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It's been 18 years since Taylor Swift released her debut album and the timeline of country music would be irreversibly split in two. Like the Gregorian calendar, thereafter everything up until 2006 would be referred to as being Before Taylor (BT) and everything after as Anno Taylor (AT) because country music would never be the same again.
This week's cover star is very much an Anno Taylor country pop star. Kelsea Ballerini releases her brand new album, PATTERNS, today and we've got 'Baggage' kicking off our Best New Country playlist this morning.
This week Holler was lucky enough to give the world the first listen of 'Every Good Man,' the brilliant new single from Olivia Ellen Lloyd taken from her forthcoming album Do It Myself, due out in March 2025.
"Women are sold a dual truth; that we are complete people worthy of pursuing our own dreams and ambitions and also that we must be the center of the home and the helpmeet for any man in our lives," Olivia Ellen Lloyd explains about her latest single.
"As many of us try to have it both ways, we find ourselves in situations where our partners cannot meet us halfway, cannot see us as complete people (rather than their “missing piece”, that feisty bit of rib they think they’re missing). When we find ourselves in an unequal relationship (as we so often do) it becomes impossible to be both things at once. This realization can be painful but in the face of that pain, there is also an opportunity to embrace oneself fully and totally, even though it means losing a person you love. In sum – Dump him."
Brett Young has already found himself on the wrong end of a dumping on 'Kiss To Forget. He's been putting himself out there again after a break up and puckering up for every pretty face he sees but no one is measuring up to his ex-lover.
“‘Kiss To Forget’ is a song written to the one who got away. Telling her that anybody else he tries to be with, no matter how perfect, just won’t work,” shares Young. “He lost the only person for him and the best he can do moving forward is to hope to find some kind of distraction from the one he really wants.”
He needn't bother hitting on Priscilla Block though, she's already found the man of her dreams. To anybody else, he might be just a "small town, settle down, nothin' but a good old boy" but he is very much Priscilla's man. Move along, Brett. Don't even think about it.
Our favourite Southern belle Willow Avalon releases 'Country Never Leaves,' a wistful, nostalgia-drenched ode to a life she left behind as she settles into months of touring with no break on the horizon.
'Country Never Leaves' will be taken off her debut album, which is due January 17th. She wrote the song while down south on a brief trip home last winter, but its chorus has become more and more resonant as touring pulls her around North America, and soon, the world."
"I left the 200-population farm town in Georgia where I grew up to pursue a music career but I miss it soo much," Willow Avalon told Holler. "And I can’t wait to get back there soon. You can take a girl outta the country, but not the country outta the girl."
She'll be away from home a whole lot more before the year's out supporting Paul Cauthen and Charles Wesley Godwin on their upcoming tours.
With that in mind, Big Velvet is back! Paul Cauthen has released his new album, Black on Black, as he continues his landmark 2024, who brought out Lana Del Rey to duet on 'Unchained Melody' at his Stagecoach set and features on Shaboozey’s 'Last of my Kind' Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going.
Black on Black was written over the last several years during Paul’s travels across America on his motorcycle and in the tour bus and largely recorded at Rosewood Studios in Cauthen’s hometown of Tyler, TX with longtime collaborator Jason Burt.
Ryan Hurd is in less of a fun loving mood on his new single 'This Party Sucks.' Although, unless we're very much mistaken, that's Dee's Country Cocktail Lounge in the video, and if you're not having a good time at our favourite Nashville bar then you need to take a good long hard look at the attitude you're showing up to the party with.
Watch the video for 'This Party Sucks' below.
Elsewhere we've got a new one from Brett Young, Zach John King releases his new single, 'Hole in the Wall' and Kaylee Green puts out the powerful 'Catching Up.'
“‘Catching Up is about the experience of being unhappy in a relationship but the person you’re with doesn’t realize that until it’s too late," she says about the songs. "I’ve always wanted to write songs that people can relate to, and I think a lot of people have probably gone through something like this."
Angie K is bringing her penchant for authentic storytelling, powerful vocals, and unwavering pride in her Latin heritage to new single, 'Golden.'
