One Liner: Another Zach Bryan acolyte, from Austin, making good acoustic tunes.
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but I'll say Country, Americana, Folk Home: Austin
Saturday
Thoughts: Huh. How many Zach Bryan-ified guys are going to be on this poster? I like ZB, but it feels like one or two of those stripped down guys is enough, before this festival is going to turn into the Kerrville Folk Festival and we'll just have singer-songwriter night on every stage.
He actually grew up in Austin, the son of a school teacher and a high school basketball coach. He tried guitar lessons as a kid, but those didn't pan out. He ended up teaching himself via lessons from YouTube, immersing himself into classic country and some of the new school guys on this poster. Maybe I need to give the guitar a try again. I wonder how you go about finding the best guitar lessons on YouTube, so that I'm not just wading through garbage for hours? Anyway, he went to A&M, and after he graduated he took a job at the Circuit of the Americas in the Operations team. He kind of reminds me of Jackopierce's early stuff, but also of the kind of guy you would hear in the corner of a bar just rocking out by himself while everyone talks and drinks.
He started posting covers online, and then finally caught on with "To Be Free," which apparently became a thing on TikTok. But it was "Coal" that really blew up and catapulted him into the big time.
Great central line - "they say pressure makes diamonds, how the hell am I still coal." Good tune, very low key, DIY, basic singer-songwriter vibe. He only actually has six songs, so there is a limited amount of vibe you can get a hold of here, but his second-most streamed is called "To Be Free" and is lovely. 6.3 million streams.
Still just a boy and his guitar, but that one gets a little more of a snappy tempo going. "Beneath Oak Trees," which is about him getting married in Wimberly under an oak tree canopy, is really nice.
I'd go catch his set. Pretty low key stuff, but he feels like the kind of guy who may be on the up elevator right now.
One Liner: Power-pop country ready made for belting out
Wikipedia Genre: Country, country pop Home: Nashville (by way of Sharon, KS).
Saturday
Thoughts: Another weird one. I've definitely heard this name in my life, but I don't know any of these songs at all. Well, that isn't entirely true, the biggest hit rings a bell in the way a song used for a Chevy commercial would ring a bell, but I don't recall ever just hearing it in a normal setting.
And what makes that so weird is that she is massive. 14 studio albums, four compilations, and a live album. And eight of those have gone Platinum, with some others going Gold. She has sold over 14 million albums. She's won CMA's Female Vocalist of the Year four times, and AMC's Top Female Vocalist three times. She's been nominated for 14 Grammys. This is a major country star. And yet, nope. Don't remember these songs.
Martina Mariea Schiff was born in Sharon, KS in 1966. Her parents owned a dairy farm and she initially started playing music in a family band her father fronted called the Schiffters. Awful band name. She later started performing with a rock band called The Penetrators. Even worse band name! She married studio engineer John McBride and they moved to Nashville, where the husband started working with Garth Brooks on his concert production. Garth apparently told Martina that she could open for him, if she could score a recording contract first. The rest is history.
Wikipedia says she is pop-styled crossover country, in the mold of Faith Hill and Shania. I can see it. What I keep noticing as I listen to it is how breathy she seems to be on many of these songs. There is probably an actual term for that sound, but it's like she is trying to add sexiness to the lyrics through extra breath. Also, a lot of this is the cheesiest stuff in the world - like easy listening Magic-95-ass songs about how she sees who she wants to be in her daughter's eyes (as a swelling chorus of violins churns). Ugh.
Her first album was 1992's The Time Has Come, but none of the songs on there appear to have stood the test of time with streaming. The second album has one though, The Way That I Am was released in 1993 and has two of her biggest songs. The top streamer in her whole catalog is one of those "Independence Day." 64 million. Cue the Chevy Commercial.
Oooh yeah, starting of the video with "Amazing Grace," really reeling in those red state moms. Shades of "Earl" but without the violence. I bet you the funny thing is that dumb people play this on the 4th of July thinking it is a patriotic song, when it is really about an asshole abuser and a woman escaping his BS. Again though, weird that I don't know that song in the slightest, and yet for a 30 year old song to have 65 million streams means it is a big ass song.
1995's Wild Angels has no songs as big as that one - "Wild Angels" is the top track with 6.3 million streams. But 1997's Evolution has "A Broken Wing" (20.3 million) and "Valentine" (51.2 million) that appear to have broken out (and then a ton of tracks without even 100k streams, which just looks odd). Here is that second one:
Maybe that is her power move - she names songs after holidays so that people play them each year on the holiday and she profits. That one for sure doesn't sound like country, more like Celine Dion. 1999's Emotion didn't have much going, but 2003's Martina hit with "This One's For the Girls," with 45 million streams.
Her dancing/hand motions are sending me, as is the super "rock and roll" guitarist they keep showing with her hair blowing and 'tude. 2005's Timeless is all covers, and no one appears to have cared. Same with 2007's Waking Up Laughing, 2009's Shine, 2011's Eleven, 2014's Everlasting, and 2016's Reckless. She re-released Eleven for some reason, in 2023, with a deluxe edition. The top track from that is "I'm Gonna Love You Through It," with 15.6 million streams.
Hey, that's Sheryl Crow. Ah, so this song isn't about a holiday, but it's her cancer anthem. This lady is freaking smart about her song subjects. If you want to get stream counts, write a cheesy anthem about loving someone through their cancer treatment. Spot on. Katie Couric! "Teenage Daughters" reminds me of Alanis Morissette. Which is weird.
Yeah, without any nostalgia points on this one, I don't get a ton of excitement about seeing her. She's still got a great voice and I'm sure she puts on a show, but I'd probably check out the other end of the park.
Wikipedia Genre: Country Home: Nashville, born and raised.
Saturday
Thoughts: YYYYYYEEEEEESSSSSS. "Strawberry Wine" is a damn jam. Couldn't have told you that this was the name of the lady who sang that song, but I would pay real money to be able to belt out that chorus in a crowd of people. "We Danced Anyway" is also a classic. These must have been camp songs. I can't recall, but I don't know how else I would know them so well without knowing who sang them.
