The Sunday Morning Paper is a weekly feature where I share news that’s occurred within the country music industry over the past week and quote from any further pieces that interest me, and may interest you. Click on the hyperlinks provided at the end of each blurb to find out more.
So, after publishing the last few entries in my book project series, this feature should return back to normal … well, hopefully. Anyway, onward!
On the Horizon
New album releases:
June 11
- The Oak Ridge Boys – Front Porch Singin’
- Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real – A Few Stars Apart
- Kylie Morgan – Love, Kylie
- Sammy Sadler – 1989
- Jenny Don’t and the Spurs – Fire on the Ridge
- Hannah Juanita – Hardliner
- Cory Grider & the Playboy Scouts – Honky Tonkin’ Beauty Supreme
- Rachel Baiman – Cycles
June 17
- Tyller Gummersall – Lucky Guy
June 18
- Rory Feek – Gentle Man
- Amythyst Kiah – Wary + Strange
Impacting country radio:
June 14
- Craig Campbell, “Never Mine”
- Elle King & Miranda Lambert, “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)”
- Zac Brown Band, “Same Boat”
Single-minded:
- Kelsea Ballerini featuring LANY, “I Quit Drinking”
- Flatland Cavalry, “No Ace in the Hole”
- Chapel Hart and Mickie James, “Grown Ass Woman”
- Zoe Cummins, “Your Side of It”
- Jesse Daniel, “Clayton Was a Cowboy”
- Summer Dean, “Can You Hear Me Knocking”
- Vincent Neil Emerson, “High On Gettin’ By”
- Cody Johnson, “’Til You Can’t” & “Longer Than She Did”
- Valerie June, “Stay” (Little Dragon Remix)
- James McMurtry, “Canola Fields”
- John R. Miller, “Coming Down”
- Brad Paisley, “City of Music”
- Orville Peck, “Born This Way”
- RC & the Ambers, “Oklahoma Beach Body”
- Billy Strings featuring RMR, “Wargasm”
- Chris Young, “Rescue Me”
- Zac Brown Band, “Same Boat”
Review log:
I’ve only reviewed one album this month and it’s midyear list season. I’m super behind on new releases and likely won’t have any new reviews until next week, but my backlog consists of the following: Candi Carpenter, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, Allison Russell, Red Shahan, and Rhonda Vincent.
Stacks of Facts
High Valley’s Curtis Rempel has left the duo to pursue other interests. A statement from him regarding the leave can be found below:
Some excellent news: Sarah Shook & the Disarmers have signed with Thirty Records and promise a new album by early 2022.
James McMurtry is set to release his first album in six years, The Horses and the Hounds, which follows 2015’s Complicated Game. It might be cliché to say an artists possesses world-weary wisdom or can paint pictures with their music, but with McMurtry. it’s been true for several decades now. This album is easily my most anticipated one of the year. (Glide Magazine)
Also in new music news, RC “Rooster” Edwards (of the Turnpike Troubadours), will release his new album under the RC & the Ambers outfit, Big Country, on Sept. 10. (Radio Texas Live)
New music video roundup: Brothers Osborne (“Younger Me”) and Erin Enderlin (for her “Fishin’ in the Dark” cover).
Also, it’s not quite new, per se, but there’s a Ray Charles box set on the way. True Genius will be released on Sept. 10 and will feature a whopping 90 songs, including a special bonus disc of eight previously unreleased tracks recorded live in Stockholm in 1972. (American Songwriter)
Dolly Parton is working on a new country and bluegrass album. “I don’t know if it’ll be this coming year but it’ll be soon,” she said in a statement. Parton’s late ‘90s and early 2000s works of a similar vein are regarded as some of her best, so this is also something to (obviously) get excited about. (CMT)
Something cool from a few weeks ago that I missed: Tyler Childers goes in-depth behind what inspires his music in a new video, including a deep-dive into the construction of songs like “Lady May” and “Creeker.” “I don’t see songwriting as a job, so much as it’s something to do to keep from working,” he says.
Alan Jackson will host the “Where I Come From” Tornado Benefit Concert on his Facebook page, aimed at benefiting tornado relief for his hometown of Newnan, Georgia. The concert will be held on June 26. (The Music Universe)
That’s all, folks. Anything else? Let me know!
The Musical Divide 