This week’s crop of new music features an Ella Langley/HARDY collaboration that comes with a powerful plot twist, while Old Dominion offers up a nuanced, transparent look at love and legacy. Elsewhere, newcomer Trey Pendley brings a stone-cold country barroom singalong, while Gavin Adcock’s latest finds him reminiscing about wild nights on the town, and Caroline Jones ponders the impact of romantic bust-ups in rural communities.
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Check out all of these and more in Billboard‘s roundup of some of the best country, bluegrass and/or Americana songs of the week below.
Ella Langley feat. HARDY, “Never Met Anyone Like You”
Ella Langley’s previous collaboration with Riley Green, “You Look Like You Love Me,” spurred Langley to five ACM wins this year. Her latest collab, with HARDY, unfolds with a compelling plot twist: Initially, the languid track seems to possess the quintessential qualities of a tender love song, as she drapes her amber-hued vocal across lines such as “Darling, you’re one in a million.” With HARDY delivering background vocals, Langley veers the song from one of adulation to one that aims stinging lyrical barbs at an unfaithful lover. The rising star wrote the track with HARDY and Jordan Schmidt.
Old Dominion, “Man or the Song”
Hushed backing vocals and soft-focus, shimmering guitarwork frame this vulnerable, introspective new song from Old Dominion. Written by OD’s Brad Tursi, Trevor Rosen and Matthew Ramsey along with co-writers Ross Copperman and Shane McAnally, this song ponders whether a loved one can separate the man from his music.
“I wonder if you know that it’s not who I am/ It’s just what I do,” the group’s lead singer Ramsey sings, seeking assurance of a love that will remain long after the spotlight dims. “Man or the Song’ is from Old Dominion’s upcoming album Barbara, out Aug. 22, and serves as a reminder that the group serves up these types of contemplative, emotionally unguarded songs with candid precision and excellence.
Gavin Adcock, “Last One to Know”
Adcock has quickly become one of country music’s most buzzed-about artists, thanks to songs such as “A Cigarette,” his rough-hewn voice, unfiltered songs and his rowdy live shows. On his latest, sinewy guitars and a sultry, pop-rock rhythm frame his grizzled voice as he relays a tale of a failed attempt to rekindle a former romantic flame while still burning through his self-described nights of “hard-a– living.” Adcock wrote the song with Luke Laird, Jack Rauton and Erik Dylan, and sounds as though he’s lived every line. The song is from his upcoming album Own Worst Enemy, set to be released Aug. 15 on Warner Music Nashville.
Trey Pendley, “Drunk as Any Rich Man”
Pendley, newly signed with Leo33 and Make Wake Artists, blends pedal steel, fiddle and guitars for this barroom singalong track, meshing with some clear-eyed observations on how camaraderie, bolstered by just the right measure of alcohol, can make an everyman feel like an upperclassman “My bank says that it’s empty from the suds and the whiskey/ And I’m as drunk as any rich man could be,” he sings, as the song progresses into a full-throated, communal singalong by the final chorus. A promising outing from this newcomer. Pendley wrote the track with John Davidson and Jacob Bryant.
Caroline Jones, “Divorce in a Small Town”
This breezy slice of pop-country belies a tale of the long-tail impact of a romantic breakup in a close-knit community, as Jones’ warm, conversational tones and the song’s bright sonic vortex draw the listener into a song with lyrics that ripple with painfully detailed etchings of the complex, long-tail impact of divorce on an entire family. “Lost our home and half our friends in the fallout,” Jones sings, detailing how every public outing, from grocery store trips to school pickup lines, bring awkward encounters. Jones wrote the song with Sarah Buxton and Eric Paslay.