She was born in Nashville, the child of singer Fred Carter, Jr. I don't know anything about him, but apparently he was a Louisiana-born dude who worked with huge acts like Roy Orbison, Conway Twitty, and The Band. He became part of the A Team in Nashville, playing session roles on massive albums like Bridge over Troubled Water, Nashville Skyline, and others. Deana didn't immediately find success with her music as a teenager, so around 1984 she enrolled at the University of Tennessee, joining a sorority and later graduating with a degree in rehabilitation therapy. She actually went into work in that field, before deciding she wanted to pursue her music.
Willie Nelson then heard a demo and invited her to play with Farm Aid, which got some folks to notice her. Then, in 1995, her debut album exploded in a massive way. Did I Shave My Legs For This ended up going five times platinum and producing three number one hits. I'm going to provide you with the key songs from that album, because I think they jam. First, the major single, "Strawberry Wine." 143.6 million streams.
That chorus is the damn business. It also doesn't hurt her cause at all that she is gorgeous. Which is sort of funny, in that John Anderson looks like some sort of hobo train conductor at the same time and is having similar success. Second, I will give you "We Danced Anyway," with 20.6 million streams.
That opening lick sounds like some Hootie and the Blowfish action. Her voice gets a little more country on that one than in the first. Good tune though. Nostalgia inducing for me and makes me happy. Third, you need to hear the final #1 from this album, "How Do I Get There." 6.4 million streams.
The weakest of those three, but still a solid song. Makes me think of early Dixie Chicks. But finally, the title song, which I think is very clever. 5.1 million streams.
Love it. I mean, it's a horrible story of a dude being an asshole while his lady is doing her best to romance him, but the lyrics are just perfection. She did some 2021 versions of some of these best songs, and they're sort of annoying. They add in like 4 or 5 other singers and muddle up the classics. Most of the "deluxe" album reissues should just leave the album alone!
After that massive success, nothing else ever came close. 1998's Everything's Gonna Be Alright got to Gold status, and she left her label. She put out a Christmas album, 2003's I'm Just a Girl, and then 2004's The Story of My Life. None of those did much on the charts.
Her 2007 album The Chain is all covers, and they are well done, usually with a kick ass collaborator on each tune. "The Boxer," which is a great song, sounds like it has Chris Thile dueting with her, despite no attribution on Spotify (ends up being actual Paul Simon!). Her cover of "The Weight" again makes me think of Sheryl Crow. In a good way. I like Crow. She even covers "Swingin'" by fellow poster-dweller John Anderson. I figured she might have switched the gender of the lover on the swing, but not so much. Oh, he's on the tune too! She has Dolly, Willie, George Jones, and Shooter Jennings popping up on here. Pretty fun. But it also did nothing on the charts.
Her 2013 album Southern Way of Life is sort of fascinating. Pretty songs, really nice stuff. But I'd almost categorize it in the niche where Sheryl Crow lives, or like Norah Jones. "I'll Save My Love For You" could be an indie tune from some New Yorker. Just an interesting detour from the expected.
I'm not mad at this! Feels like she could blow you away with those biggest hits, and then do a couple excellent covers and a few of her nice new tunes, and you'd get a great show.
Wikipedia Genre: House/Disco Home: London (I think?)
All Weekend!
Thoughts: Like the name for sure, a nod at the Flying Burrito Brothers, but the music leaves something to be desired for me. If there are country angles here, they are lost on me. This sounds more like something you'd hear in an Abercrombie store or something. Laid-back house music.
According to their website, this is "Two country-disco mescaleros pioneering the great electronic wilderness. With their boots firmly planted in dusty seventies sunsets, their pan-USA productions take cosmic country funk to modern dancefloors via NYC disco and baggy acid house." I have no clue what to say with that. I don't like it at all. The weird thing is that Spotify says this is James Alexander Bright, but never once mentions cowboy or country stuff. Confusing. And then I find a website saying this is producer and musician Ben Chetwood and DJ and crate digger Jack Sellen? I DON'T KNOW!?!?!
The music is fine. Kinda fun. Super not my scene though. Top track is "No No (Flying Mojito Bros Refrito)" with 86k streams.
Yeah, you know. Groovy and funky and laid back. Also, super repetitive and generic-seeming. I doubt I'll be finding the Country Curious DJ station anyway, as I'd rather see one of the country bands or singers instead.
One Liner: Funny to think that Zach Bryan has been around long enough to have artists following in his footsteps, but this guy is right there.
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but I'll say Country, Americana, Folk Home: Southeast Missouri
Saturday
Thoughts: Wikipedia is unhelpful, in that "Sam Barber" there is this: "Samuel Barber (September 17, 1919 – April 18, 1999) was an American baseball pitcher in the Negro leagues. A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Barber played with the Birmingham Black Barons in 1940, and served in the US Army during World War II. He died in Birmingham in 1999 at age 79."
But I will tell you, even without a detailed background, the comparison to an early Zach Bryan is a quick and easy one to make. Some of these songs have a touch of production going on, but moth of them are super stripped down tunes with this kid singing over his acoustic, and nothing else going on. His very limited bio on his own website says that he was an athlete first, and only picked up music when he was 16 and started messing around with his grandfather's guitar. But his rise has been ridiculously fast - he played the Grand Ole Opry just three months after his first official headlining concert. He started releasing music in 2021, while still a student at something called State Technical College in Linn, Missouri. "Straight and Narrow" took off, and that remains his top track by a lot. 87.5 million streams.
I love that location - can I please go there right now? Super simple tune, but a powerful message about overcoming setbacks. Wild to think he wrote that while still a teenager. And by the way, in one interview, he admits that he first learned the guitar by playing Zach Bryan covers. He gives a shout out to Tyler Childers, saying that Bottles and Bibles is his favorite album ever. He also includes ZB and Stapleton as his other inspirations.
Just one EP to his name so far - 2023's Millon Eyes. In an interview, he said that his favorite track from the album is "Save Me," which is funny because it is in the bottom two for streams for the disc. His second-most streamed tune on the EP is a cover - "Dancing in the Sky," originally by something called Dani & Lizzy. 20.5 million streams.
Definitely the track on here with the most production - he leaves behind the stripped-down sound in favor of drums, bass, organ, etc. and it almost actually sounds like he might be somewhere other than his bedroom.
I'm excited to play some of these songs for my girls. They are obsessive about Bryan, so I'd love to see if they react the same way about this fella. I'd go see him play.
One Liner: "Straight Tequila Night" is a jam, and his killer, singular voice is still there.
Wikipedia Genre: Country Home: Smithville, TN
Sunday
Thoughts: What is up with the (unplugged) part here? This dude sings some straight banger classics - if he going to do them in a weird solo acoustic way? Or will the whole band be there to do them unplugged? This is important. Other fun piece of trivia, when you search Wikipedia for him, there are no less than 134 John Andersons with their own page on Wikipedia. People from an American escaped slave, to a Scottish genealogist, to a an American sprint canoer, to a Green Bay Packers linebacker, to an Australian chemist, to the Archbishop of Moosonee, to U.S. Representatives from California, Kansas, and Maine, to the Mayor of Christchurch, N.Z., to a Scottish magician, to an American sportscaster (and co-host of Wipeout), to a jazz trumpeter, the lead singer of the band Yes, vocalist for the band Charlie, a Northern Irish composer, and this guy, an American country musician.
Raised in Apopka, Florida, he played in a rock band until he was fifteen when he shifted into country. He moved to Nashville in 1971, when he was 17, apparently arriving unannounced at his sister's house. He took odd jobs during the days and played the clubs at night.
First off though, this dude's voice is singular. Honey-smooth and sounds like nobody else on the radio. I don't mean this to sound rude, and it likely is, but he seems like the kind of guy who is mainly doing covers of other people's songs, not his own originals that he wrote. Voice like that, he gets that reign over what he sings. May be totally wrong though. Over time, he charted more than 40 singles, including five number ones. He's been nominated for a few Grammys. 22 albums, and the most recent one was recorded with a veteran Nashville producer as well as Dan Auerbach from the Black Keys.
His first big success is from 1982, and is one you'll likely remember - "Swingin'" - I did not recall that the girl's name in this song was Charlotte Johnson. This was from the album Wild & Blue, but there is a cleaner version with more guitar on his greatest hits album that has 5x the stream count. Together, they have 30.5 million streams.
That is the newer version. Lyrically, is why the brother is on the sofa eating chocolate pie and the dad is in the backyard rolling up a garden hose. How long does it take to roll up a garden hose? How is Dad not all over this punk getting his swing on with little Charlotte? Is chocolate pie a euphemism? Otherwise, that kid is spoiling his dinner if Mom is just about to serve fried chicken. This house is chaos. But this tune blew him up, getting him multiple Grammy nominations and his first number one song.
His first Grammy nomination actually came from before that album, with "I'm Just an Old Chunk of Coal (But I'm Gonna Be a Diamond Someday)," which I think gives away too much in the title. But is a really good song - it was the one that first made me feel like he might be a covers master.
Haha! I know things! That was written and originally performed by Billy Joe Shaver! It has since been covered by Miranda Lambert and Jamey Johnson, so maybe one of those versions is where I've heard it.
After a few less successful albums in the 80's, he switched labels and released a few more unsuccessful albums, before finally releasing 1991's Seminole Wind. That album included the title track (which peaked at #2) and the 90's banger "Straight Tequila Night," which went to #1 and pulled this album up into double platinum territory. I think you need both of these.
"Seminole Wind" - 46.9 million streams.
That sucker starts like some "That's Just the Way It Is" action, before the fiddle and drums join the party. Not enough videos with a good bonfire and shots of the Florida swamp. Also, that is sort of a protest song, which I dig. Screw them developers draining the swamp and ruining the world! And then you get the biggest hit of all - "Straight Tequila Night," with 58.2 million streams. Absolute dance hall killer right there. The acting in that video is freaking uhhmaaazing. She's mad on the step of that honky-tonk the way that my little girl was when she was like 4. But then, in the rain, she's got some serious Head and Shoulders commercial vibes going on. I bet she had a long acting career after this video. According to this helpful website, John Anderson was the only cast and crew in that video.
His version of "She Just Started Likin' Cheating Songs" is great, as are his versions of "Okie from Muskogee" and "Long Black Veil." I tried out the new disc, to see if he was suddenly playing 70's rock boogie under that voice, but it stays pretty true to the old school. He's got Blake Shelton on a song that makes me think of Skynyrd, but overall, this could have been just another disc from years ago. it is good though, and I am very pleased that his voice is still so clean. His face, on the cover, looks rode hard and put up wet!
I found another concert that was billed as "unplugged" - it looks like he is just going to play with one other dude on acoustic guitar. They are plugged in, but not playing electric action.
Yeah, I'd go check him out. I wouldn't say he is a priority one, but his hits are legit and he still sounds good.
One Liner: Brassy, confident country plus a cleverly named cooking show.
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but I'll say Country and Country Rock Home: Nashville (via Savannah, GA)
Saturday
Thoughts: Wow. That is some hair. Her main photo in Spotify is from kind of a sideways angle, and so she's kind of looking over her shoulder, and the appearance it gives is like the most full wig that has ever been created a for a human. At least double the size of her face.
Her bio says that she had to work her ass off to get up on that stage: "“In order to pay my band, I had to start cleaning houses and sell all my guitars, including the first and only one my daddy ever gave me. For years, I wrote songs and played shows on borrowed guitars,” Dasher recalls. “Eventually, I scrubbed enough toilets to buy my first Gibson.”" When she moved to Nashville, she was working at Bass Pro Shops and working on her songs. She got fired for writing songs while on the clock. The cassettes she wore out when she was young are supposedly: Patsy Cline’s Greatest Hits, Clint Black’s Killin’ Time and Alan Jackson’s A Lot About Livin' (And a Little 'bout Love). Solid list. She also has a degree from the University of Georgia, which seems rare among most of these artists, a full-on college degree.
Another fun anecdote: "During the quarantine summer of 2020, Dasher decided to try out her comedic, country music-infused cooking series, "Stand By Your Pan" on TikTok. Within six months, her platform grew from 12,000 followers to over a million. “People appreciate that I’m authentically unfiltered Hannah, and I’m very confident in who God made me to be,” she says." I can't access TikTok from the work computer, but I'll have to go check that out. Oh wait, you can see them on something called YouTube Shorts. Didn't know this.
