Another solid week, with excellent efforts from Joy Oladokun and Meghan Patrick leading the way.
Wyatt Flores
Welcome to the Plains
Quite the growth curve for this upstart: This proper debut largely delivers on the promise of his prior EPs. He shows increasing command of song structure and isn’t averse to an actual hook or genre signifier. Which is to say this should end the Zach Bryan comparisons.
Joy Oladokun
OBSERVATIONS FROM A CROWDED ROOM
Her best album yet, and by some margin. Early on, she asks, “Where is the safe place for someone like me?” and she spends this album staking out her own territory in a space far beyond typical boundaries of Americana, even as she still draws from country, folk forms.
BRELAND
Project 2024 [EP]
Doesn’t live up to the audacity of its title, though his refusal to apologize for taking up space in the country mainstream is, in and of itself, an act of powerful subversion. His mastery of genre conventions continues to evolve, impress on this set of bangers.
Justin Moore
This is My Dirt
He’s never had a set artistic persona beyond one of a mainstream trend-hopper, but this finds him settling into what’s a predictable brand of reactionary traditionalism. He sings it all well enough, but there’s a whole lot of fear of having something taken from him on this.
Carter Faith
The Aftermath [EP]
The most interesting moments here lean into the sounds of late 90s alt-pop (I hear Cardigans, Tori Amos), making for an aesthetic that’s more distinctive than that of her peers. That’s needed, since her overall POV is less notable, and her singing is just all right.
Meghan Patrick
Golden Child
A tremendous album that would instantly improve the genre’s mainstream. Patrick’s writing is smart, self-aware, and savage, and she’s a singer of deceptive power and grit. Best moments here recall “I’m Glad My Mom Died” for adult-child-of-toxic-parents insight.
Erin Kinsey
Gettin’ Away With it
The aesthetic here is squarely in the middle of Nashville’s Kinsey scale: Polished, professional, and radio-ready. The songwriting boasts some moments that a genuinely clever, though, with a wry, slightly snarky POV. She’s one to watch, for sure.
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