A trio of four star albums this week.
Caroline Jones
Good Omen
Slick and accessible enough for broad appeal, but not so Music Row that Jones’ unique talents can’t still shine through intermittently. Her guitarwork is the primary selling point (“Storm Chaser” smokes). She remains strong enough to be known solo, not as part of ZBB.
Sophie Gault
Unhinged
In form and content, Gault’s third and best album nods to the heaviest parts of Lambert’s landmark Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. If not up to that exact challenge– who is?– Gault acquits herself brilliantly on this lived-in set of ace covers (Buck Owens! In 2026!) and originals.
Solomon Hicks
How Did I Ever Get This Blue?
An accomplished set of conventional modern blues, it’s the lyricism here that isn’t quite worthy of Hicks’ singing and slinging. He shines brightest on the handful of moments (“Driftin’ and Driftin’,” especially) when the arrangements are the heaviest.
Kezia Gill
All on Red
Some lyrics are too reliant on genre tropes, but Gill’s powerhouse voice and her incorporation of trad Irish flourishes into her rock-leaning style make her a distinctive presence on record. A more conventional but still compelling take on euro-country than EURO-COUNTRY.
Band of Heathens
Country Sides
Their most twang-forward record in a minute, and that suits them as well as it ever does. Outside of the collab album with Hayes Carll, though, this is also the most sharply written record from this crew in a minute, too. Fix you a plate, y’all, it’s good stuff.
Mumford & Sons
Prizefighter
A lifetime ago, I dubbed them, “Creed with a banjo.” They’ve since dropped some of the portent and the one fashy Son, both of which speak well enough of them, as do collabs with Chris Stapleton and Hozier here.
Still, this lands around… mid-period Coldplay with a banjo.
Megan Moroney
Cloud 9
As before, the pro’s pro song construction (e.g., the peak Swift pre-chorus on “Wish I Didn’t”) and Kristian Bush’s production instincts that use trad-country instruments in hook-forward pop-country arrangements are the only two selling points.
As ever, the fact that Bush can’t use all of the ProTools in Nashville to get her on pitch on a studio recording is a damning reflection of how ill-equipped she is for this. The idea that these vocal tracks, on which she’s often a full 1/4-pitch flat, were the best she could do is indefensible.
For this set, she’s leaned so hard into her “emo cowgirl” persona that, when she tries to sing something positive like the title track, she sounds, at best, bored as shit and, at worst, condescending. Which tracks for someone who spends so much time punching down at those she sees as beneath her.
At a time when the genre and culture are attacking empathy, hers is a POV built on Mean Girls slights (“Stupid,” “Bells & Whistles”), complaints about her privileges (“Liars & Tigers & Bears,” “Beautiful Things”), and a refusal to self-reflect on the causation between her choices and her heartbreaks.
…where to start? kezia gill is live even better than on tape. she may be from britain – which doesn’t go down that well in certain capital circles right now – but trust me, her shows are worth every penny and she’s as approachable when meeting and greeting as fiona down at the chippy shop in high street.
caroline jones is a guilty pleasure of mine ever since i saw her clips to “gulf coast girl” (apalachiola to pensacola is just such an opalite stretch of gulf) and her “goshdamn” (the difference) clip with that oldsmobile 442 convertible in official indy pace car trim…, omg! she was so breezy when breezy wasn’t cool.
i’m kinda “allergic” to trays – can never quite get over the thought who might have been eating from them before – i’m working on the snobbish side of my character though, i swear. on top, the ones i usually get hold of are always cringingly moist somewhere. however, this one from the heathens is almost one to hang up at the moma. goes on my “work to do” staple. after all, heathens must stand together, even though the kristi sack could be taken as a strong indication that there may be a god after all.
as if she had read your comments, jonathan, ms. moroney delivered on some of them at jimmy fallon’s “tonight show” (why is he still on in this day and age of new free speech?) almost as told (off). been playin’ ms. carpenter’s grammy showcase to a few (young) people lately to give ’em a perfect example of how “perfect” (in the most absolute way imaginable) is done. don’t think i’m inclined to do that with ms. moroney’s performance. she gave keep your distance – to the song unfortunately) – a whole new meaning. mr. fallon didn’t seem to care though, bless’ him and his job. however, i just love her new album. every time i go to a song there – i’m soo sold and what makes things worse: i’m not even ashamed of it. then again, i find madame macron, the spouse of the french president, also a lot easier on the eye than some blind haters lately. good bless studio tec, visagists, louboutines and luccheses.
Storm Chasers is straight