Album of the Year contenders from Frankie Ballard and Ghost House are the highlights of the week.
Frankie Ballard
The Messenger
Another surprise AotY contender.
The songwriting’s as sharp as that suit fit on a collection that digs deep into the culture of the South’s “Old Time Religion.” And the production hits like a preacher pounding the pulpit, driven by Ballard’s exceptional guitar-work.
Like Marissa Moss has noted, there’s an ongoing, deliberate incursion of far-right evangelical theology into the country mainstream.
This ain’t that. This album is the kind of gospel that’s questioning and irreverent and introspective, and can I get an amen?
Gavin McLeod
Constant Astonishment
Only for the fact that every second of this sounds dead-on a different Gavin: DeGraw. Some vaguely rootsy c.2002 Hot AC, which has now apparently been folded into the country tent to accommodate another demo of middling white dudes.
Lola Kirke
Trailblazer
Retains the humor but jettisons the corrosive irony of her prior efforts and sits easy in the idea that she’s just legitimately great at this. This would be a perfect follow-up album for Chappell Roan’s “Giver” fans, for Kirke’s facility with country and pop forms.
Jason Boland and the Stragglers
The Last Kings of Babylon
Not as weird as the spectacular cover art would suggest, and Boland’s always at his best when he leans into his idiosyncrasies. But he and his crew are such a mighty fine outfit that they can cosplay as normies convincingly, too. A solid and fun listen.
Jessica Simpson
Nashville Canyon Part 1 [EP]
Acknowledging the effort here, but I just don’t think this works. Some super interesting production choices, but it also sounds like it was recorded at the bottom of a literal canyon. Songs are a mixed bag, and she remains a singer of truly inexplicable choices.
Ghost Hounds
Almost Home
Why aren’t they huge? The soulful, blues-inflected country-rock is very much my vibe, but it’s the depth of the songwriting and choices of covers (Patty Griffin! Hal Ketchum!!!) that make this exploration of emotional displacement one of the year’s best albums.
Riggings
The Subject was F****ts: A Mixtape
Functions just like Beyoncé’s “YA YA” as an example of “Americana” as a concept rather than a genre: Disparate genre elements (folk, punk, country, EDM, blues, and more are all here) combine to tell a story that’s both personal, intimate and fiercely political.
And a tip of the hat to our pals at Rainbow Rodeo Magazine for putting this album / mixtape on our radar. It’s a difficult and heady listen, but one that couldn’t be more timely. Even beyond its title, it’s a provocative and profound work that I’ve found hard to shake.
The Wilder Blue
Still in the Runnin’
An outfit that just keeps getting better and better, this set should truly position them as one of the genre’s premier bands. Most every song here hits, and they showcase the Blue’s facility with a range of styles. Accomplished and accessible and an essential listen.
Denitia
OurVinyl Sessions [EP]
Inessential in comparison to her most essential studio albums, this set nonetheless finds her in fine, warm voice, and it could serve as a solid introduction to one of the most vital acts in the modern country space.
Brett Eldredge
Lonestar Lovers [EP]
Continuing his baffling career arc, this is another collection of middling songs, sung in a garbled, mealy-mouthed style, over production that gives dying-gasps-of-VH-1 “Hot AC.” Does he still have a devoted fanbase that’s craving this? I legit don’t get him.
Norman North
Over the Influence
Leans more in the direction of straightforward hip-hop, but the country signifiers in his storytelling and instrumentation (the pedal steel on “I’ll Be Okay”) work well in context. Still, he’s a far better rapper than he is a singer, to the detriment of some of these tracks.
Andy Baxter and Kyle Jahnke as Penny & Sparrow
Lefty
The individual tracks here are, to a one, a masterclass in a range of contemporary and classic folk song conventions. And the production is consistently lovely, as are the vocal harmonies. At album length? It’s perhaps too much of a good thing, and a bit unfocused.
…when i fall asleep during listening and can’t remember, whether it was here or there on an album could be an indication that i was knackered, or it was perhaps a little unexciting. the cover and the title of the wilder blue record could be slightly missleading – from a dynamic point of view.
jason boland is jason boland indeed, which is not a bad thing. a really good thing is his “irish goodbye” on an overall solid effort. listened to that album quite extensively lately – liked it, but mostly in a pleasant but not enthusiastic way.
the gost hounds for me are another indication that the most enjoyable rock comes from country/americana/red dirt and mid western outfits these days.
fun fact: right after the last song of the wilder blue album, youtube – in all its infinite wisdom – continued seamlessly with an ai-generated (?) generic song, which made me as spontaneously as carelessly think: “wow, at last something wilder going on there…”. so much for my taste, or the future.
Wow! Thank you for the heads up on the Frankie Ballard album! I never would have even given it a listen without your praise of it, because last time I knew he was making mainstream music that didn’t interest me at all. I’m loving the album!
The last time I’d thought about Ballard at all was when I reviewed his (fine enough) cover of Bob Seger’s “You’ll Accomp’ny Me” here a full 9 years ago. So to say this album surprised me is a massive understatement!
What I said on BlueSky is that there were like 10 minutes when Music Row could have made its next-gen of A-list men out of Kip Moore, Ballard, Charlie Worsham, and Drake White. But we got Luke Bryan, Thomas Rhett, FLGAL, and Cole Swindell, instead.
I think Eldredge is capable of being a good singer–I really enjoyed his first Christmas album–but he seems to be traveling down that same highway where The Band Perry and Billy Currington got lost.