GRAMMY® Award winners and Country Music Hall of Fame inductees The Oak Ridge Boys give us a whole album of songs filled with heartfelt tributes to their own mothers and mothers everywhere.
Having sold over 41 millions units worldwide with Top 10 hits, including No. 1 chart-toppers 'Elvira,' 'Bobbie Sue,' 'Thank God For Kids,' 'American Made,' and 'Y’All Come Back Saloon,' The Oak Ridge Boys release their new album, Mama's Boys. The first album they made their country breakthrough in 1976 without Joe Bonsall and their fifth collaboration with Grammy-winning producer Dave Cobb, recorded at the iconic RCA Studio A and Blackbird Studios in Nashville.
“The idea for the mamas album came from our producer, David Cobb,” says Duane Allen. “He said, 'Man! You guys are perfect examples of mama's boys. I think there's a need for a complete album on all the things your mama taught you about love and life and how to get along - all the important things.' That's kind of how it started.”
Sometimes a song is just crying out for a country version and Beck's 'Lost Cause' from his 2002 album Seachange is one of those songs. Finally, Willie Nelson does the honours and it's just as perfect as we could have hoped.
Rett Madison unveils One More For Jackie as an expanded Digital Deluxe edition version of her 2023 album One For Jackie in celebration of the LP’s one-year anniversary featuring a new song entitled 'Head On,' which she originally recorded during the album sessions.Hannah McFarland shares her new single 'Hey Highway' — a poignant heartbreak ballad and her debut release for The Core Records/Capitol Records.
“‘Hey Highway’ is one of my favorite songs that I’ve written, and it feels so special to have it released as my first single after signing my record deal,” says McFarland. “I couldn’t be more excited to take the next step in my career alongside The Core Records and Capitol Records, with this song as part of the foundation.”
Co-written by McFarland and Kaylin Roberson, 'Hey Highway' offers up a deeply relatable portrait of post-breakup yearning, set entirely over the course of a tearful drive home.
All in all, it's another big week in the world of country and americana with big releases from Jordan Davis, Julia Di Grazia, Jason Scott & The High Heat, Ian Munsick, Michael Marcagi, Jamey Johnson, Gigi Perez, Austin Snell, Tyler Halverson and lots more.
Check out this week's new country and americana song releases and listen to the full playlist below:
Kelsea Ballerini
Willow Avalon
Jordan Davis
Julia DiGrazia
Jason Scott & The High Heat
Olivia Ellen Lloyd
Ian Munsick
Angie K
The Oak Ridge Boys
Hannah McFarland
Brett Young
Michael Marcagi
Priscilla Block
Austin Snell
Zach John King
Paul Cauthen
Rett Madison
Tyler Halverson
Lanie Gardner
Gigi Perez
Kayley Green
Willie Nelson
Ryan Hurd
Jamey Johnson
Olivia Wolf
Eli Winders
Orville Peck
Niko Moon
David Morris
Hannah Ellis
Steven Lee Olsen and Mickey Guyton
Brian Kelley
Clever
Erin Gibney
Fancy Hagood and Michelle Branch
Jesse James Decker
Trey Lewis
Jake Scott
Abby Anderson
Joe Nichols
Drew Baldridge
Hayden Blount
Jay Webb
Jon Langston
Tyler Joe Miller
Ashley Wells and Struggle Jennings
Sam Grow
CeCe
Seaforth
Jimmy Clifton
Bailey Bigger
William Harries Green
Dipper
Nate Good
William Beckmann
Aidan Canfield
Kasey Tyndall
Ryan Waters Band
Mason Horne
Neil Perry
Coffey Anderson
Ty March.
Caitlynne Curtis
Austin Burke
Brittanny Kennell
Bronté Fall
Hannah White
Juliet Lloyd
Smoke Dad
Danny Kensey
Amythyst Kiah
Roger Street Friedman
Cody Cozz
Sheyna Gee
Jesse Lynn Madera
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For more of the finest country playlists from Holler, see below: