New Normal Streams

The Price of Admission Album ∙ Country ∙ 2025 Turnpike Troubadours In recent years Evan Felker has transcended his role as the Turnpike Troubadours lead vocalist, representing for his legion of fans something more like a saint than a singer. Since he found sobriety after time off from music in the early 2020s, Felker and his redemption arc have influenced and inspired a number of today’s biggest and brightest country up-and-comers, including Zach Bryan, who wrote a song, 2019’s “Felker”, about the enigmatic musician and references the band in fan favourite “East Side of Sorrow”. That this follow-up to 2023’s  A Cat in the Rain  arrives after just two years is a welcome development given the drought of new Turnpike music between 2017 and 2023, and the relatively short period between LPs also, fortunately, does not point to hasty writing or half-assed recording. Instead, Felker and company sound invigorated as ever, with producer Shooter Jennings returning to lend his light but ...

Honkytonk Hollywood Album ∙ Country ∙ 2025 Jon Pardi Life has changed for Jon Pardi since he released  Mr. Saturday Night  in 2022. The California-born country hitmaker and notorious party boy has since become a father, welcoming his first daughter in 2023 and a second daughter a year later. As he releases this follow-up, Pardi is also on the cusp of turning 40, and the resulting music finds him in a more contemplative place than on past releases. While there’s no shortage of booze or bad ideas across the album’s 17 tracks, Pardi also dips into more serious territory, like exploring parenthood on the tear-jerking ballad “She Drives Away” and pushing the party too far on the down-and-out “Gamblin’ Man”. “I feel like this album is less party and a lot of soul, but it’s still party and dancing,” he tells Apple Music. “There’s lots of layers to this album, I think. There’s some big songs that are going to feel more personable to the listener than my other albums.” Other highlights...

I’m The Problem Album ∙ Country ∙ 2025 Morgan Wallen

Relapse, Lies, & Betrayal Album ∙ Country ∙ 2025 Warren Zeiders Warren Zeiders previewed this sprawling double album with 2024’s  Relapse , a tight 10-song collection of down-and-out country songs with hard-rock edges. Now, the Pennsylvania-born athlete turned singer-songwriter has fleshed out the project with 11 new tracks. He uses these new tunes both to deepen  Relapse ’s themes of heartache and substance abuse as well as to shake up its original sequence, which is rearranged somewhat here and makes space for a fuller portrait of Zeiders’ style of country music. Highlights of the new material include “Everything Comes to Go Away,” a soulful cut co-written by teenage wunderkind Ben Goldsmith, and “Love in Letting Go,” a tender duet with Lanie Gardner. Of course,  Relapse  favorites like “Intoxicated” and “Betrayal” are on the record, too, cast in a more potent light when flanked by songs like “Can a Heart Take,” a brooding and melodic power ballad that puts Zei...

PATTERNS (DELUXE) Album ∙ Country ∙ 2025 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 reminiscen...

Lonely Mountain Town - EP Album ∙ Country ∙ 2025 Charles Wesley Godwin Charles Wesley Godwin may have had a busy 2024 out on the road, but it didn’t keep the West Virginia-born singer-songwriter away from pen and paper. Invigorated by touring life, Godwin dreamt up a handful of new tunes to follow his acclaimed 2023 record  Family Ties , writing while on the road and recording what would become this EP with bandmate Al Torrence. The tracks serve as a snapshot of Godwin’s evolving artistry, retaining the vivid and thoughtful perspective of earlier material while exploring more narrative forms of storytelling. The EP opens with its title track, a sketch of rural romantic longing with an understated, dynamic vocal. Godwin gets an assist from Ernest on “Dead To Rights,” a yearning love song about unexpected romance, with gently dizzying guitars mimicking the disorientation that comes with falling hard and fast. Closing out the EP is the Scott Avett (The Avett Brothers) collaboration “H...

OIL MONEY - EP Album ∙ Country ∙ 2025 Graham Barham On his second EP, the Louisiana singer pushes country-rap’s boundaries.

The Select Album ∙ Country ∙ 2025 Ty Myers Many young artists are touted as being old souls, but few have the chops, confidence, and clarity of vision of Ty Myers. The Austin-based singer-songwriter is just 17 as he releases his debut, though you’d be forgiven for thinking him at least a decade older after hearing the soulful weariness of opener “Ends of the Earth,” or the scrappy wisdom of the melodic and tender “Let ’Em Talk.” Myers seems to find inspiration in virtuosity, naming Stevie Ray Vaughan and Chris Stapleton among his primary influences. You can hear those connections across  The Select , like when Myers goes for broke on the loose and funky “Can’t Hold Me Down,” and in much of his guitar playing, which, like Vaughan’s did, tends toward blues while dipping into jazz. Myers also includes a cover of fellow SRV fan John Mayer’s “Man on the Side.” To boot, Myers is just as skilled at choosing collaborators, as Anderson East, Trent Dabbs, and Jessi Alexander are credited as ...

The Select Album ∙ Country ∙ 2025 Ty Myers Many young artists are touted as being old souls, but few have the chops, confidence, and clarity of vision of Ty Myers. The Austin-based singer-songwriter is just 17 as he releases his debut, though you’d be forgiven for thinking him at least a decade older after hearing the soulful weariness of opener “Ends of the Earth,” or the scrappy wisdom of the melodic and tender “Let ’Em Talk.” Myers seems to find inspiration in virtuosity, naming Stevie Ray Vaughan and Chris Stapleton among his primary influences. You can hear those connections across  The Select , like when Myers goes for broke on the loose and funky “Can’t Hold Me Down,” and in much of his guitar playing, which, like Vaughan’s did, tends toward blues while dipping into jazz. Myers also includes a cover of fellow SRV fan John Mayer’s “Man on the Side.” To boot, Myers is just as skilled at choosing collaborators, as Anderson East, Trent Dabbs, and Jessi Alexander are credited as ...

The High Road Album ∙ Country ∙ 2025 Kane Brown Since he skyrocketed to stardom with his 2016 debut full-length, Kane Brown’s strength has been his versatility—a vision of mainstream country broad enough to accommodate the sounds of R&B, hip-hop, and pop. But as the 31-year-old singer from Chattanooga, Tennessee, tells Apple Music’s Kelleigh Bannen, his fourth album is the first one where he could really be meticulous. “I got thrown into all this,” he said. “This album I’m really excited about, because I actually took my time. I actually got to rewrite some lyrics. I feel like everything’s placed.” On  The High Road , the follow-up to 2022’s  Different Man , Brown remains steadfast in his conviction that being a country star does not require a strict adherence to the old notions of genre. “I’m like a burnt CD from ’03 in a Mustang/You never knew what was coming,” he crows on “Fiddle in the Band,” a bluegrass barnstormer that’s as country as it gets for a manifesto about ge...

  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...