25 Favorite Albums of 2022: 3/4 Report

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1. Kaitlin Butts - What Else Can She Do

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

New Video / Wade Bowen w/Vince Gill / "A Guitar, A Singer, and A Song"

Jamie Lin Wilson & Wade Bowen Cover Nicks & Petty at Mile 0 Fest

Wade Bowen Covers Guy Clark's "Let Him Roll"

Saturday Night Music / Randy Rogers & Wade Bowen / "Rodeo Clown"

It Never Ends

"Standard" Florida-Georgia Line Meme

Top 20 Albums of 2018 - First Quarter Report

1. Brandi Carlile - By the Way, I Forgive You

2. Caitlyn Smith - Starfire

3. Ashley McBryde - Girl Going Nowhere

4. Dallas Moore - Mr. Honky Tonk

5. First Aid Kid - Ruins

6. Courtney Marie Andrews - May Your Kindness Remain

7. Caleb Caudle - Crushed Coins

8. Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour

9. Courtney Patton - What It's Like to Fly Alone

10. Buffalo Tom - Quiet and Peace

11. Ruby Boots - Don't Talk About It

12. Wade Bowen - Solid Ground

13. Mike & The Moonpies - Steak Night at the Prairie Rose

14. Trixie Mattel - One Stone

15. Whiskey Wolves of the West - Country Roots

16. Anderson East - Encore

17. Josh Grider - Good People

18. Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats - Tearing at the Seams

19. Ross Cooper - I Rode the Wild Horses

20. Pedigo's Magic Pilsner - s/t

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*there are a few recent and forthcoming albums I haven't listened to enough to rank yet

**This is just Trailer's top 20 - year end list will include all contributors

Wade Bowen Performs "Acuña"

The first single from his forthcoming Solid Ground. (Feb 9)

Hee Haw Country Reaction Gifs

When country radio gives you

gloom, despair, and agony

When you pretend a Kane Brown fan told a good joke

so you can get out of the conversation

Hey Buck! Point to a couple of legends.

Kentucky, you're putting out some great country music!

When you try to trick the boys into believing

you've decided Sam Hunt is actually pretty good

Are you excited about the new Wade Bowen album?

George: "I co-wrote a new song that's way

too good for country radio to play."

Randy Rogers & Wade Bowen Perform "Hangin' Out in Bars"

Saturday Night Music: Randy Rogers & Wade Bowen "Rita Ballou"

Saturday Night Music: Cross Canadian Ragweed w/Wade Bowen

Wade Bowen Covers Strait's "A Fire I Can't Put Out"

Album Review: Flatland Cavalry - Humble Folks

Review by Trailer

This one hits the spot.

I haven't felt much like writing reviews for a while now. It's not that there hasn't been some good music put out this year - just nothing I felt I could put any passion into writing about. Also, since we've brought on the full-barrel punk energy of Robert Dean and the damn near peerless wordsmithery of Kevin Broughton, there hasn't been much need for my everyman type reviewing, but this new album from Flatland Cavalry has pulled me out of mothballs.

Flatland Cavalry's Humble Folks is also the first album of 2016 to stir up all the feelings I like to have when listening to music. From the wistfulness of "A Good Memory" to the driving introspection of "Devil Off My Back," the sentimental wanderlust of "Traveler's Song" to the sad-sack lamenting of "Goodbye Kiss," Humble Folks is a tour-de-force of emotions and textures.

"Easy on the ears, heavy on the heart" reads the description on Flatland Cavalry's website, and that couldn't be more accurate. Their sound is an easygoing mix of red dirt country, pop melodies, laid back swing, and heartworn folk. And there's so much fiddle. Lord, but I love me some fiddle and I love Laura Jane's fiddling. It's all a perfectly accessible approach but one that doesn't scrimp on the craftsmanship and songwriting.

"Tall City Blues" grabs you with its portrayal of loneliness and unfulfilled dreams amid the high-rises and concrete canyons of the city. You can just imagine the twenty-something small town boy taking the accounting job in Houston, then slowly realizing the "difference in making a living and loving what you do."

