A good week featuring several four star efforts.
Grey DeLisle
Don’t Turn Around
An unusual request, really, from an artist who is forever mining the genre’s past for inspiration and, in doing so, has emerged as one of the most compelling acts in the greater country universe. On this set, DeLisle draws from her widest range of classic styles yet and showcases a near peerless command of forms. When she leans hardest into classic country forms– “There’s The Door” sounds like vintage George Jones, and “The Lights Are Off…” finds DeLisle updating Wanda Jackson’s style for the modern era– she pushes the genre forward by looking back.
A few pop pastiches– the title track is giving Lesley Gore, which is not a bad thing– are less successful at bringing a retro aesthetic into the present day. Still, DeLisle remains one of the most exciting– and one of the busiest– country artists going, and this is another essential set.
K. Michelle
Jesus & Whiskey
I can barely remember my life before she started teasing a proper country album, and she’s delivered at long, long last. And there is something powerful and subversive about a black woman claiming the specific brand of Music Row country that she has claimed with this record. In terms of the production, this owes as much to the buttrock-inspired sound of Jelly Roll, HARDY, and W. Zeiders as to genre legends. Unfortunately, she adopts perhaps a few too many of those mediocre white men’s Amazon Wish List songwriting tropes.
Still, there is a real and powerful sense of agency in what she’s doing here. She knows she is taking up space that’s been denied to artists like herself, and she does so without apology. And she does so with some fiery, guttural vocal performances that elevate the material far beyond what the genre’s men can do.
There are a few moments of very obvious AutoTune on her vocals, and they’re a distraction from the quality of her phrasing and interpretive choices. But this is an album about growth that highlights how she still has room to grow in the country space. Bring on the next record sooner, please.
Caitlin Smith
Peace in My Mind
A few too many songs focus on her own fame, always a dodgy prospect even for the most gifted of singer-songwriters, but this is another testament to her exceptional singing and pop-country know-how. The Brandy Clark (!) collab pairs her with a true artistic peer, too.
The Hillbilly Thomists
Strange Land
As ever, the idea of the Hillbilly Thomists does a lot more for me than does the recorded output itself. This is another perfectly fine record for what it is, and I’m glad that it (and the band, too) exists in the world, though I doubt I’ll revisit this much.
Aaron Lee Tasjan
Get Over it, Underdog
I do miss the more overtly country flourishes of his earlier work, which highlighted his T. Snider alignment, but I also love how he’s emerged as Americana’s leading pop classicist (read: Matthew Sweet, Susanna Hoffs). His style remains as distinctive as his wry, sharp songwriting.
Riley Downing
Landfill Poetry
Perfectly titled set on which a solo Deslonde embraces his role as the country genre’s premier Trash Panda, making real art out of the detritus he finds in this exact moment of cultural rot. A couple of heavy-handed lines aside, this is such a precise 2026 vibe.
Tigirlily Gold
Country & Midwestern
They sing well and know their way around a hook, and their writing showcases a distinct POV and that it’s possible to take pride in your country origin story without being an ass about it. As ever, they’d elevate radio with their wit and lutefisk references.
Leave a Reply