Ashley McBryde and India Ramey enter the AOTY conversation.
Ashley McBryde
Wild
Compared to Lindeville, this exploration of her journey to sobriety doesn’t hold together as a concept album in the same airtight way, but certainly such a journey isn’t a linear one, so a bit of structural drift here actually reflects that process at a macro level.
So, too, do the very high highs she achieves with her songwriting here, offset by a few songs that stand out for being more strident in their imagery and ineffective in their lyricism. But those highs reaffirm her as a generational talent, especially in the mainstream-adjacent space.
Perhaps what’s most striking is the clarity and power in her performances. Always a sneaky great singer, she’s now fully in control of her instrument in ways that weren’t apparent on her prior albums. She sings of wilder days here, but she’s singing like she now understands how great she really is.
Jason Mraz
Sings Grandma’s Gospel Favorites
Recorded as a gift to his grandma, this set of traditional southern gospel hymns and a couple of quite good originals is a surprisingly twangy– it’s as dobro-forward as anything I’ve heard all year– side-step for him, and it might just be his best album.
There’s a sincerity to this that both works for the songs and plays against his bi theatre kid (complimentary) tryhard persona (pejorative) that has made his output to date a particular kind of exhausting.
If it’s just another hat he’s trying on, it at least fits him and the material well.
Paisley Fields
are u mad at me?
Of course not. Though I wish the aesthetic of this collection were just a bit more cohesive, as much as its messiness does map to some of these specific narratives. As sharp, savagely funny, and fearless in upending convention as anyone in the game right now.
Ashley Anne
Generational Heartbreak [EP]
Hot AC c. 2006 production does a major disservice to her distinctive and frankly impressive songwriting and singing. If she leans more fully into matching her sound to her mastery of country songwriting conventions, watch out, bc there’s real talent here.
And, yet again: Nashville lets a talented young woman release an EP, not a full album.
Also of note: She has a cut on the forthcoming Carly Pearce album, which should be a tell for how well her songwriting lands in a more overtly country setting. She’s a better technical singer than Pearce, too.
Colton Bowlin
Grandpa’s Mill
Just two albums in, this KY comer has already refined his songwriting voice into something distinctive and powerful. But he dons some strange, not always effective affectations with his singing voice from track to track that are a distraction. A work in progress.
Clay Street Unit
Sin & Squalor
This 6-piece crew’s been kicking around for a bit, finally making a full-length debut. If it doesn’t revel in vice as the title suggests, they do still get rowdy and pack an effective and likable wallop for an acoustic band. Worth attention now and an act to follow.
India Ramey
Villain Era
She’s never been one to suffer fools, but this empowered version of Ramey is not concerned if fools who cross her happen to suffer themselves. She’s put in the very real work to heal from her own traumas, and the songs here are a triumph of one woman’s liberation.
It’s subversive for Ramey to set these songs that foreground her agency as a modern woman over a twangy as all get-out, honky-tonk version of country.
Because it’s the tension between her sense of self and that same traditionalism– in both form and values– that would cast her as a villain.
Ramey’s fully aware of that irony and leans the whole way into it, leaving no doubt as to how little regard she holds for those who might judge her decision-making. She leaves no doubt as to her status as one of modern country’s most powerful and singular talents, either. An essential, career album.
Muscadine Bloodline
The Sound of Roses
… is fairly mid? Neither the songwriting nor the style are quite as thorn-sharp on this set as has been the norm for this duo. No complaints if this furthers their mainstream bid, as they’d raise the water level, but it scans as a bit compromised.
Jade Josephine
Giddy Up!
The best moments here are a fusion of cutting edge hip-hop with traditional, twangy country, while other tracks flip that script and blend modern pop-country with old school hip-hop beats. What impresses most is that she knows exactly where those differences lie.
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