Best New Country Songs

It might have been one of the biggest nights in country music last night at the ACM Awards, but nobody's sleeping in this morning. Some of the night’s biggest winners are straight back at it again today.

So, whether you’re just sloping off to bed with a sore head or bouncing out of it, we’ve got you covered for all of this week’s hottest new releases in one handy Holler playlist of the best new country and americana songs.

This week’s Best New Country cover star is Reid Haughton who releases his new nine-track album, Higher Than 9, today. A full-on fusion of swaggering country and merciless rock riffs that captures the high energy, devil-may-care attitude that Haughton brings to his relentless live shows, the album is proof that you can take the band out of the bar, but you’ll never take the bar out of this band.

“All of the songs on Higher Than 9 are a reflection of my journey, heavily influenced by experiences on the road and built for live performances,” Haughton says. “I think there is something for everyone on this record, ranging from barn burners to love songs. We poured our hearts into these tunes, and hope they bring you as much joy as they do us.”

The title track of the album kicks off our Best New Country playlist this week. Co-written by Haughton with Dan Fernandez and Faren Rachels, the propulsive foot-to-the-floor country rocker was actually penned when Haughton first hit Nashville and ended up shaping the direction of the new album.

Returning to the studio with Sadler Vaden (the Grammy-winning guitarist for Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit and producer of Haughton’s self-titled EP) and honing that punchy mix of Southern rock, country, blues, and soul that fuels Haughton’s fiery live performances, Higher Than 9 hits that sweet spot for an artist raised on the heady mix of musical grit endemic to the Deep South, matching a love for Lynyrd Skynyrd, Wilson Pickett, and Hank Williams Jr. with a not-so-secret sonic affinity for The Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix and beyond.

“This is completely the brainchild of my own influences and the sounds in my head,” he says proudly. “So regardless of what success it has or doesn’t have, I’m at peace with it. This is the record I wanted to make. It’s quality music in a world where it’s a lot of just feeding the algorithm.”

Watch the video for ‘Higher Than 9’ on Holler below.

Reid Haughton isn’t the only one rocking out this week. Eight times nominee and the winner of last night’s ACM Single of the Year award, Luke Combs drops a suitably hi-octane song from the forthcoming adrenaline-pumping, big-screen thrill ride Twister, which stars Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell and Anthony in a current-day chapter of the 1996 blockbuster.

‘Ain’t No Love In Oklahoma’ features on the soundtrack album alongside new tracks from country heavyweights like Miranda Lambert, Charley Crockett, Bailey Zimmerman, Kane Brown, Thomas Rhett, Shania Twain, Lainey Wilson, Jelly Roll, Tyler Childers and Megan Moroney, as well as relative newbies The Red Clay Strays, Wyatt Flores, Tanner Adell, Nolan Taylor, Tucker Wetmore, Dylan Gossett and lots more.

It seems like everyone’s feeling a little Bon Jovi this week. HARDY drops another heavy hitter from Quit!! and Warren Zeiders and Austin Williams aren’t afraid to crank it up to 11 on their new singles. Noah Reid even pops up with a version of Poison’s ‘Every Rose Has It’s Thorn.’

Thankfully Koe Wetzel dials it back down a bit for his new single ‘Sweet Dream,’ and if you fancy something even less intense with your breakfast then Kaitlin Butts releases the title track to her highly anticipated new album, Roadrunner!

Due out on June 28th, for her third album, the Nashville-based musician leaned into her lifelong love of musical theatre and dreamed up a modern-day reimagining of the soundtrack to her all-time favourite musical, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! The result is a high concept but candidly autobiographical LP featuring a budding romance between cowboy Curly and farm girl Laurey in the early 1900s that draws much of its power from Butts’ forward-thinking perspective on femininity and independence and show the full force and extraordinary depth of her artistry for the very first time.

“Every summer when I was a kid my parents would take me to see a performance of Oklahoma! at a local amphitheater, and I’ve felt such a strong connection to it my entire life,” says Butts, who first conceptualized the album during a pandemic rewatching of the film with her husband, Flatland Cavalry frontman Cleto Cordero. “It’s a love story but there’s also a murder and a little bit of an acid-trippy feel to it at times; it’s set in the same place where I come from. Once I got the idea for this album, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it before, and it turned into something that completely encompasses who I am and what I love.”

Fresh from being crowned the New Male Artist of the Year and performing his hit ‘Bulletproof’ with Avril Lavigne at the 59th ACM Awards hosted by Reba McEntire yesterday in Frisco, Texas, Nate Smith releases their duet for us all to enjoy forever after.

Another of last night’s big winners, the newly crowned ACM Entertainer of the Year, Lainey Wilson, couldn’t wait any longer to give us our first taste of her forthcoming new album. Just days after unveiling that her fifth record, Whirlwind, would be arriving in late August, Wilson dropped the country funk dancefloor filler ‘Hang Tight Honey’ on Sunday night. A sweet plea to a special someone back home to “hang tight” while Lainey’s out on the road, the song is just as much a tribute to her fans and her road warrior lifestyle, driving from city to city as she performs for sold out crowds all over the world.

She might have got engaged two years ago this week, but Mackenzie Carpenter proves you can still write a damn fine heartbreak song even when you’re head over heels in love on her new single ‘Sound of a Heartbreak.’

"Coming up with the idea for ‘Sound Of A Heartbreak,’ I was thinking about how most heartbreak songs are about what you’re feeling, but we have all these other senses that play into our emotions,” shared Carpenter. “I wanted to explore what you hear when your heart gets broken or you get bad news. I think we really painted a picture of a girl going crazy from the sound of her heartbreak playing over and over again in her mind.”

Evan Honer seems to be having no such luck in love. He releases the title track off his forthcoming album, Fighting For, due out June 7th via Cloverdale Records, but he’s still struggling with those lonely, empty feelings after a breakup, despite amassing over 200 million streams worldwide, over 2.6 million monthly listeners, and going on a sold-out headline tour across the country and into Europe.

Watch the video for ‘Fighting For’ below.

After giving seventy thousand lucky fans a sneak preview of his forthcoming studio album during the opening night of his summer stadium tour at Indianapolis' Lucas Oil Stadium with Chris Stapleton, George Strait releases the first official single off Cowboys and Dreamers with the Jimmy Buffett influenced ‘MIA Down in MIA.’

The Avett Brothers, The Mavericks, Laci Kaye Booth and Kaïa Kater all have big albums out today, and after being one of our 10 Artists You Need To Know back in March, English folk singer Yoshika Colwell releases her stunning new four-track There’s A Time EP today, and we’ve got ‘Please’ included on our playlist.

“The five songs as a collection represent many recurring themes from the last ten years of my life,” Colwell says about the EP. “Notions of catharsis and full circle moments appear repeatedly in these songs. The idea of acceptance has been featuring heavily in my life over the last few years when they were all written. Predominantly I've been having the realisation that letting things end can engender freedom and enrichment rather than leave you feeling empty.”

Another of our 10 Artists You Need to Know alumni, Halle Kearns dishes out sage advice in ‘The Boot,’ while Jenny Don’t and The Spurs pen a love letter to their fans and give us another taste of their upcoming album Broken Hearted Blue, due out June 14th on Fluff and Gravy Records.

“This song was inspired by really wanting to show appreciation for everyone we’ve met on the road and for their continuous support,” says Jenny Don’t who, along with the Spurs, is known for giving every ounce of effort every time the band takes the stage. “We’ll go to great lengths to make it to a show. Crossing scorching deserts, oceans, snowy mountains, and sweltering jungles…literally,” she laughs.

“Touring life is addictive. Every night we meet new friends and reunite with familiar faces from previous shows. Coming from humble beginnings, we never imagined we’d have the chance to travel to most of the places we’ve been.”

Elsewhere in this week’s Best New Country we’ve got new ones from Austin Snell, Twinnie, Max McNown, Blanco Brown and Maya Lane. While even indie pop songstress Samia adds a little twang to her new single ‘Making Breakfast.’

Check out this week's new country song releases and listen to the full playlist below:

1. 1.

   Higher Than 9

   Reid Haughton

2. 2.

   Ain't No Love In Oklahoma

   Luke Combs

3. 3.

   Hang Tight Honey

   Lainey Wilson

4. 4.

   MIA Down In MIA

   George Strait

5. 5.

   The Boot

   Halle Kearns

6. 6.

   Roadrunner

   Kaitlin Butts

7. 7.

   Sound Of A Heartbreak

   Mackenzie Carpenter

8. 8.

   Fighting For

   Evan Honer

9. 9.

   Sweet Dreams

   Koe Wetzel

10. 10.

    Bulletproof

    Nate Smith and Avril Lavigne

11. 11.

    I Let Him Love Me

    Laci Kaye Booth

12. 12.

    PSYCHO

    HARDY

13. 13.

    Betrayal

    Warren Zeiders

14. 14.

    Nothing Left But Leavin

    Austin Williams

15. 15.

    Dear Heart

    The Dryes

16. 16.

    Orion's Belt

    The Avett Brothers

17. 17.

    Making Breakfast

    Samia

18. 18.

    Please

    Yoshika Colwell

19. 19.

    Four Leaf Clover

    Maya Lane

20. 20.

    Angel Band

    The Desert Willows, Julia DiGrazia and Shane Travis

21. 21.

    You're What I Need

    Jenny Don't And The Spurs

22. 22.

    So Can I

    Austin Snell

23. 23.

    Georgia on My Mind

    Kane Brown

24. 24.

    Girl in Your Songs

    Twinnie

25. 25.

    Never Been Done Before

    CHASE WRIGHT

26. 26.

    Love Me Back

    Max McNown

27. 27.

    Risen Road

    Ashley Monroe

28. 28.

    Over and Over

    Shelby Lynne

29. 29.

    Snapshot

    Blanco Brown

30. 30.

    Good Guy

    Cole Phillips

31. 31.

    Sorry Now

    Sara Evans

32. 32.

    Refugee

    Wynonna and Lainey Wilson

33. 33.

    Somebody Say Amen

    Rhett Walker

34. 34.

    Honky Tonk This Up

    Coffey Anderson

35. 35.

    Bad Boy

    HunterGirl

36. 36.

    Trailer in the Sky

    Yelawolf and Jelly Roll

37. 37.

    I Hold You

    Logan Mize

38. 38.

    Rocking Chair

    Cameron Whitcomb

39. 39.

    Love The Leavin'

    Drew Parker

40. 40.

    Roots In Tennessee

    Nick Nash

41. 41.

    Money Where Your Mouth Is

    Lakeview and Gideon

42. 42.

    Pretty Please With Sugar On Top

    Jill Johnson

43. 43.

    Pharmacy

    Taylor Austin Dye

44. 44.

    Off The Drugs

    Wade Forster

45. 45.

    Redemption

    Emmy Russell

46. 46.

    Just Wait

    Kelsey Lamb

47. 47.

    Boy Out The Man

    Brooke Butler

48. 48.

    Good Look Bad

    Will Moseley

49. 49.

    Floodlights

    Kaia Kater

50. 50.

    You Just Want What You Can't Have

    Rainy Eyes

51. 51.

    I Gotta Change (Or I'm Gonna Die)

    Ron Pope

52. 52.

    DADDY QUITS

    Vwillz

53. 53.

    Drifter

    George Ducas

54. 54.

    The Years Will Not Be Kind

    The Mavericks

55. 55.

    H.O.P.E.

    Triston Harper

56. 56.

    What I Got

    Chance McKinney

57. 57.

    Don't Tell Motel

    Chancey DeAnne

58. 58.

    Imposter

    Alice Wallace

59. 59.

    Every Rose Has Its Thorn

    Noah Reid

60. 60.

    For What It's Worth

    Hootie & The Blowfish

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For more of the finest country playlists from Holler, see below: