The Official Country Music Thread Genre • Page 78

Haven't listened to this yet, but it popped up in my feed so I wanted to drop it in here for anyone else who may be interested. Atlantic Podcasts | Brent Cobb

 

Congrats by the way! Same for us. Our ceremony/reception is in July but we might elope before that date

 

I had taken a break from the Ruston Kelly album for a while because it's a wintery feeling record to me, and living in Florida, it doesn't even become light jacket weather until about now. But I'm revisiting it today (because it's finally *just* chilly enough) and man, can this guy write a song. Forgot how incredible "Mercury" is, good Lord.

 

I've been spending a lot of time with the Ruston album lately too. The second half especially is so, so good. I think the run from "Mercury" to the end is the strongest consecutive string of songs on any album this year.

 

Yeah the back half is insane, but for me I'd start that run one song earlier with "Big Brown Bus". And I'm not in love with "Trying To Let Her". It's fine but for some reason 2 lines in the 2nd verse just really bother me and hinders my enjoyment of the song... "And she's a rose among the weeds and I'm the joke among the thieves". I don't know why those lines annoy me as much as they do, I guess they just seem extra corny.

 

"Trying to Let Her" is definitely the weakest song of that run, but I still love it. It sort of epitomizes the recovery/redemption that he's stumbling toward as the album moves forward.

 

Once he said that one was intended for Kenny Chesney, that's all I can think about when I listen to it.

 

Top artist via Spotify for me was Ruston Kelly, with a whopping 34 hours listened. Crazy since I really only got into him when the LP came out, so for it to come on top of the entire year from September on....

 

My top artist was Koe Wetzel this year. How do yall feel about him?

 

One of my favorite Christmas songs.

 

Anyone ever listen to the podcast "walking the floor" with Chris Shiflett? His guests include Isbell, Moreland, Stapleton, sturgill, colter Wall etc. Just downloaded some of the episodes but haven't listened yet

 

It’s a great show. Lots of fun interviews.

 

Love that Kacey was #1 on the staff list but I'm honestly shocked it beat out The 1975. I'm not a fan but boy that album was sure getting a ton of hype around here. Also Ruston in the top 10, and Caitlyn Smith on there. @Craig Manning you seem to be influencing some people around here.

 

Yeah, I was pretty shocked by Kacey winning too. The 1975 was definitely in the lead for awhile when I was tallying lists, but Kacey won with a come-from-behind victory.

Here's my list, if anyone's interested. Lots of country records on here, some of which I've talked about a lot, some of which I don't think I've really talked about at all.

Craig Manning's Top Albums of 2018 • chorus.fm

 

Well no surprise here but I like your list. Happy to see Ben Danaher on your list. I posted a couple times about him in this thread and no one seemed interested

 

Lol I got a kick out of this

 

That album was a bit of a slow burn for me, but it really clicked after I read about his personal story.

Yeah, watched this a few weeks ago. It's amazing how similar all those songs sound. Grady Smith, who made this video, is worth a Twitter follow. His takes on country music are pretty solid.

 

Any Thomas Csorba fans here? I kinda forgot about him but his album "From the Foxhole" in 2017 is quite good.

 

Oh my god - Listened to Amanda Shires for the first time today

I'm in love

 

Excited for Sean McConnell's new one next month

 

As always, love your list. Though we might have to fight about Summertime Songs -- I have grown to love it more than MarigoldenOur lists are pretty similar, with a few exceptions. If you're looking for something new, consider looking at these. Some country, some not:
Young Gun Silver Fox
Damien Jurado
Michigan Rattlers
Dan Parsons
Amy Helm
Lydia Luce
Jeffrey Foucault
The Marcus King Band
The Paper Kites - two albums last year, both very good
New Reveille
Jason Mraz
Ben Rector
Arkells
Maggie Rose
Lake Street Dive
Fickle Friends

 

I just can’t wrap my head around that! I think Summertime Songs is roughly half as good. Marigolden is a top 10 contender for my decade for me. SS might not make my top 200.

Heard a bunch of these, not all! I’ll add the others to my list.

 

@derekjd I love that you mention Michigan Rattlers, I've been trying for like a year to get people to talk to me about them haha. But I've got to respectfully disagree about Summertime Songs, while I love the album and it was a top 5 of last year for me, there's no way I can put it above Marigolden.

 

Totally understandable re: SS. I think I fell in love with it at the right time. I was watching a very good friend's relationship absolutely crumble, and we both sort of lost ourselves in the lyrics. I am totally prepared to say that Marigolden is a better record, but I think I'll always have a closer relationship to SS. Not to say that I think Marigolden is bad, or even not incredible. I know it's absolutely stunning. I just think the personal connection to Marigolden is enough to push it up there.
And Rattlers is such a good album. I think I saw your rec, honestly. So you definitely deserve some credit. :)