Sep 9, 2024
Aug 28, 2024
Country Song of the Summer?
Jul 26, 2024
New Video / Kaitlin Butts / "Wild Juanita's Cactus Juice"
Talking in Circles
Jul 1, 2024
New Video / Kaitlin Butts / "Other Girls (Ain't Havin' Any Fun)"
Jun 25, 2024
Eatin' Good on Friday
May 20, 2024
New Video / Kaitlin Butts / "Roadrunner"
Mar 25, 2024
New Video / Kaitlin Butts / "Hunt You Down"
Jan 3, 2024
New Performance Video / Kaitlin Butts / "Tomorrow Will Be Kinder"
May 5, 2023
Kaitlin Butts Performs "She's Using" at The Ryman
Feb 28, 2023
New Video / Kaitlin Butts / "What Else Can She Do"
Feb 1, 2023
New Video / Kaitlin Butts / "Blood"
Jan 30, 2023
Kaitlin Butts / "Any Man of Mine" / Mile 0 Fest
Dec 21, 2022
Farce the Music's Top 36 Songs of 2022
1. Kaitlin Butts - Blood
2. Adeem the Artist - Middle of a Heart
3. Jamestown Revival - Young Man
4. Plains - I Walked With You a Ways
5. Drew Kennedy - Peace and Quiet
6. Michaela Anne - Oh to Be That Free Again
7. 49 Winchester - Russell County Line
8. Big Thief - Certainty
9. Bonnie Raitt - Just Like That
10. Arlo McKinley - Stealing Dark from the Night Sky
11. Jason Scott & The High Heat - Suffering Eyes
12. Madeline Edwards - Port City
13. Kendell Marvel - Dyin' Isn't Cheap
14. Aaron Raitiere - Everybody Else
15. Ray Wylie Hubbard ft. Lzzy Hale & John 5 - Naturally Wild
16. Miko Marks & The Resurrectors - This Time
17. Ian Noe - Road May Flood/It's a Heartache
19. Hailey Whitters - College Town
20. Gabe Lee - Wide Open
21. Tami Neilson & Willie Nelson - Beyond the Stars
22. Randall King - Around Forever
23. The Wilder Blue - Feelin' the Miles
24. Band of Horses - In the Hard Times
25. Ashley McBryde/Caylee Hammack/Brandy Clark - Bonfire at Tina's
26-35 not ranked
Ben Chapman & Channing Wilson - Things People Say
American Aquarium - Just Close Enough
Zoe Cummins & Gabe Lee - Common Law
Bri Bagwell - Old Together
Vandoliers - Before the Fall
Wade Bowen - Burning Both Ends of the Bar
Julie Roberts - When You Wake Up (in the Bed You Made)
John Fullbright - Social Skills
Charley Crockett - Trinity River
Sunny Sweeney ft. Vince Gill - Married Alone
Dec 15, 2022
Farce the Music's Top 25 Albums of 2022
Achingly real, passionately delivered, What Else Can She Do is short in length, but long on heart. From the broken relationship of “It Won’t Always Be This Way” to the familial sorrows of “Blood,” Kaitlin’s voice is a warm hand holding ours as we walk through a bleak landscape of addiction, bad jobs, and lost dreams. Despite that dour description, it’s somehow an uplifting journey.
The future is now as 49 Winchester delivers on all the buzz with this boozy, honky tonk banger. There are party tunes that don’t make you feel pandered to and tearjerkers that aren’t paint by number. I started to list the standouts, but realized that most of Fortune Favors the Bold's 10 songs fit the bill.
Mixing Red Dirt, pop punk, and other influences, Vandoliers have quickly become one of my favorite bands. Their ear-pleasing, danceable music sounds like nothing and everything you’ve heard before. A well oiled live act, they bring that vibrant sound to their records better than most, and this album’s no exception. More than most bands in the “scene,” Vandoliers sound like they ought to have big hits… somewhere, somehow.
Sprawling, weird, messy, endearing. From the title to the run time to the occasional vocal idiosyncrasies, Dragon can be a beast to get into for the musically unadventurous, but it’s well worth your time. Equal parts folk, country, and indie rock, the album is an epic listen that somehow leaves you wanting more. The melodies are the heart, and the lyrics are the soul - sometimes abstract, sometimes hilariously to the point.
This is an album you could put on at a party and not a soul would complain, despite nobody having any idea who’s singing. There’s the fun Brad Paisley-esque humor of “10 Feet of Regret,” the soulful barroom sadness of “Strangers,” the welcoming mid-tempo swagger of “Kentucky Deluxe,” and everything in between you could ask for. It’s a songwriter’s record, in the Nashville sense of that description, but it’s as big in message as it is in wordplay.
Sounding as mystical and eternal as the Appalachian mountains, Ian has another winner with River Fools. It’s timeless stuff, digging into your soul with Noe’s Dylan-with-vocal-lessons delivery and setting the hook with the lived-in stories. There’s an undeniable magnetism in this music that’s both hospitable and intimidating at once. Ian’s a force of nature.
Another songwriter’s record, Single Wide Dreamer isn’t afraid to get silly and grimy, like the seedier side of Kacey Musgraves’ trailer park. Drawing from influences like Prine and Roger Miller, and backed by some of Nashville’s finest, Raitiere sings with a conversational tone, a knowing wink, and a hinted at darkness. Hilarious and comfortably cynical, Single Wide Dreamer is a nimble look into the mind of one of Nashville’s best ‘unknown’ writers.
Those harmonies. That’s all you need really, but then there’s the expert musicianship and resonant songs to go along with those spine chilling vocals, and The Wilder Blue have a true gem of an album. The bouncy 70s vibe laden “Feelin’ the Miles” is the standout for me, but there’s not a clunker in the bunch. These guys deserve a shot in the upper pantheon of Americana, and one of these days they’ll get it.
Bursting with country soul, Feel Like Going Home will take you from church to the blues dive with a stop at the country store along the way. Feel Like Going Home sounds like the best parts of 70s AM radio (when they played all genres on the same stations) put together on one record. Miko sings wonderfully, the band kicks ass, and the songs are thrillingly moving. Memphis, the Delta, Nashville, New Orleans, Muscle Shoals - Feel Like Going Home finds its heart at the midpoint of these legendary music towns.
To these ears, the prettiest album released this year, Oh to Be That Free sounds blissful and even wistful, but there’s plenty of depth to be had here. “Chasing Days” documents Anne’s move toward settled independence after a chaotic childhood. “Mountains and Mesas” seeks solace in a darkening world. Michaela’s writing reveals complex emotion with simple words, often bringing to mind Robert Frost’s conversational tone that hides meaning in plain sight. It’s a beautiful album with so much more to offer in repeated listens.
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Honorable Mentions: Zach Bryan - American Heartbreak, The Sheepdogs - Outta Sight, Jason Scott & The High Heat - Castle Rock, Pusha T - It’s Almost Dry, Hailey Whitters - Raised, Drew Kennedy - Marathon, American Aquarium - Chicamacomico, Whiskey Myers - Tornillo, The Cactus Blossoms - One Day, Sunny Sweeney - Married Alone, Randy Rogers Band - Homecoming, Emily Nenni - On the Ranch, Charley Crockett - The Man From Waco, Kendell Marvel - Come on Sunshine, Red Clay Strays - Moment of Truth, Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway - Crooked Tree, John Calvin Abney - Tourist.
Sep 29, 2022
25 Favorite Albums of 2022: 3/4 Report
2. Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You
3. Aaron Raitiere - Single Wide Dreamer
4. 49 Winchester - Fortune Favors the Bold
5. Ben Chapman - Make the Night Better
6. Ian Noe - River Fools & Mountain Saints
7. The Vandoliers - s/t
8. The Wilder Blue - s/t
9. Kelsey Waldon - No Regular Dog
10. Joshua Hedley - Neon Blue
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11. Wade Bowen - Somewhere Between the Secret and the Truth
12. Amanda Shires - Take it Like a Man
13. Jason Scott and the High Heat - Castle Rock
14. Tami Neilson - Kingmaker
15. Arlo McKinley - This Mess We’re In
16. Band of Horses - Things Are Great
17. Michaela Anne - Oh to Be That Free
18. Pusha T - It’s Almost Dry
19. Hailey Whitters - Raised
20. Drew Kennedy - Marathon
21. American Aquarium - Chicamacomico
22. The Sheepdogs - Outta Sight
23. Whiskey Myers - Tornillo
24. Yelawolf / Shooter Jennings - Sometimes Y
25. Sarah Shook and the Disarmers - Nightroamer
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Lurking beyond: Zach Bryan - American Heartbreak, Bri Bagwell - Corazon y Cabeza, Tony Logue - Jericho, The Whitmore Sisters - Ghost Stories, Jamestown Revival - Young Man, Vince Staples - Ramona Park Broke My Heart, Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway - Crooked Tree, Brent Cobb - And Now Turn To
Aug 3, 2022
The Country Chart in My Perfect World
This is the kind of variety country radio would have in my perfect world.
They aren’t ranked based only on how much I like the songs, but a combination
of how long the singles have been out + how much I like them.