"Stompin' Grounds" rescues that dispirited fellow back to his home town where the Shiner is cheaper and colder and the people are warmer. There's a lot of that sort of longing in Flatland Cavalry's music - yearning for real interaction and authentic folks. It's a welcome and relatable desire in a world that seems to grow more mean and detached with every passing day.




Humble Folks is a great album; certainly one of my favorites of the early year, and well worth your listen. It's a familiar sound, but one that with repeated listens will reveal deeper layers and twists of melody you haven't heard before. These songs are sure to make you think, smile, hurt, and tap your foot. Sometimes all at once. That's what good music does.

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Flatland Cavalry is a no-doubter for fans of Turnpike Troubadours, Wade Bowen, The Damn Quails, and the like.

You can find Humble Folks on Lonestar Music , iTunes, etc.. (Out today)

Same Ol' Backroad Song

FTM's Top 20 Songs of 2015

20. Jonathan Tyler (with Nikki Lane) - To Love is to Fly

19. Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats - S.O.B.

18. Kendrick Lamar - King Kunta

17. Jamie Lin Wilson - Seven Year Drought

16. Allison Moorer - If I Were Stronger

15. John Moreland - White Flag

14. Darrell Scott - Thanksgiving 1985

13. Benton Leachman - Lonely

12. Ray Wylie Hubbard - Stone Blind Horses

11. Anderson East - What a Woman Wants to Hear

10. Chris Stapleton - Fire Away

9. Father John Misty - The Night Josh Tillman Came to Our Apt.

8. Ashley Monroe - Bombshell

7. Whitey Morgan - Still Drunk, Still Crazy, Still Blue

6. Wrinkle Neck Mules - Beehive

5. Hailey Whitters - Low All Afternoon

4. Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen - El Dorado

3. The Honeycutters - Me Oh My

2. Baroness - Chlorine & Wine

1. Turnpike Troubadours - The Bird Hunters

Top 30 Albums of 2015: 3/4 Report

Here's my 3/4 of 2015 Favorite Albums list. I'm going to attempt to do a composite among FTM's regular contributors (Matthew, Kelcy, Jeremy, Kevin, and myself) and hopefully have our first team-voted official list (at least a top 10) at the end of December, so this is just a 20% slice here. -Trailer

1. Father John Misty - I Love You Honeybear

2. Chris Stapleton - Traveller

2. Whitey Morgan - Sonic Ranch

4. Turnpike Troubadours - s/t

5. Jason Isbell - Something More Than Free

6. The Honeycutters - Me Oh My

7. Randy Rogers & Wade Bowen - Hold My Beer, Vol. 1

8. James McMurtry - Complicated Game

9. American Aquarium - Wolves

10. Ray Wylie Hubbard - The Ruffian's Misfortune

11. Jonathan Tyler - Holy Smokes

12. J.D. McPherson - Let the Good Times Roll

13. Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly

14. Ashley Monroe - The Blade

15. The Pollies - Not Here

16. Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats - s/t

17. Jamie Lin Wilson - Holidays & Wedding Rings

18. The Damn Quails - Out of the Birdcage

19. Anderson East - Delilah

20. Kacey Musgraves - Pageant Material

21. Faith No More - Sol Invictus

22. Lindi Ortega - Faded Gloryville

23. John Moreland - High on Tulsa Heat

24. Lucero - All a Man Should Do

25. Benton Leachman - Bury the Hatchet

26. Wrinkle Neck Mules - I Never Thought It Would Go This Far

27. Clutch - Psychic Warfare

28. Darrell Scott - Ten

29. The Deslondes - s/t

30. Dwight Yoakam - Second Hand Heart

I haven't heard these enough yet to rank them: Jason Boland and the Stragglers - Squelch, Hailey Whitters - Black Sheep, The Yawpers - American Man, Corb Lund - Things That Can't Be Undone, Don Henley - Cass County, Gretchen Peters - Blackbirds.

FTM's 10 Favorite Songs of 2015 So Far

In no particular order.

John Moreland - White Flag

Wrinkle Neck Mules - Beehive

Whitey Morgan - Still Drunk, Still Crazy, Still Blue

Kendrick Lamar - King Kunta

The Honeycutters - Me Oh My

Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen - El Dorado

Benton Leachman - Lonely

Darrell Scott - Thanksgiving 1985

Father John Misty - The Night Josh Tillman Came to Our Apt.

Chris Stapleton - Fire Away

These and many other good songs from 2015 are included on this Spotify playlist:

Top 20 Albums of 2015: First Half Report

 1. Whitey Morgan - Sonic Ranch
Sonic Ranch is as strong a "real country album" as you'll hear in 2015. It's refreshing to hear such unfiltered honky-tonk music in this day and age of contrived edge and softened edges. Morgan and the 78s' version of modern outlaw country is a comparable sound to what Sturgill Simpson is doing, but with a blue collar approach and a more pronounced low-end. This album may not drive Morgan to acceptance/hype in the same circles as Jason Isbell and Sturgill, but it's a big statement album that will bring in new fans and make old ones very happy.

2. Father John Misty - I Love You Honeybear
Indie-pop is a sub-genre I usually avoid due to the overly precious nature of its typical fare. Father John Misty doesn't do twee. He infuses his catchy pop tunes and lounge rollers with a strong dose of balls. His lyrics are clever, biting, and frequently downright asshole-ish. These songs comfort, provoke, enlighten, and annoy, often at the same time. Our narrator is a jerk, but a jerk that you have to stick around to see what he'll do or say next. This is a record that will gnaw at you and stick with you, each song taking its turn being an earworm or soundtrack to some odd moment.

3. Chris Stapleton - Traveller

4. The Honeycutters - Me Oh My

5. Randy Rogers & Wade Bowen - Hold My Beer, Vol. 1
Hold My Beer, Vol. 1 sounds as much like a celebration of friendship as it does a duets album from the pair of popular Texas troubadours. There's a palpable sense of fun and camaraderie throughout the ten song collection.  It’s the soundtrack to a good Saturday afternoon barbecue, a party record for people who'd rather not fist-pump, a greatest hits collection of songs you haven’t heard yet (unless you've been to their summer tours of the same name as the album).

6. J.D. McPherson - Let the Good Times Roll

7. American Aquarium - Wolves
To say the musical arrangements are daring & a departure from past albums is true. Yes, the same basic structure is there, the skeleton is intact enough to keep the loyal fans sated. But BJ Barham & the boys take risks here. The lush "Man I'm Supposed To Be" could be something Chet Atkins produced, but the darkness that lurks in this most honest of love songs somehow makes the song even more powerful. -Kelcy Salisbury

8. James McMurtry - Complicated Game
This is McMurtry’s best record, and it ain’t close. And that was a high bar. He could put his pen and guitar down now, and his name will forever belong beside those of Lovett, Clark, Earle, and yes, Van Zandt. If you know those names, you know what the comparison implies.  If you don’t, listen to Complicated Game, and get a frame of reference. This one’s a crowning moment for one of the true and elite Texas craftsmen. -Kevin Broughton

 

9. Ray Wylie Hubbard - The Ruffian's Misfortune

10. Jamie Lin Wilson - Holidays & Wedding Rings

11. Kacey Musgraves - Pageant Material

12. Darrell Scott - Ten

 

13. Blackberry Smoke - Holding All the Roses

14. Wrinkle Neck Mules - I Never Thought It Would Go This Far
Maybe this fine album isn't to be analyzed. Find your own meaning in these literate, attitude-driven, poetic, anti-bucolic, abstruse (and surprisingly fun) lyrics and run with it. It's not like you're going to stop tapping your foot, either way. It's all too damn catchy; and so steeped in shine and cooked over some ridge dweller's firepit, I Never Thought It Would Go This Far can't help but captivate.

15. John Moreland - High on Tulsa Heat

 

16. Will Hoge - Small Town Dreams

 

17. Courtney Patton - So This is Life

 

18. Benton Leachman - Bury the Hatchet
Benton Leachman has a reedy croon that gives off the impression of innocence or sweetness. While that may indeed be the case for Leachman personally, his debut album, Bury the Hatchet, presents several bits of evidence that are at odds with that starry-eyed delivery. He's clearly a complicated and real person, and this record shows you all his sides with a passionate honesty that's rare in first releases.

 

19. Cody Jinks - Adobe Sessions

 

20. Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly