Music

  Reboot II Album ∙ Country ∙ 2024 Brooks & Dunn Few acts have influenced country music like Brooks & Dunn. The best-selling duo in the genre’s history, Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn helped define the ’90s country sound with landmark albums like their 1991 debut   Brand New Man   and 1993’s   Hard Workin’ Man . It’s fitting, then, that the iconic duo would round up some of country and Americana music’s best and brightest artists for this collaborative record, which serves as a sequel to 2019’s   Reboot . Where the first   Reboot   revisited the duo’s biggest hits,   Reboot II   lets featured artists—including Lainey Wilson, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, The Cadillac Three, and more—choose deeper cuts, offering a fuller glimpse of the sheer breadth of the pair’s influence. Brooks tells Apple Music that compiling the project was loose and playful, with each artist free to conceive their track however they chose. “It's just turning everybody...

Hudson Westbrook Album ∙ Country ∙ 2024 Hudson Westbrook

Restless Mind Album ∙ Country ∙ 2024 Sam Barber It’s a golden age for troubadours. Following the end of the bro-country era, a new generation of story-driven, acoustic-guitar-slinging singer-songwriters wearing their hearts on their sleeves took firm hold of the genre, birthing stars like Zach Bryan and Charles Wesley Godwin. Sam Barber is another formidable voice in this still-emerging canon, as he shows on this sprawling collection of songs written over the course of the 21-year-old’s five-year foray into music. Like Bryan, Barber worked with producer Eddie Spear, whose light but thoughtful touch keeps the ambitious, 28-song project from sounding repetitive. Anchored by Barber’s viral song “Straight and Narrow,”   Restless Mind   is a winding, sometimes surprising journey through dying relationships and dead-end towns, with appropriately spare, rough-hewn production. The record opens with “Man You Raised,” itself beginning with a voicemail from Barber’s mother that sets a ho...

still hungover Album ∙ Country ∙ 2024 Ella Langley Hangovers aren’t just for booze. On her debut full-length album, Alabama artist Ella Langley explores the kinds of emotional aftermaths that leave behind heartache, not headaches. The record opens with its title track, a soulful and somber account of learning lessons in love the hard way. Fan favorite “nicotine” likens a lover she “want[s] but just don’t need” to the irresistible allure of a cigarette fix. Riley Green joins Langley on the hit duet “you look like you love me,” an old-school honky-tonk jam. Another standout is “paint the town blue,” a clever subversion of a country trope: Finding no solace in painting the town red in the wake of a breakup, Langley opts to “fall to pieces” (one of several classic country references on the record) and indulge her broken heart. This   still hungover   deluxe edition adds a handful of new tracks from Langley, which follow acoustic takes on “cowgirl don’t cry” and “broken in.” Moody ...

PATTERNS Album ∙ Country ∙ 2024 Kelsea Ballerini With 2023’s   Rolling Up the Welcome Mat , Kelsea Ballerini signaled the start of a new era. Then four studio albums into her career, the country singer-songwriter had long since proven herself, and took a chance on rawer, more personal material in the wake of her 2022 divorce. As this follow-up attests, that heightened vulnerability unlocked new creative depths for Ballerini. Her most sonically diverse release yet,   PATTERNS   is also the fullest embodiment of Ballerini’s capabilities. Ballerini co-produced the album alongside previous collaborator Alysa Vanderheym, a songwriter and producer who has worked with a bevy of Nashville artists, including Jelly Roll, Little Big Town, and The Cadillac Three. The record opens with its title track, a gauzy, pleading midtempo ballad that makes use of more traditional country instruments like mandolin and dobro alongside prominent synthesizers, for production that’s reminiscent of K...

Don't Mind If I Do Album ∙ Country ∙ 2024 Riley Green Riley Green’s third album opens with some sage advice. On “That’s a Mistake,” a warm and tender track with ’90s Tim McGraw vibes, Green runs through a laundry list of minor miscalculations—forgetting to get an oil change, perpetually running late—before revealing the kind of misstep that leaves a lasting impression: a romantic one. It’s an understated opening to Green’s boldest release yet, one that finds the Alabama-born star pushing himself as both a songwriter and a vocalist. Standout tracks on the record, which follows 2023’s   Ain’t My Last Rodeo , include “Turnin’ Dirt,” a laidback ode to blue-collar life, and “Don’t Mind If I Do,” an emotional duet with country singer-songwriter Ella Langley. The record wraps with the hit song “Worst Way,” a soulful solo write that shows off Green’s sultry side. Green wrote four of the album’s 18 tracks by himself, telling Apple Music that he’s unlocked a new level of artistry since refra...

Waves On A Sunset Album ∙ Country ∙ 2024 Tucker Wetmore Tucker Wetmore came out of nowhere in 2024, ripping through the country music industry like the tornadoes that inspired his  Twisters  soundtrack song, “Already Had It.” The small-town Washington native nabbed two quick hits with singles “Wine Into Whiskey” and “Wind Up Missin’ You,” both of which appear on this debut EP. Wetmore co-wrote six of the EP’s eight tracks, with co-writers including Dan Wilson, Josh Thompson, and Tucker Beathard. Other highlights on the EP include opening track “Silverado Blue,” a laidback and groovy tailgate tune that makes great use of Wetmore’s soulful and textured voice, and “Break First,” an infectious, uptempo will-they-won’t-they love song with bright guitar and a toe-tapping beat. Wetmore closes  Waves on a Sunset  with the cleverly titled “Mister Miss Her,” a melodic ballad with wordplay for days.

Mind Of A Country Boy Album ∙ Country ∙ 2024 Luke Bryan Luke Bryan has long been one of country music’s biggest party-starters, with hits like “One Margarita” and his early smash “Country Girl (Shake It for Me).” On this eighth studio album from the country superstar and  American Idol  judge, Bryan reminds us that his softer side is just as compelling as his wild one, serving up a collection of tunes about parenthood, marriage, and faith. The record opens with its title track, a lighthearted but sincere glimpse at the kind of country culture that makes Bryan tick, like “dirt-road daisies” and “old-school Alabama.” Other highlights include the sweet and sentimental single “Love You, Miss You, Mean It” and “But I Got a Beer in My Hand,” a breakup anthem that nods to Bryan’s wilder roots. Bryan closes the album with “Jesus ’Bout My Kids,” a tender and vulnerable snapshot of Christian parenthood. Bryan tells Apple Music that he sees these more emotionally revealing songs as oppor...

  Songs About You - EP Album ∙ Country ∙ 2024 Ole 60

Postcards From Texas Album ∙ Country ∙ 2024 Miranda Lambert Miranda Lambert may have hit it big in Nashville, but Texas will always be the country icon’s greatest muse. Like she did on the collaborative 2021 project   The Marfa Tapes   (joined by fellow Texans Jon Randall and Jack Ingram), Lambert shares sketches and vignettes of the Lone Star State, filtered through her equally introspective and humorous perspective.   Postcards From Texas   is Lambert’s ninth studio album, and the first solo LP she recorded in her home state of Texas since she was a teenager. Accordingly, the record feels homey and lived-in, like on the reflective and playful “Looking Back on Luckenbach” and the laidback love song “January Heart.” “Bitch on the Sauce (Just Drunk)” is more than just a cheeky title, teasing out the complications of a situationship. And opening track “Armadillo” is a barn-burning knee-slapper, with the unforgettable image of an armadillo with a “doobie.” Lambert tells...

Tattoos Album ∙ Country ∙ 2024 Brantley Gilbert Brantley Gilbert is known for his music first and foremost, but the country artist is also famous for his many, many tattoos. He shows off his ink on the cover of this seventh studio album, which follows Gilbert’s 2022   So Help Me God . Co-produced with Brock Berryhill,   Tattoos   sticks to the rough-hewn country rock that has earned Gilbert a rabid following, while lyrically treading new, more vulnerable ground, like the hard-earned wisdom of “The Hell That Raised Us” and the reflective title track, which pays tribute to the deeper meaning behind Gilbert’s tattoos. Gilbert tapped an ace list of artists to feature on the record, including Justin Moore on “Dirty Money” and Rascal Flatts’ Gary LeVox on “God Isn’t Country.” Other highlights include the Ashley Cooke-featuring single “Over When We’re Sober” and the in-your-face anthem “Off the Rails.”

Cowboys And Dreamers Album ∙ Country ∙ 2024 George Strait The most comforting, reliable voice in country coasts into his seventies.

Relapse Album ∙ Country ∙ 2024 Warren Zeiders The singer-songwriter’s second album is rife with gritty, hard-partying imagery.

About A Woman Album ∙ Country ∙ 2024 Thomas Rhett The country vet gets nostalgic on his seventh album.

Whirlwind Album ∙ Country ∙ 2024 Lainey Wilson A Nashville star at the height of her powers, processing the chaos.

F-1 Trillion (Long Bed) Album ∙ Country ∙ 2024 Post Malone Posty’s big country debut gets bigger with nine extra tracks.

F-1 Trillion ALBUM ∙ COUNTRY ∙ 2024 Post Malone Make way for album six. Hear “Pour Me a Drink” and pre-add Posty’s latest.

Made by These Moments ALBUM ∙ COUNTRY ∙ 2024 The Red Clay Strays The Alabama band carries the torch for Southern rock.

Twisters: The Album ALBUM ∙ COUNTRY ∙ 2024 Various Artists A whirlwind set of 29 songs from country’s biggest stars blows into town