Sunday Selections: February 12, 2017

On abbreviations.

Let’s cut right to the chase, gang: We’ll be putting the full “Sunday Selections” posts on hiatus for a bit based upon how time consuming they’ve become to compile. We’ll continue to post the new release and reissue lists and the chart updates in an abbreviated post each week, and we’ll bring back our “Worth Reading” tag to highlight noteworthy articles and interviews from time-to-time. We’re hoping that this will free up time to continue our increased coverage of new singles and albums and to post additional features.

And a big “Thank You!” to our regular readers and commenters who have used these posts to generate some lively and thoughtful discussion each week! We look forward to picking back up with the longer posts later in 2017!

(And I only used that picture of Luke Bryan for the featured image because it’s never not funny and because Twitter, for whatever reason, always changes it to a more flattering picture of Bryan when we post it.)

Onward!

New Releases & Reissues, 2/03/2017
Lynn Anderson, The Definitive Collection. (Real Gone Music)
Jim Kweskin, Relax Your Mind (1965). (Real Gone Music)
Jim Lauderdale, London Southern. (Proper)
David Luning, Restless. (Blue Rose Music)
Reba McEntire, Sing It Now: Songs of Faith and Hope. (Rockin’ R / Big Machine)
LeAnn Rimes, Remnants. (RCA)
Jaime Wyatt, Felony Blues. (Forty Below)

New Releases & Reissues, 2/10/2017
Jesca Hoop, Memories Are Now. (Sub Pop)
Sonny James, The Singles Collection 1952 – 62. (Acrobat)
Kris Kristofferson, The Austin Sessions Expanded Edition (1999). (Rhino / Atlantic)
Old Crow Medicine Show, The Best of Old Crow Medicine Show. (Nettwerk)
Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Ozark Mountain Daredevils (1980). (BGO)
Chuck Prophet, Bobby Fuller Died for Your Sins. (Yep Roc)
The Sadies, Northern Passages. (Yep Roc)
Brett Young, Brett Young. (Big Machine)

Charted Territory
Billboard National Country Airplay:
#1: Thomas Rhett, “Star of the Show” (1 week)
Most Increased Audience: Sam Hunt, “Body Like a Back Road”
Debuts: Sam Hunt, “Body Like a Back Road” (#21); Zac Brown Band, “My Old Man” (#26);
Most Added: Sam Hunt, “Body Like a Back Road” (80); Zac Brown Band, “My Old Man” (63); Brett Young, “In Case You Didn’t Know” (25); Cole Swindell, “Flatliner” (16); Florida Georgia Line feat. Backstreet Boys, “God, Your Mama, and Me” (15); Rascal Flatts, “Yours If You Want It” (15); Brothers Osborne, “It Ain’t My Fault” (15).
Notes: Thomas Rhett’s “Star of the Show” ends the three-week reign of Blake Shelton’s “A Guy With a Girl,” which only drops back to #2; Little Big Town’s “Better Man” holds at #4 for a second week on its march toward the top of the chart; “Kill A Word” by Eric Church feat. Rihannon Giddens finally cracks the top 10, holding at #10 for another week despite losing a bit of its audience; “80s Mercedes” by Maren Morris rebounds slightly, back up to #12 and re-gaining some audience impressions; High Valley’s “Make You Mine” holds its top 20 position at #20 in its 50th chart week; the top 30 debuts by both Sam Hunt and Zac Brown Band cause several singles, including Chris Janson’s “Holdin’ Her” (#22) and Miranda Lambert’s “We Should Be Friends” (#28), to get pushed back; Luke Combs’ “Hurricane” (#32) has been named the latest OnTheVerge single from iHeartMedia, so look for it to post sizable gains over the coming weeks; Runaway June’s “Lipstick” falls from #28 back to #33; RaeLynn’s “Love Triangle” also drops this week, from #29 to #34; the Backstreet Boys officially have as many top 40 hits at country radio as Brandy Clark, as their collaboration with Florida Georgia Line moves up from #38 to #36;  Brothers Osborne have the fastest-rising single of their career to date, as “It Ain’t My Fault” jumps up to #42 in its third week; William Michael Morgan’s “Missing” drops from #47 to #49 because of course it does; in happier news, Drake White’s “Makin’ Me Look Good Again” finally begins to gain some momentum, up to #50; Cody Jinks’ “I’m Not the Devil” has fallen off the Indicator chart that includes smaller market stations; Candi Carpenter’s “Burn the Bed” dropped off the chart last week, meaning that there isn’t a single female-led entry between RaeLynn at #34 and #60…

Elsewhere on the Billboard Radio Charts:
Pushing three separate singles concurrently seems to have undermined Ryan Adams’ success at AAA radio, where “Do You Still Love Me” drops to #11 after just 7 weeks; Old 97s’ feat. Brandi Carlilie’s “Good With God” is on a tear, up to #13 in just a month; Son Volt’s “Back Against the Wall” moves up to #24 in its third week on the chart; Valerie June’s “Shakedown” cracks the top 30 at #27 this week; Nikki Lane’s “Jackpot” is also closing in on the top 30 at AAA; Sturgill Simpson has scored 3 station adds thus far with “Keep It Between the Lines,” the next single from A Sailor’s Guide to Earth, while The Lumineers’ new single, “Angela,” earned 4 station adds; Keith Urban’s “Blue Ain’t Your Color” scored 2 more stations adds at Adult Contemporary radio, moving up to #26 in its second week; because Billboard is weird with its recurrent rules, Hillary Scott & The Scott Family’s “Thy Will” was finally sent to recurrent status at Christian radio, though its total spin count would have kept it at #9 this week.

See, now that wasn’t so bad, now was it?

Be sure to check out our Grammy preview feature if you haven’t done so already, and check back this week for more new reviews!