’s raw, reflective, and quietly triumphant, a final chapter that doesn’t just end the story, but reveals the strength it took to write it. We've got 'Safe Place To Break' in our playlist today.

"Safe Place To Break is a song I actually wrote over 7 years ago when Mitchell and I first started dating," Patrick explains. "While the lyrics were true then, recording this song after almost 8 years together and 3 years married gave the performance and song so much more depth and meaning. I think a lot of men believe women need grand gestures and romance novel moments to feel loved, and while those things are appreciated, what a woman truly wants in a relationship is to feel safe. Not just physically, but also mentally and emotionally safe… safe to be vulnerable and honest with their feelings, safe to break down in front of their man and know he will protect her in that moment instead of using it against her or seeing it as weakness. I spent most of my life putting on a brave face for the rest of the world, and this song is about finally finding the person who gave me a Safe Place To Break."

Every week we like to shine our Holler spotlight on a song that we think deserves a little extra light shining on it and this week we're spotlighting 'Before The Dawn' by Claudia Hoyser, the title track of her sophomore album released today.

Sitting at a crossroads where the classic country songwriting of Hailey Whitters and the reflective country pop of Kelsea Ballerini meet, 'Before The Dawn' is a haunting and elegiac tribute to surrendering to love delivered with Hoyser's warm and smoky, indie-country rasp.

The song captures the raw intimacy and authenticity that define the album, exploring themes of burnout, healing, love, and quiet courage. Produced by Zarni DeVette and co-written with her fiancé and longtime collaborator Ryan Hurley, the song blends simplicity with emotional depth, offering a window into Hoyser’s bold, introspective artistic evolution.

“’Before The Dawn’ feels like walking through a daydream," she shares about the song. "A flirty, warm diary‑style love note about finally letting love in. Ryan and I wrote it a year before we got engaged, capturing a secret that had been quietly growing for eight years. Sometimes love is complicated, but this song is about it seeping in anyway, lighting up the darkness and warming every hesitation."

Watch the video for 'Before The Dawn' below

Check out this week's new country and Americana song releases and listen to the full playlist below:

1. 1.

   Bad News

   Zach Bryan

2. 2.

   Sleepless in a Hotel Room

   Luke Combs

3. 3.

   When A Cowboy Prays (with Cody Johnson)

   Brandon Lake

4. 4.

   Warning You Whiskey

   Brit Taylor

5. 5.

   Vultures

   Meels

6. 6.

   Cherry Rose

   Kashus Culpepper

7. 7.

   Hard Pill

   Ashley Kutcher

8. 8.

   Hell If I Know

   Tyler Nance

9. 9.

   Red Flags

   Kaylee Rose

10. 10.

    Drive

    Clay Street Unit

11. 11.

    Like the Rodeo

    Tyler Halverson and Wade Forster

12. 12.

    Hymn for the Unholy

    Emily Scott Robinson

13. 13.

    Her Favorite Color

    Jason Aldean

14. 14.

    Before The Dawn

    Claudia Hoyser

15. 15.

    Safe Place To Break

    Meghan Patrick

16. 16.

    Games

    Ian Harrison

17. 17.

    What Are We Doing

    Lakelin Lemmings

18. 18.

    Ride On

    Coleman Jennings

19. 19.

    Fool's Gold

    Jess Woodland

20. 20.

    Me Being Me

    Kenny Whitmire

21. 21.

    DeAnn's Denim

    Zach Bryan

22. 22.

    Collateral Damage

    Sophia Zamani

23. 23.

    Rock Bottom

    Pecos & the Rooftops

24. 24.

    True Black

    Jay Buchanan

25. 25.

    The Banjo Song

    Mumford & Sons

26. 26.

    Call You A Friend

    Eli Young Band and LANCO

27. 27.

    Born Again

    Owen Riegling

28. 28.

    The Devil Went Down to Deep Gap

    Bryan Sutton and Billy Strings

29. 29.

    Southwestern Son

    Southall

30. 30.

    Under the Weather

    Eddie And The Getaway

31. 31.

    One Day

    Sheyna Gee

32. 32.

    Hometown Heroes (feat. Dean Brody)

    The Reklaws

33. 33.

    Brown's Diner Bar

    Vince Gill

34. 34.

    Just Whiskey

    Jamie O'Neal

35. 35.

    The 6th Of January (Yasgur's Farm)

    Amy Grant

36. 36.

    Tombstone Desperado (feat. Jake Banfield)

    Bella Mackenzie

37. 37.

    Adaline (feat. Trinity Lake)

    Tyce Delk

38. 38.

    Dry Deserts

    Zach Bryan

39. 39.

    Wealthy

    Ethan Miller

40. 40.

    Same Old Song

    Landon Wilks

41. 41.

    No Going Back

    2 Lane Summer

42. 42.

    American Sky

    Morgan Myles

43. 43.

    Can't Live Without

    Lakeview

44. 44.

    Cowboys Don't Act Like That

    Austin Michael

45. 45.

    Clown Song

    Levi Turner

46. 46.

    Somewhere Wild

    HunterGirl

47. 47.

    With Heaven On Top

    Zach Bryan

48. 48.

    Say Yes

    Skip Ewing

49. 49.

    Glass Fireworks

    Pip Marsh

50. 50.

    Sing Along

    Willie Tate

51. 51.

    Junior Stayed Home

    Graham St. Clair Band

52. 52.

    Telephone

    Sarah Lake

53. 53.

    If I Were The Wind

    Chad Sellers and Gavin Sellers

54. 54.

    Little Man

    Justin Tyler

55. 55.

    Everywhere a man can be

    Zachary Lucky

56. 56.

    Cowboy Love Me

    Lucie Tiger

57. 57.

    Since I've Been Gone.

    Nora.

58. 58.

    The Black and the Blue

    Joe Pernice

59. 59.

    Love Me That Way

    Logan Michael

60. 60.

    Love At A Glance

    Sammy Brue

61. 61.

    Boots In The Rain

    Florence Somerville

62. 62.

    I'll See You Soon

    Whey Jennings

63. 63.

    Mattress

    Chicago Summer

64. 64.

    Happy Place

    Nathan Evans and SAINT PHNX

65. 65.

    Pipe Dream

    Pert Near Syndrome

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For more of the finest country playlists from Holler, see below: