Some of the readers of The Roundup inclined to listen to the music of the seemingly bygone era of outlaws, running wild near the Austin City limits and through the hills of Luckenbach, Texas, may be despairing over the current slate of music on the radio. From your Morgan Wallens, to your Jelly Rolls, to something called a Shaboozy, the most prominent names in the CMA awards make a hybrid of country and hip-hop which can enrage the more traditionalist-minded listeners of 90’s, Outlaw, and even old Nashville sound. Don’t even get me started on Beyonce winning best country album at the Grammys; I don’t think Hank would’ve done it that way for certain.
However, sometimes truly great diamonds of tradition and positive innovation poke through all the noise to strike their own small stake of country and western greatness. To ensure these voices do not go unheard, I have complied a list of some of the best country artists in the game right now. For the record, this is list is not in any particular order, and its not to be a list of unknown artists; It is simply to expose people to great art.
Zach Top
The latest internet joke about Zach Top is he is secretly the son of the great country star Alan Jackson. Sporting a large mustache, hair that has grown long in the back, and a even similar cowboy hat. While meant as a joke, it’s hard not to draw comparisons between the sound of the two men, not only their strikingly similar appearances. Rocking a neotraditional style, Top has quickly amassed a following even with a limited discography due to his fun songs, and entertaining style. If you are a fan of 90s country, he is the artist which best represents the sound and values of that era, dodging some of the “bro-country” pitfalls even while singing about his truck, and beer, and his ex.
Most Popular Song:Â I Never Lie
Sitting just shy of 80 million streams on Spotify at the time of writing, I Never Lie off of his Cold Beer and Country music album is Top’s sardonic take on a discussion with his ex, and a fun and catchy song in its own right.
Author’s Pick: Sounds Like the Radio
As Top’s third-highest streamed song, Sounds Like the Radio is certainly not an underground track, but few are for a musician who just broke out. It sets its tone early, referencing Alan Jackson’s Chattahoochee as the first thing the singer said as he was born, perhaps lending some credence to theories on his fatherhood. The song’s lyrics give the consummate summery of Top’s style – “It sounds like the radio, back in ’94 y’know.”
Charley Crockett
Charley Crockett is an artist who’s life story is nearly as interesting as his music. Born in a trailer park in South Texas, his mother raised him and his older brothers by herself, bringing her family to Dallas. He would spend time with his uncle in the French Quarter of New Orleans, learning the guitar by feeling it out and matching sounds. He became a lover of the Blues through hip-hop samples of all things, quickly incorporating it into his style.
He has so far released Americana-Country hybrid albums, heavily influenced by R&B. His new album Lonesome Drifter is his first big-label release and it has proven to be some of his best work. With the multi-time Grammy winner Shooter Jennings producing, it has become one of his best albums to date.
Most Popular Song:Â I Am Not Afraid
I Am Not Afraid is a country-blues love song written to comfort Crockett’s love and give a portrait of his affections. That the bond between Crockett and “sugar-pie” remains so unquestioned in the song contrasts with some of Crockett’s other work on heartbreak, gives it a special meaning for avid listeners of his albums. He remains unafraid to love her, despite her going away, helping give her strength in her journey.
Superb but simple writing, a hallmark of Crockett’s work, combined with excellent guitar work and vocals both by Crockett himself, helps one understand why it has remained his most popular song despite not being his newest.
Author’s Pick: This Crazy Life
This Crazy Life is a great piece off of Crockett’s new album, Lonesome Drifter. As would be implied from the title of the album, the songs on it often reflect a downcast view on the world and goings on within it. However, This Crazy Life, while still reflecting on how life will break you down, still offers a glimmer of hope, with Crockett attempting to make sense of, well, this crazy life. The way he does this is quite typically through his love for a woman, who he admits he loves imperfectly, because of the nature of this life.
With Shooter Jennings utilizing a string orchestration in the bridge and later choruses, the song adds an extra poignance, giving it the quality of an epic ballad, a timeless aspect which no doubt was intended by two of the most talented artists in music right now.
Tyler Childers
Tyler Childers, hailing from the Appalachian hills of eastern Kentucky, has embraced the prevailing sounds from that region. As another artist who has been cast into the “Americana” label, his music has embraced a new path between country and something new. Some of his songs tend into the bluegrass realm, while others sound very traditionally country, while yet others use some pop inspired piano and vocal arrangements. Some themes which has followed through his lyrics, much like Johnny Cash, are his faith, and his struggles with sin and addiction.
Indeed, his album Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven, released in 2022, is full of gospel inspired original songs based on his own faith (with the exception of one Hank Williams Sr. cover). On the album he uses a three disc structure to have three covers of each song, one “Hallelujah”, with merely drums, keyboard, and guitar, one “Jubilee” with a horn and string section added on, and one “Joyful noise” with intermixed sampling and remixing.
This particular style of music, so unique and full of ideas the artist needs to release three covers of each to truly get the experience across, remains distinctively Childers, and also a distillation of country to its very roots as a storytelling method.
Most Popular Song:Â Feathered Indians
A good old country love song, combined with laments about how he has both deeply loved her, and treated her poorly by showing up high to her home. Returning to his Appalachian home, he realizes he now has a reason to remain in the mountainous land with the love of his life now there.
The Feathered Indians portion comes from Childers trying to “bring the rain” and run through the brambles to get to the love of his life. Overall, the song is well written and performed, slow and loving but one which harkens on Childers most common themes.
Author’s Pick:Â Purgatory – Hallelujah, Jubilee Versions
The most complicated pick of the article, Purgatory comes from the aforementioned Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven album, and has three separate styles depending on the disc. All three of them are upbeat songs, reflecting God’s joy, even as Childers sings about his sin. All he asks for is a “Catholic Girl” to pray for him as he dies, as his sin will keep him out of heaven, he wishes to be in a “middle ground” which will be perfect for him.
The style of the Hallelujah version is slightly different with added strings and horns that give it a “Dixieland” style, but it overall retains the same lyrical and melodic core.
The Red Clay Strays
The Red Clay Strays is a breakout band as of late, with their first hit songs coming out in 2022. Forming in 2016 in Mobile, Alabama, their style is influenced by the Southern Rock of artists like Tom Petty, while also remaining firmly in the country genre.
Another key aspect of their music is an influence from faith. Frontman Brandon Coleman has a background in playing music at Church services before he began the band, a trait he shares with much of the overall ensemble.
Most Streamed Song: Wondering Why
Wondering Why is a phenomenal love ballad which draws on the eternal theme of love despite differing upbringings. The lady comes from “silver spoon” and the man comes from “blue collar.” yet, their love seemingly works out. Is themes, while some might consider them cliched, are eternal values. That rhythmic up and down structure encapsulates the core emotion of the song, beautifully sung by Brandon Coleman.
Author’s Pick: I’m Still Fine
While I’m Still Fine perhaps falls more into the rock category than country, its feel and style reflect the same values as most of Hank Williams Sr.’s catalogue. While the singer laments his painful life, his bruises and pain, he does not feel it because “God’s not giving [him] up.” Ultimately, while he may just be too tired to care, he perseveres, and is still ultimately, fine.
With amazing vocals from Coleman again, it reflects a poignant point of perseverance and love despite the heartbreak of the world perfectly, ending in a melancholy but ultimately hopeful message.
So there you have it, the artists making country, well, country again. Whether influenced by rock or R&B, they all return to what makes country great, heartfelt songs about what the singer has done, wishes to do, or the things that got away, not just living it up in Nashville.
