The Official Country Music Thread Genre • Page 104

The new songs from the upcoming Lindsey Ell album are fucking great. Really psyched for this one.

 

Not sure how many people here are familiar with Brett Eldredge. In the past, he's sometimes tilted a little too close to the "bro-country" trend, though I've always thought he had a really unique, big voice and sharper songwriting skills than he was typically showing off on his radio singles. His new album, Sunday Drive, came out yesterday and is the payoff on all the potential I always thought he had. He made it with Ian Fitchuk and Daniel Tashian (the Golden Hour producers) and apparently really tried to get away from social media/the Nashville hustle and just focus on songwriting. I'm pretty impressed with it.

Here's the title track:

 

Didn’t know about this; basically music from/inspired by the show it seems

 

As a big fan of his older stuff, not a big fan of this new album. Kudos for him doing something new though.

 

so i dunno about anyone else but margo price is really putting a sour taste in my mouth with this whole vaguely condescending looking-down-her-nose at country thing.

 

mainstream establishment country deserves to get looked down on and she especially deserves to look down on them for their treatment of her in the early parts of her career.

 

Summary of what happened? She say something at the Opry?

 

I just think the “she’s leaving country behind!” narrative on this album cycle has been kind of obnoxious. It’s not that big of a departure from her previous work, more of a refinement. And it’s definitely a country record, ha.

But I’m also not sure if that’s the narrative she and her team are pushing or if it’s just the way a bunch of publications have covered the record.

 

no you're right about all that I meant more country as a genre or a sound, not the industry which absolutely does suck and should be torn down.

That's what I meant, her and her team are insisting that she's not a country artist and this album isn't country, which is just bizarre to me, because it clearly is, just less overtly traditionalist. Sturgill was the same way with his last album, which while being ok for what it was, felt like a phoned-in attempt to break away from being pigeonholed. I dunno. With mainstream country being what it is it's just a little bit disappointing that two of the strongest artists keeping the genre alive feel compelled to distance themselves from it.

 

i think the sturgill record, even going back to people he said were his influences since day one, is the furthest thing from an attempt to break away from anything, and is closer to an attempt to do what he always wanted to but wasn’t allowed to

 

New David Ramirez cd out today.

 

So speaking of new David Ramirez, how do we feel about it?

 

This is very good

 

The thing with the Sturgill record is that I actually don't think it's a country record at all. That really is a rock record. This one...still very much a country album, just with a little more Fleetwood Mac and a little less honky tonk. I'm not faulting it, either: I really like that sound on her. But it does bum me out when the narrative for a great country artist becomes "This isn't a country record!" That was a big thing with Golden Hour, which...I mean, by any metric I would personally call that a country record. I just often feel like that narrative gives major publications/people who don't generally listen to country to continue ignoring or looking down on the genre as a whole, which kind of sucks.

 

Christmas season is getting earlier and earlier every year I swear

 

I feel like this is a little bit of a tough situation, because country as a genre of music and country as an industry / establishment are two different things to people like us who pay attention to music and think about it a lot, but I kinda feel like there's less of a distinction there for people who are just casual fans.

I can completely see and understand why someone like Kasey Musgraves would want to distance herself and her record from "country" given how shitty the industry has been to her and to female artists in general, while at the same time I listen to Golden Hour and it sounds like a country album to me, albeit a less traditional and more spacey / dreamy one.

I haven't heard the new Margo Price album but this sounds like a similar dynamic.

 

Looking forward to listening to the new Lori tonight

 

New Lori and Courtney Marie Andrews

 

Here's a thread for Courtney's album for those who want to discuss it: Courtney Marie Andrews - Old Flowers (July 24, 2020) • forum.chorus.fm

 

New Lori McKenna just might be her best work yet. It's phenomenal.

 

The new Lori hasn’t hit me quite as hard as her last three yet, but it’s obviously great. I think The Tree is her masterpiece, though.

 

She can’t really write a bad song, but the highs were way higher on The Tree imo.

 

Anybody check out the Logan Ledger album from this year?