Okay. She's fuckin' hysterical. Also, those biscuits look freaking amazing. I'm sure there are a million other funny people doing cooking videos on TikTok and YouTubeShorts (or whatever it is called), but that is good times. "wooooooh, honey, hush." Total character. Love it.
So, music. We are here for the music. Right. Two EPs (2021's The Half Record and 2023's The Other Damn Half) and a handful of singles in the midst. "You're Gonna Love Me" is a great declaration of a new artist being brassy and confident to tell you that she kicks ass and you're gonna dig it. But the top track from the first EP is "Leave This Bar," with 1.4 million streams.
Classic new country tune right there. Sorta rock. Strong voice. Lyrics involving cold beer and blue jeans, and then a twisted metaphor used as part of the title or chorus. Pretty good song. I like "You're Gonna Love Me" better. The newer EP has the more popular tunes in her Spotify list, even if the stream counts haven't yet caught up. The top track for now is "Cryin' All The Way to the Bank." 110k streams.
Another classic trope - get all his damn money in the divorce and go spend it! Yeehaw! Good, not great tune. I like "Ugly Houses" or "Redneck Ass" better off of that album. "Go To Bed Early" is the least streamed tune on the disc and I think it is pretty solid.
While I doubt I'll save any of these songs for future listening, I think this show would probably be damn fun. She just seems like someone who doesn't give a damn and wants to jam out and have a good time.
One Liner: Up and coming group with a soulful rock edge I'd compare to Stapleton
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but I'll say Country, Americana, Country Rock, Rock Home: Castlewood, VA
Sunday
Thoughts: After reading the band name, I sort of figured that this was a play on the Winchester gun brand. But there isn't a .49 caliber (at least that I have ever heard of). Instead, that is the house address where these dudes lived when they started the band - 49 Winchester Street, Castlewood, Virginia. They started out as teenagers just wanting to make some music in a tiny town, and now are apparently the "Buzziest of Buzz Bands" according to Rolling Stone. Luke Combs apparently posted a picture of himself wearing their t-shirt, and that added fuel to their fire.
Not sure that it is purely country. Some of this almost sounds like soul ("Hays, Kansas" is a prime example). A lot of it is straight rock and roll. And that combination is pretty reminiscent of one of my favorite country stars right now - Chris Stapleton.
I can't actually read that Rolling Stone story, as I don't have the digital subscription. And they don't have a Wikipedia. But there are other articles out there about these dudes. A bunch of big, bearded Appalachian men formed by two high school buddies and some of their friends. As of 2020, the lead singer was still working as a carpenter with his dad, who was also the driver of their tour van. I suspect that they are bigger than that now.
Definitely a band where you can hear their evolution over time. Their 2014 self-titled debut album is a sloppy, DIY thing. It isn't jam band stuff, but it brings that to my mind. The top track is this folky number called "Michigan." 483k streams.
Rough edge on his singing voice for sure. I can see some hacky-sack loving undergrads at UVA grooving to this as they roll joints. 2018's The Wind is pretty close, but feels more rock and roll to me. III starts to sound more soulful. The top track off of that album has recently been redone, which is interesting. They gave it a little more polish.
Original has 9.6 million streams, the 2023 version only 328k. But the above is the new one. She sure came out slowly to greet him back home. If I were in that Troop's shoes, I would have wanted a more immediate run into my arms after saving the world from bad guys. Great tune though - soulful as hell, and all those harmonies in the chorus kick ass.
But it isn't until the fourth album, 2022's Fortune Favors the Bold, that you get the more fully realized package. The album kicks off like a Beach Boys album, and then launches into a soulful Americana tune called "Annabel." And then "Man's Best Friend" comes on much more like a country song from the holler. But "Russell County Line" is the top track from the disc, with 29.2 million streams, which also makes it their top song overall.
You know how everyone kind of thinks that where they are from is the best or the prettiest? Despite some of those photos that look like run-down dumps, there is a part of me that thinks that Virginia is some of the prettiest land in the country. This is despite being born and raised in Austin and deeply believing in the beauty of home. Nice song though. Comes on very slowly. I like the way the subtitles just said "(Mellow Music)," before the rock and roll ending kicks in. The ending says "(intense music)" which is funny. I like the intensity better!
I'd absolutely go see this. Feels like a band on the rise with a lot of promise in a genre that I already enjoy.
One Liner: The biggest star in new-breed Texas country
Wikipedia Genre: Country, country rock Home: Huntsville, Texas
Saturday
Thoughts: Weird to see this name at the top of this poster - never heard of him. Likely says more about me than it does him, because if he is as big as Tyler Childers, Zach Bryan, and Turnpike, then I am obviously the one who is missing the boat. Although, in my defense, if I search for "Cody" in Spotify, the first result is something called Cody Jinks, not this dude.
He was born and raised in Sebastopol, Texas, which is in the Lufkin/Huntsville area down towards Houston. I'm pretty sure there is something with that name in Seguin, but I hadn't heard of the town before. Likely because it has 120 people. And two Dollar General stores (according to Wikipedia). Which is freaking weird. Huh, yes, there is a Sebastopol House Historic Site in Seguin. Learn something new every day!
When he got started, he was riding bulls and working in a prison in Huntsville. He self-released his first six albums, before signing with Warner Brothers (and when he did that, he was big enough to keep creative control and his publishing and masters. Which is freaking smart). At first, he was the Cody Johnson Band, which included his father, who had taught him to play. His dad quit pretty quickly, but the band started getting noticed and climbing up the Texas music charts. Once they got big enough, Cody was able to quit his job with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and go for music full-time. Around that time, they changed the band name (tragically, in my opinion) to the Rockin' CLBs (which is justa shit name). By the time his sixth album was released, he was selling real numbers and that disc went up to #2 on the Billboard Top Country Albums Chart. Around then - 2018 - he blew up in a major way, becoming the first ever independent artist to sell out a show at the Houston Rodeo. Now he's big enough to have a nickname - CoJo. His people are the CoJo Nation.
I think this musical style paragraph in his Wikipedia is interesting. "Cody Johnson’s music is classified as contemporary country, neo-traditionalist country, or Cowboy. Marcus Dowling of CMT has stated that many view Johnson as a leader within the “back to country” movement in the industry. In an interview with Brett Callwood, Johnson has described his music as drawing on multiple genres: “I’m not sure if you’d call me Texas or red dirt or mainstream or outlaw. I just always say that I’m me. I sound like what I sound like, and I’m not trying to be anything that I’m not.”" A Texas Monthly article says that people have been calling him the new George Strait, which sounds like blasphemy to me. He's got a good voice and all that, but the King? C'mon. But I'll say that he sounds like a real one in that interview with Andy Langer. I like his attitude.
Too much talking about the guy here - let's get in to some tunes. Eight albums so far. 2006's Black and White Label (which is listed as 2011 on Spotify for some reason), 2009's Six Strings One Dream, 2011's A Different Day, 2014's Cowboy Like Me, 2016's Gotta Be Me (and by the way, his look on the front of these albums, at this time, is extremely clean cut and generic cowboy), 2019's Ain't Nothin' to It, 2021's Human The Double Album, and 2023's Leather. You can absolutely hear a change in the music from those first albums to the newer stuff. His voice has gained some polish and his sound is cleaner.
The biggest song from those early albums is from the third, A Different Day, which has "Diamond in My Pocket" on it, with 141.6 million streams.
See, look at that photo! Nice straw hat, big old belt buckle, zero tattoos to be seen. That cover absolutely looks like a self-released CD cover that you would buy after you happened to see him open for someone else at Gruene Hall and kinda drunkenly enjoyed, and then the disc would bounce around in the back of your car for a few years. But yes, a very traditional country song sound right there.
The next album, 2014's Cowboy Like Me, has one of his most popular tunes, "Me and My Kind," with 164 million streams and the kind of chorus a bunch of good-ol-boys would love to yell out.
Heavy on the accented singing right there, like really drawling out those words. This definitely sounds like something written in a lab in Nashville for George Strait to use. 2016's Gotta Be Me boasted two big hits - "Wild as You" (87 million) and "With You I Am" (125 million), and 2019's Ain't Nothin' To It had "On My Way To You" with 108 million. The annoyingly named Human The Double Album has the next monster one, with "'Til You Can't" breaking the 200 million mark at 211.5 million streams.
This is what a lot of these tunes sound like to me - a powerful and aspirational message to be a better person or a better spouse or whatever. So, the schmaltz is heavy on this one, but nonetheless, it's an entirely true sentiment that makes me want to call my parents right now and then leave work to take my kids out of school and then take the whole family somewhere for the night. I really like it. Cheese be damned, that is a good song.
Finally, he just released Leather, literally three days ago when I started writing this post. So, the stream counts aren't quite there yet, but a few of the songs have jumped a few million in the last three days. Which is impressive. "That's Texas" is one where part of me wants to dislike it because there are already so many of those pandering ass songs trying to list Texas-y things, but it is actually pretty damn fun. "Work Boots" is good. He even has Brooks and Dunn on a track! One thing that I noticed here that truly differentiates him from some of the older classic stuff like George or Garth are the tough guy elements. Strait would never have sung a song like "Jesus Loves You" with a line like "The Good Lord was lookin' after you, 'cause my gun was in my truck" or "if you come near me and mine again, you're gonna meet him face to face." That sort of performative schlock is just more poison in people's ears about how to solve a problem, and I hate it. He also devolves into some of those Nashvillian tropes at times - girl in her bare feet ridin' along in my truck down them county roads, etc. But, I'm not as mad at that. "Dirt Cheap" is a legitimately good song. A little schmaltzy and lays that on a little thick, but I love the message of it, and it's done well. "The Painter" must have been the early single, because it had big stream numbers before the album was even released. 26.7 million.
More schmaltz, but another good song. Nothing wrong with a well-done love song.
He has a 2022 live album called Cody Johnson & The Rockin' CJB Live, which is very instructive. Dude sounds like a bona fide star on that album. The crowd is loud and knows all the words. He is singing the songs cleanly and well, and yet also hollering at the crowd and playing along with them like Garth at his apex. When he does the band intros, and they each jam a solo, it includes a little Rush, and I am extremely here for it. He also gives a wild speech in here about how he had to have major surgery to repair his back, when he was having excruciating pain in his right arm and the potential to lose the use of his right arm entirely. Which is insane. I started this post with skepticism and an expectation that this was going to be bad, but honestly, I get why he's so big. Great voice. Killer band. Not afraid to throw down either a party anthem or a love song. Some legitimately good lyrics in here. I dig it.
One Liner: Local kid doing some low key indie/folk that keeps bringing the Lumineers to my mind
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but going Indie and Folk. Home: Austin!
Saturday
Thoughts: His name reminds me of both the Dukes of Hazzard and Roger Staubach all at once. Which is a fantastic combination for reminiscing about good Texas red-neckery. Except, he says the name is pronounced stah-low, so it actually sounds nothing like Staubach. Major miss for his potential future fame. Sadly, only three songs, so there isn't just a ton to go off of in here.
"Springtime Red Tulips" is the big streamer of the three, with 399k listens. He kind of sounds like David Grey would if he refused to open his mouth all the way as he sang. it is a pretty song, I just wish he would speak up and use his consonants.
It has that same sort of understated vibe that has propelled Zach Bryan into the stratosphere. Just a dude and a guitar singing something vague and pretty. He cranks it up at the end a little bit, which is nice. I don't get the country vibe in here all that much, more like indie/ folk. Like one of the slow Lumineers songs.
"Birds of San Francisco" sticks to the same vibe. Slow and vibey at first, then the drums kick in and some background singers start harmonizing. And then "Down the Line" is more of the same as well. It is kind of fascinating how much these tunes sound like each other. The more I listen to them, the more I hear the Lumineers slow songs.
He was born and raised in Austin, which is cool. Not a ton written about him, and the stuff that is, like this, is pointless drivel. Coming for the throne my ass. I assume this is also him, playing varsity basketball for St. Andrews. Which is pretty funny. Unless there is somehow a second guy with this same, strange name, also living in Austin? BALLER! A 5'10" Guard from the hard streets of private school! Graduated in 2023. Four years ago his friends apparently started a petition to get him Snapchat. His parents sound very responsible for keeping it away from him until high school. BUT, he didn't get the 25 signatures needed, so I guess he's still missing out. And this appears to be a video of him uploaded by a Maureen Staloch of him playing an original song at a park before the Terry Nelson band came out.
Good for him, man. I hope he gets a crowd and wows them so that he is on the BMI stage at ACL next year!
One Liner: "She Don't Know She's Beautiful" plus some other classics from the 90's
Wikipedia Genre: Country Home: Kaplan, Louisiana
Saturday
Thoughts: Words that just came out of my mouth - "oh hell yeah, that's a BANGER." Had no recollection of what this cat sang, but "She Don't Know She's Beautiful" is a legit classic. Those pesky One Direction kids tried to copy the message of it and became insanely popular, but this classic still abides. This was the kind of song you use to carefully choose the girl you are going to dance with, so that as you sing the lyrics gently near her ear she can feel in your passion that you are talking about her. RIP 13 year old Jack at a summer camp Rodeo dance. RIP 19 year old Jack at Calhoun's in Sherman, Texas.
Samuel Paul Kershaw was born in south Louisiana, and is a third cousin to Doug Kershaw. His father died when Sammy was 11, and so he started playing local roadhouses to try to support his family. That sentence is hard AF. When he was 12, he met his idol, Beaumont's-own, George Jones. After that, he got the opportunity to open for Jones, Merle Haggard, and Ray Price, while still a teenager. Unfortunately, this time also saw him grab on to a drug addiction. But, he got clean in 1988 and started releasing albums in 1991.
Sixteen studio albums. Three platinum and two gold. More than 25 singles in the top 40, with ten of those into the top ten, but strangely only one #1. The first album, Don't Go Near the Water, was released in 1991 and boasted his second-best charting song, with "Cadillac Style." 8.4 million streams now.
Amazingly awful video right there. Love it. He actually sounds like George Jones there. Awesome that the trolleys in N.O. still look exactly the same, 30 years later. But still, good song. Classic move of combining something like car details with loving details. I seriously love that video. So bad and so good.
HIs second album had the banger - Haunted Heart was released in 1993. "She Don't Know She's Beautiful" is the jam. 106 million streams.
Bummer, I was wanting an official video. How do these artists not just go get the original master from CMT and get those suckers uploaded. Obviously still a market for them. His voice is great, the lyrics rule, just an all-timer right there. Also on that album, "Neon Leon" has the tune (or piano line) of "Elvira," and makes me think he is talking about Deion Sanders the whole time. "coolest man in the world for a town this size" is a great line. And his other major hit is also on that album, "Queen of My Double-Wide Trailer." 42.6 million streams.
Oh come on, the start of that video looks like it is going to be the best there has ever been, and then he goes all moody like he's too good for the tried-and-true. I do like that the guy in his story is named Earl, I wonder if that is where The Chicks got that name for their song. "The king of the torque wrench." I also very much like the descriptives with the "polyester curtains and the redwood deck." "Love of My Life" is some smooth, easy-listening action. Kenny Rogers has entered the chat.
My guy made a boss move as well, with his third album being a Christmas album. Just flips a bird at fame and throws out an album of classic Christmas action. But in 1994 he got back to business and releasing the normal country gold. 1994's Feelin' Good Train (which sounds like something that happens at a swingers party) included the hit "Third Rate Romance." 13.4 million streams.
Comes out of the gate like that "Baby's got her blue jeans on" song. Wait, is that this guy too? (he actually covered it - I wonder if his is the version I know or if it was the original?) Apparently, this was a cover, which I did not know. The next album has an awful title - Politics, Religion and Her. Ugh. I'm not going to go through all of these albums now, because their popularity is steadily decreasing over time. But in here somewhere he married singer Lorrie Morgan, who is sadly not on this lineup because that would have been fun (oh, nevermind, they are now divorced). He's still throwing some music out in to the ether, but not much in the way of stream counts now for his last few albums. He cracked a million with a cover of "Won't Back Down" in 2015, but it is pretty bad so I'm not bringing that to you. I guarantee he created it so that he could use it on stage for political rallies without getting a C&D from Petty's estate.
Because, in a strange, and more recent development, he ran as a Republican for Governor of Louisiana twice - 2007 and 2010. Both times, he finished third.
Just for "She Don't Know She's Beautiful," this guy is a real one. Not sure if I care enough to go see the show, but it would likely be fun.
One Liner: Buddy to Morgan Wallen making some cheesy but solid bro country
Wikipedia Genre: Country Home: Nashville (for real - born and raised)
Saturday
Thoughts: Seeing this on the poster made me grin, just because of my childhood trauma associated with the name Ernest. My middle name is Ernest, named after my grandmother who was named Ernestine, who was named after her father, Ernest. I am the only one of my four siblings to have a middle name, and for some demented reason my folks happened to grace me with that name just in time for this dumbass to appear in pop culture and make it hell every time some other kid learned my middle name.
After a string of awful commercials, this guy parlayed that into a string of similarly awful movies, with wonderful titles like Ernest Goes to Camp, Ernest Goes to Jail, Ernest Goes to School, or Ernest Scared Stupid. Which of course made the other kids say these stupid movie titles as I was headed to camp, or school, or jail. It was all very annoying. I will say though that one of my best friends still affectionately calls me Ernie, and I'll allow it.
Anyway, this is not Ernest P. Worrell. This is some Morgan Wallen-adjacent country singer who has the audacity to try to claim an entire first name as his own. Ernest is a name derived from the German word ernst, which means serious. This guy's real name is Ernest Keith Smith. He got his start writing songs for Morgan Wallen, Florida Georgia Line, and others, and then signed his own contract in 2019. He was actually born and raised in Nashville, which feels like a rarity among these artists who mostly moved there from somewhere else.
A few weird facts from his Wikipedia bio:
he cites a CD of Eminem songs given to him by a friend, as well as the Space Jam soundtrack, as his "main influences." Which is super weird for a country artist.
He had a heart attack at age 19 because of a viral infection. Jeez!
He developed a drug addition while playing baseball in junior college
He used to play baseball against Morgan Wallen in high school and they have remained friends.
He has a podcast called Just Being Ernest.
Sadly, his Spotify is scrubbed of his early music, which was apparently country rap with titles like "Dopeman" and "Bad Boy." Instead, his first thing on Spotify is a 2019 album called Locals Only that is pretty straightforward country music in the Bro Country vein. Top track is the album opener, "I Think I Love You." 13.4 million streams.
Got some of that Buffet-barefoot-in-the-sand vibe in there. The other big song on here is even more polished and modern-country than this one ("Hard Way"). I know that the mainstream country audience isn't looking for the things that make me happy with country, but I still wish that these guys were a little less clean and a little more real. Also, I watched a rad version of "Pancho and Lefty" this morning that made me extremely happy, so maybe I'm just feeling nostalgic and this is definitely not scratching that itch. "Takes After You" is prime cheese ("if he don't take after Jesus, I hope he takes after you!"), but it is also a pretty good song. Dangit.
After that initial album, he dropped FLOWER SHOPS in 2022, which featured his biggest hit by far. That track just happened to include Morgan Wallen on it, so of course that carried him up into the upper echelons of stream count. "Flower Shops," with 188 million streams.
oooooh, wide screen video! So cinematic! You know what, I don't hate it. Slightly generic song, but I like the chorus. And I just don't know what to think about Wallen. He sounds good on this tune, and there are no drum machines in sight, so it feels like he's okay. Has the world actually forgiven him for the n-word incident? Or is he remaining popular through the stubborn intransience of the country crowd? I don't actually know. But their voices sound nice together.
You know what is good in his catalog? He's got a 2023 album called ERNEST & The Fellas Unplugged. Which is a shit album name, but I think those arrangements are good. Also, he covers John Mayer, which is entertaining. However, I'd like to lodge a complaint that the instruments here are, in fact, not unplugged.
There are some drum machine-assisted tunes among these tracks, but overall, I'm not mad at this guy. I definitely like him better than the Munsick guy, but that isn't saying too terribly much. I think I might enjoy his show, even if I wouldn't probably add these songs into my saved song rotation.
One Liner: Voice like AutoTune and all the cheese you can stand
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia - country, bluegrass Home: Nashville (via Sheridan, Wyoming)
Saturday
Thoughts: Definitely curious how this name, who I have absolutely never heard of in my whole life, is higher on the poster than so many other well-established names. And his first track doesn't help me figure it out, because using AutoTune in country music is a deadly sin as far as I am concerned. Oh yeah, second song just started, we're looking at some of that tragic pop couched in country lyrics that is deeply painful for me to listen to. Sorry if this is your guy, but ugh. "Cowboy Killer" is making me cringe down into the center of the earth.
Ugh for real. Please make it stop. "Solo" sucks ass too. As I keep listening, I start to wonder if it isn't Autotune. What if he just has a singularly annoying-sounding voice? I'm not sure which is worse. And again, I wonder how he is higher on this poster than Pat Green. This sounds like if Post Malone decided to make country music.
He moved from Wyoming to Nashville to attend Belmont University, where his manager and now wife also attended. He played around school, but hadn't really blown up in any major way. Apparently, Caroline started up her label, and convinced Ian to go for it with his country music. The business relationship led to some bedroom action and they had a son before heading up to Montana for a wedding.
He started out with a 2017 self-titled EP, which featured his second-biggest streamer - "Horses are Faster." 56 million streams (of course, massive tune).
This is definitely significantly better than his newer stuff. Although, also, I dig myself some mandolin and bluegrass stylings. I especially like the breakdown where there is no singing!
But after that EP, you get to 2021's Coyote Cry album and then 2023's White Buffalo (the cover of which looks like a sweet shirt you could buy at Walmart in the 90's.). These discs are where he shifts the sound into the pop-country direction. "Long Haul" is the top track from the 2021 album, and his top streamer overall, with 61.3 million on Spotify.
Yeah, maybe that just really is the way his voice sounds. He just has an AutoTuner already installed in his throat! But I will also tell you that this tune is significantly better than the next one you are about to hear, which features the Saturday's headliner Cody Johnson. The top track from White Buffalo is called "Long Live Cowgirls." 52.2 million streams.
I don't know Cody Johnson at all, but I sure hope that his other tunes are better than that schlock. Cheesy as hell. Not sure how they made a three minute song feel like an hour, but congratulations.
Hopefully he is up against someone great so that there is no reason for me to be at this stage on Saturday.
One Liner: Wildly great voice and a sound like the 90's best
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia - country, bluegrass Home: Nashville (via Sunnyside, Washington)
Saturday
Thoughts: This makes me inexplicably happy. His voice is liquid honey, and these tunes sound like he very easily could have been a contemporary of Vince Gill, Keith Whitley, and Clint Black back when they were hitmaking machines.
Top grew up on a ranch in Washington State, near Sunnyside, Washington. He created a bluegrass band with his siblings when he was seven, and then as a teen he joined a band called North Country in Seattle, before later joining a different band called Modern Tradition. I don't know either of those bands, but I assume they must have been relatively good, because he ended up heading to Nashville and popping out a #1 single on the Bluegrass charts. I read a quote from him where he said he figured out how to turn "ranch songs" into radio hits, and part of his craft is to keep working on a song until he thinks it is something that King George would cut. "There's The Sun," his top streamer, definitely fits that bill. 1.5 million streams.
A little bit cheesy, but a billion percent authentically classic neotraditional country music. A million percent could hear King George doing that one. I love that a 24 year old kid is digging back in to that sound.
Not much else out there that I can tell you about him - no Wikipedia, no interviews on the first page of Google results - just kind of the stock history that I provided above that his agents must provide to every outlet. I did see that Parker McCollum gave him a shout out on Twitter. Limited musical output as well, so far, with one album - 2022's Zach Top - and then a handful of singles. I like the Buffet-vibe of "Busy Doin' Nothin'" and "Bad Luck" is pretty classic. But, I am going to give you the classic "work's over let's get drunk" vibes of "Cold Beer and Country Music," a 2022 single. 1.1 million streams.
Just leave me alone so I can jam music and crank beers! Stop trying to get into my pants, lady! Nothing groundbreaking or novel in his stuff, but between his top-shelf voice and the classic vibes here, I am really liking this guy.
One Liner: Texas singer-songwriter taking cues from Townes and sounding great.
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia - country, Americana, singer-songwriter Home: Fort Worth
Sunday
Thoughts: Shit yeah. His name sounded familiar, but I couldn't come up with any of his songs off the top of my head. Wrong-o - this is one of those dudes with a hit machine hidden under his Stetson. Even a casual country fan like myself knows the lyrics to at least five of these hits, right off the top of my head. His album covers are badass as well - cowboy hat and belt buckle, leaning up against a jukebox? Check. Cowboy hat and boots, sitting on a train track? Check. Cowboy hat and boots, sitting in a grassy prairie and looking off into the distance? Check.
But it is seriously weird how the human brain works. If you had asked me before to tell you anything about the Mark Chesnutt song "Old Country," I'd have given you a blank look. And yet, after I just started it, the chorus is somehow still lodged back there in my brain, knowing that he is about to sing about "From Birmingham to Ohio, how they met nobody knows." So odd.
Chesnutt was born in Beaumont in 1963, and on his father's urging, dropped out of high school to start playing clubs. When he turned 17, his father started taking him to Nashville to record songs and play clubs. While it worked out in the end, the sad piece is that his dad died of a heart attack right about the time Mark signed to MCA in 1990. After that, he went on a tear, releasing eight albums that included 20 top-ten hits and eight number ones. His first three albums all went platinum. And more than likely, you have heard many of those main songs. Let's dive in to a few of those.
HIs top track is a goof, and yet it's doing better than anything else in his catalog! "Bubba Shot the Jukebox" has 55.1 million streams.
Yeehaw! It's literally a goofy song, and yet the lyrics are kinda good about everyone in there being nervous until Bubba put down the gun because he wasn't a very stable dude. According to Wikipedia, this tune had been passed around "as a joke" by Nashville song promoters and was not taken seriously by other artists, but Chesnutt felt that the song had potential. The song was not originally intended to be a single, but was selected as one after a number of stations on the Billboard survey played the song frequently enough for it to enter the charts. And now his biggest hit! That one is from his second album - Longnecks and Short Stories - which also has "Old Country," "Old Flames Have New Names," and "I'll Think of Something." "I'll Think of Something" sounds like Clay Walker to me.
His second-biggest streamer is another one you've almost certainly heard before, from his 1994 album What a Way to Live (which is not available on Spotify for some reason, so the only way to jam it is the 1996 Greatest Hits compilation) - "Goin' Through the Big D." 31.6 million streams.
Iconic tune. I wonder how many people have played this song and made their friend deeply angry who is actually going through a divorce? "I got the jeep, she got the palace!"
Oh, bummer that his cover of Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" sounds like it has a little autotune helping him out. I hope that doesn't mean that his voice is trashed now. Because the dude has (or maybe had) a great voice.
Next in line, another honky tonk banger, is "Brother Jukebox." 22.6 million streams. From the 1990 debut album Too Cold at Home.
Didn't know that was a cover - Don Everly and Keith Whitley each had released before Chesnutt. Just classic country stylings right there with that pedal steel guitar and the rim cracks keeping time. Great harmonies too. Also on that debut album are the title track, "Blame it on Texas," and shockingly, "Friends in Low Places." Apparently, this was a cover, because Garth Brooks had just released it as a single, also in 1990. Weird.
Let's do one more tune - "It Sure is Monday" is on the 1993 album Almost Goodbye. 8.1 million streams, and another where I inexplicably know many of the lyrics.
An actual video! CMT must have been coming on by now! I like that they filmed in a place that looks like the set of Road House. Classic tune.
Yeah, this is good stuff. Sort of surprised he is after some of the other names on the poster, he feels like he should be up there with Clint Black. I'd go see him for sure.
One Liner: Texas singer-songwriter taking cues from Townes and sounding great.
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia - country, Americana, singer-songwriter Home: Fort Worth
Sunday
Thoughts: Fully entertaining new iteration of the Texas singer/songwriter genre. His voice matches it too - fine, but nothing special. Like, no one is ever going to give Robert Earl Keen or Townes Van Zandt an award for their singing voice - it's all about the lyrics. He kinda sounds like Steve Earle's son (RIP).
He was raised out in East Texas - actually in Van Zandt County, of all places - and says that Townes was his inspiration to become a musician. At one point, he hooked up with Canadian singer/songwriter Colter Wall (who I really am unfamiliar with, but who is playing on Friday at the Fest), and that helped launch him into a slightly more elevated realm of fame. Rodney Crowell has worked with him on his albums, which is a good mentor to have as well. Crowell low key rules.
"Learnin' to Drown" is about his father's suicide, which is a pretty tough one. “My father killed himself/My mother hit the bar.” When you know the subject of the song, just the tender entry into the track feels painfully raw. This is the top track from his new album, with 1.3 million streams.
That is a legit damn song. Pretty on its own, but when you listen to the words, it's a killer opening into some painful memories and how he's dealt with the paths his life has taken since. And here's a terrible litany from a Texas Monthly article: "Emerson has weathered a lifetime’s worth of hardship in his 29 years: his father’s suicide, alcoholism, his little brother’s death in a house fire, dropping out of high school at age seventeen, homelessness, and a best friend’s killing in an argument over drugs." Criminy.
Most of these tunes aren't quite so serious - "Willie Nelson's Wall" being a prime example of a fun little tune with clever lyrics. "Letters on the Marquee" is great too - I love the line when he sings about the crowd demanding "another" David Alan Coe song, when he hasn't even played one.
Two albums - 2019's Fried Chicken & Evil Women, and 2021's Vincent Neil Emerson. The second-biggest streamer is off of that first album, "25 & Wastin' Time." 5.6 million streams.
Sounds like some classic outlaw country. Just ready for him to say "I guess I'll just sit here and drink." Good little shuffling boogie. Also, surprisingly high number of streams. When this dude came to ACL a few years back, he had nothing that broke a million.
His top streamer is a single that he released in between the albums - "Road Runner" - with 6.7 million streams.
Hootenanny, baby. Great driving tune. He's released two singles recently, and they stay in this same lane of classic Americana stuff.
I like this guy a lot. I'll put his album into my queue for further listening for sure, and I'd go check out the show.
