New Country Music You Need To Hear This Week From Stephen Wilson Jr, Riley Green, Julianna Rankin, Wyatt Flores & More
- All Country News
- Jul 31
- 9 min read
Hardwired - Stephen Wilson Jr. Feat. Miranda Lambert
“Hardwired” proves that his greatest strength may not simply be his originality, but his ability to make bold ideas feel emotionally grounded. He can interpolate one of alternative rock’s most recognizable songs, bring in one of country music’s biggest stars and still keep the entire track centered on ordinary people carrying extraordinary weight. Nothing here feels added for attention. Every strange turn serves the story.
That is what separates experimentation from novelty. With Miranda Lambert beside him, Wilson has created something rugged but cerebral, familiar but wonderfully off-kilter. “Hardwired” is not polished into submission. It rattles, groans and sparks. It sounds like machinery that should not still be running, but somehow is. And that may be the most country thing about it.
Riley Green - Imagine That
Riley Green has built a career on knowing exactly when to lean into the swagger, and when to let the armor crack. On “Imagine That,” an advance track from his forthcoming album That’s Just Me, out September 18, Green trades the easy confidence of a Southern heartbreaker for something far more compelling: a man standing beneath a full moon, making one last call and hoping the woman he loves can still picture a future with him. Written by Green alongside Jonathan Singleton and Ray Fulcher, “Imagine That” lives in the uneasy space between heartbreak and hope. The relationship may be fractured, but the door has not fully closed. All it takes, he believes, is enough imagination to see beyond the mistakes and toward what they could still become. It is a simple premise, but Green sells it with remarkable restraint. Rather than crowding the moment, the song unfolds against a slow, spacious country backdrop that gives every ounce of longing room to breathe. There is no grand speech or desperate display, just a late-night call, a bruised heart and a man finally willing to put pride aside. That emotional surrender makes “Imagine That” one of Green’s strongest vocal performances to date. His delivery carries the familiar grit that has become his signature, but here, it is softened by uncertainty. He does not sound like a man who knows he will get the girl back. He sounds like one who desperately needs her to believe it is possible. That distinction is where the song finds its power. Green continues his streak of pairing Southern swagger with sharply observed stories,the kind filled with backroads, stubborn men and feelings that are easier sung than spoken. But “Imagine That” proves his greatest strength may not be the swagger itself. It is his ability to strip it away at precisely the right moment. With That’s Just Me arriving September 18, “Imagine That” offers an early glimpse at an artist who understands that country music’s toughest men are often most interesting when they finally admit they are scared to lose something. Sometimes redemption begins with an apology. Sometimes it begins with a phone call. And sometimes, it begins by asking someone to imagine that forever is not over yet.
Zach John King - How To Not
Some artists sing about where they are from. Zach John King sounds like he carries it everywhere he goes. On his heartfelt new song, “How To Not,” the Georgia native turns the habits, rituals and hard-earned lessons of Southern life into something bigger than nostalgia. This is not a checklist of country imagery dressed up for a playlist. It is a declaration of identity from one of the genre’s most compelling rising storytellers.
King opens the song with the kind of details that cannot be faked: choking a motor until it cranks, skipping a swim jig off a rock bank, drinking coffee from a Circle K cup and cleaning out a truck bed before a first date. Each line feels pulled from a life actually lived, not a writer’s room brainstorming session about what might sound country.
That authenticity is where “How To Not” finds its power. When King reaches the central confession, “I can’t not be from where I’m from,” the song stops being about hobbies and hometown habits. It becomes a story about inheritance. About the pieces of ourselves passed down through fathers, landscapes, accents and Sunday-morning faith. King is not simply proud of his roots; he is admitting they are inseparable from the man he has become. “I’ll always be my father’s son,” he sings, giving the track its emotional backbone. Beneath the beer, Georgia Bulldogs references, tree stands and creekside fires is a tender portrait of a young man realizing that home is not just a place. It is muscle memory. King’s greatest strength is his ability to take classic country storytelling and sharpen it with a distinctly modern Georgia edge. “How To Not” honors the genre’s traditional foundation without sounding trapped in the past. The song feels fresh, conversational and unmistakably his, blending rural specificity with a universal truth: no matter how far life takes you, some parts of home refuse to leave. “You can take the boy out the dirt, but the dirt don’t go away,” King sings, delivering the kind of line that feels destined for truck speakers, concert crowds and social captions alike. It is clever without trying too hard and sentimental without becoming syrupy. That balance is rare.
Country music has always been at its best when the smallest details reveal the biggest truths. Zach John King understands that instinctively. On “How To Not,” a Circle K cup, a Georgia drawl and a camp chair beside the creek become evidence of something permanent. King is not chasing country music’s future by abandoning its past. He is building that future directly from the red Georgia clay beneath his boots.
And right now, few rising artists are doing it better.
Dasha - Memo
Dasha has quickly proven she understands how to package complicated emotions inside songs that feel effortless. “Memo” continues that streak, blending polished pop instincts with country details, whiskey-soaked imagery and a conversational confidence that makes every lyric feel lived-in. The song does not beg for sympathy or dwell in heartbreak. It moves. That momentum is what makes “Memo” work so well. Dasha sounds completely in control, even when recounting a relationship that clearly left her exhausted. She is not asking whether she made the right decision. She is already gone.
And that may be the ultimate insult. While her ex is still trying to figure out what happened, Dasha has turned the breakup into another undeniable anthem.He should have gotten the memo.
Julianna Rankin - Double Knot
Some breakups arrive with slammed doors and scorched-earth speeches. Julianna Rankin’s comes with a pawn shop receipt, a Cadillac peeling out of a parking lot and one perfectly timed punchline. The Big Loud Texas artist turns marital fallout into three minutes of bluesy Texas heat on “Double Knot." Produced by Jon Randall and Miranda Lambert, the track finds Rankin looking back at a love that once seemed secure and wondering whether the problem was simply poor knotwork. “Baby when we tied the knot / We might’ve shoulda tied it in a double knot,” she sings, delivering the hook with the kind of sly confidence that makes heartbreak feel less like a funeral and more like a story worth telling over a stiff drink. Written by Oscar Charles, Bryan Simpson and Meg McRee, “Double Knot” gets its charm from the details. The cans are still dangling from the bumper. The Cadillac is whipping out of the parking lot. The marriage is over, and the diamond ring is sitting for sale in an old pawn shop. It is a complete relationship arc packed into a few sharp images, balancing regret with just enough humor to keep the song from sinking beneath its own sadness. That combination feels right at home for Rankin. There is grit in the groove, heat in the production and a mischievous streak running straight through the center. Randall and Lambert give the song room to swagger, wrapping its clever lyric in a smoky, blues-forward sound that feels built for a Texas dance hall after midnight. “Double Knot” does not pretend divorce is painless. It simply understands that sometimes the best country songs are the ones that can laugh while the ink is still drying. Julianna Rankin may be singing about something that came undone, but with “Double Knot,” she sounds more tightly wound than ever.
Wyatt Flores - Scared Of Heights
For an artist celebrated for vulnerability, the bravest thing Flores could do was refuse to remain trapped inside the version of himself that first earned attention. Scared of Heights proves that evolution does not have to mean erasure. Flores can embrace sharper pop instincts, heavier guitars and bigger production without losing the cracked-open storytelling, Oklahoma grit and Red Dirt soul that make him singular.
The gamble pays off because the sonic departure mirrors the emotional journey.
Flores is reaching for something higher while openly admitting that the climb terrifies him. And perhaps that is the record’s most powerful message: courage is not the absence of fear. Sometimes it is making the album anyway.
Dalton Davis - Touch Tunes
Some heartbreaks are too complicated for conversation. Sometimes, all it takes is a barstool, a glowing jukebox and three minutes from somebody who has already lived through the worst of it. On “Touch Tunes,” Dalton Davis turns that familiar country ritual into a sharp, nostalgic heartbreak anthem, pairing gritty vocals with the kind of classic storytelling built for last call. Rather than trying to explain what went wrong himself, Davis leans on the songs that have always known how to say it better. The result feels like flipping through a battered country-music songbook one selection at a time. Clever references to iconic hits become emotional shorthand, each one carrying its own history of regret, loneliness and love gone sideways. Davis is not simply name-checking the genre’s past; he is using it as a language. That is where “Touch Tunes” hits hardest. Beneath its playful concept is a deeply relatable truth: when your own words fail, there is usually a country song waiting to finish the sentence. Davis delivers it all with a vocal that sounds roughened by experience, giving the track enough grit to keep the nostalgia from feeling overly polished. There is a wink in the writing, but the ache underneath it is real. “Touch Tunes” understands that country music has always belonged to the brokenhearted. Dalton Davis just found a clever new way to put the classics back to work.
Bottomland - We're About To Break Up
Some breakups arrive with slammed doors, shattered picture frames and words that cannot be taken back. Others happen quietly, beneath a dashboard glow, when two people sit close enough to touch but already feel miles apart. On their major-label debut, rising country duo Bottomland captures that agonizing in-between with striking clarity. “We’re About To Break Up,” a gritty, slow-burning standout penned by HARDY, does not document the wreckage after love collapses. It traps the listener inside the car during the final moments before it does. The opening scene is painfully ordinary: a five-minute drive, a request to meet halfway and a car pulling into the parking lot slower than usual. Yet Bottomland understands that heartbreak often announces itself through the smallest details. Thirty seconds pass before the door opens. Eyes stay hidden. Before a single difficult word is spoken, the relationship’s fate already hangs heavily in the silence. The memories make the moment sting even harder. A beach trip. Kissing in the rain. Getting too drunk while watching Mumford & Sons at Memphis in May. Calling her brother his own. These are not vague flashes of romance; they are specific, lived-in snapshots of a relationship that once felt permanent. That detail is classic HARDY: conversational writing sharpened into an emotional blade. The central hook sounds almost casual, “we’re about to break up," but its simplicity is devastating. It is not a dramatic declaration. It is a realization neither person can avoid any longer. Bottomland delivers the song with the grit it demands, balancing toughness with vulnerability. There is weight in the performance, but never excess. The duo lets the story do the heavy lifting, allowing every pause, memory and unfinished thought to deepen the tension. For a major-label introduction, “We’re About To Break Up” is an impressive statement of purpose. Bottomland is not chasing empty polish or manufactured drama. They are leaning into the kind of country music that notices the thirty seconds before someone opens a car door, and understands those seconds can tell an entire story. By the time the final chorus arrives, the breakup still has not technically happened. But emotionally, it is already over. With one sharply written, deeply human debut, Bottomland proves they are more than ready to break through.
Colin Lynch - Miracles Off Exit 17
In a genre built on storytelling, authenticity remains country music’s most valuable currency. Colin Lynch isn’t borrowing experience to sound older than he is. He’s simply paying close attention to the life he’s already lived. And judging by Miracles Off Exit 17, that’s proving to be more than enough.
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