New Country Releases Rankdown Thread

[🌺CountryLineDancer]

Thanks to our new DJ liking Tanner Adell a lot, I am more exposed to her lately, and "Cowboy Break My Heart" is one of the best I heard from her for sure. 

[.indulgecountry]

13. "High and Lonesome" - Mae Estes

Total: 200

George Strait Junkie : 3
Darkest Hour : 5
bboat11 : 8
nuggie99 : 10
Kris Kringle : 10
SHOOTER : 11
LBTrocks : 13
castleoblivion26 : 13
.indulgecountry : 15
taylor : 16
kw9461 : 17
tim : 22
austin : 28
🌺CountryLineDancer : 29

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Songs Remaining}
4x4xU
Am I Okay?
Coming Home
Cowboys Cry Too
Dammit Randy
Free Like
Heaven by Noon
Lose You Again
Somewhere with Her
Son of a Gun
Three Drinks Behind
Wild Horses

[.indulgecountry]

Mae Estes brings her brand of neo-traditional country into the top half of the July set, her third consecutive month doing so. "High and Lonesome" has a great organic production laden with dobro and her old school wail carried her to the top 10 for five participants, with a #3 best from George Strait Junkie. Not everyone was high on this one, however, as she did manage a pair of bottom 3 ranks.

[.indulgecountry]

12. "Coming Home" - Old Dominion

Total: 196

🌺CountryLineDancer : 2
bboat11 : 7
nuggie99 : 8
SHOOTER : 8
kw9461 : 9
tim : 11
.indulgecountry : 11
Kris Kringle : 13
George Strait Junkie : 18
Darkest Hour : 18
austin : 19
castleoblivion26 : 19
taylor : 26
LBTrocks : 27

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Songs Remaining}
4x4xU
Am I Okay?
Cowboys Cry Too
Dammit Randy
Free Like
Heaven by Noon
Lose You Again
Somewhere with Her
Son of a Gun
Three Drinks Behind
Wild Horses

[.indulgecountry]

Old Dominion comes up shy of a top 10 peak by a less than 10-point margin with "Coming Home," their latest radio single that likens the urgency of coming home to your loved one to a solider coming home from war. It's a sweet sentiment and the song is catchy enough that it yielded mostly top 20 ranks, with only two outliers in taylor and LBTrocks. 🌺CountryLineDancer's #2 leads a quintet of top 10 ranks.

[.indulgecountry]

11. "Free Like" - Maddie & Tae

Total: 195

taylor : 2
castleoblivion26 : 3
LBTrocks : 4
SHOOTER : 6
.indulgecountry : 7
kw9461 : 11
George Strait Junkie : 16
nuggie99 : 17
Kris Kringle : 17
tim : 19
🌺CountryLineDancer : 22
austin : 22
bboat11 : 23
Darkest Hour : 26

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Songs Remaining}
4x4xU
Am I Okay?
Cowboys Cry Too
Dammit Randy
Heaven by Noon
Lose You Again
Somewhere with Her
Son of a Gun
Three Drinks Behind
Wild Horses

[.indulgecountry]

Maddie & Tae is our unlucky final song to miss out on the top 10 with "Free Like," a feisty uptempo kiss-off anthem. While some of us (myself included) find this to be a total bop as expected from the girls, there is a subset of posters who feel their recent output has been underwhelming. bboat11's last minute list punted the duo out of the top 10, as they missed by a margin less than 10 points. Still, they managed five top 10s, including a trio of top 5s among those.

[.indulgecountry]

Top 10
4x4xU - Lainey Wilson
Am I Okay? - Megan Moroney
Cowboys Cry Too - Kelsea Ballerini, Noah Kahan
Dammit Randy - Miranda Lambert
Heaven by Noon - Megan Moroney
Lose You Again - Avery Anna, Parmalee
Somewhere with Her - Josh Turner
Son of a Gun - Kassi Ashton
Three Drinks Behind - George Strait
Wild Horses - Kylie Frey

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}George Strait Junkie :
Darkest Hour :
tim :
nuggie99 :
LBTrocks :
🌺CountryLineDancer :
SHOOTER :
austin :
kw9461 :
castleoblivion26 :
taylor :
Kris Kringle :
bboat11 :
.indulgecountry :

[.indulgecountry]

10. "Lose You Again" - Avery Anna, Parmalee

Total: 189

austin : 3
bboat11 : 3
castleoblivion26 : 6
🌺CountryLineDancer : 9
Kris Kringle : 11
LBTrocks : 11
tim : 14
nuggie99 : 15
SHOOTER : 15
.indulgecountry : 16
kw9461 : 18
taylor : 19
Darkest Hour : 19
George Strait Junkie : 30

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Songs Remaining}
4x4xU
Am I Okay?
Cowboys Cry Too
Dammit Randy
Heaven by Noon
Somewhere with Her
Son of a Gun
Three Drinks Behind
Wild Horses

[.indulgecountry]

bboat11's last minute list booted M&T from the top 10 in favor of Avery Anna's "Lose You Again." This duet with Parmalee is offered up from Anna's Breakup over Breakfast debut set and sounds like your typical radio-ready M/F country radio duet bop. George Strait Junkie finally sees the loss of his #30 here, the last holdout for a last place ranking still remaining in. Much to his dismay, everyone else had this at least comfortably in the teens, with four posters who opted for a top 10 rank, including a pair of #3s from austin and bboat11.

[.indulgecountry]

9. "Son of a Gun" - Kassi Ashton

Total: 179

SHOOTER : 2
.indulgecountry : 5
tim : 5
taylor : 6
LBTrocks : 9
George Strait Junkie : 11
kw9461 : 12
Darkest Hour : 13
bboat11 : 15
🌺CountryLineDancer : 15
nuggie99 : 16
castleoblivion26 : 22
Kris Kringle : 22
austin : 26

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Songs Remaining}
4x4xU
Am I Okay?
Cowboys Cry Too
Dammit Randy
Heaven by Noon
Somewhere with Her
Three Drinks Behind
Wild Horses

[.indulgecountry]

Kassi Ashton continues to maintain a top 10 presence with her releases as "Son of a Gun" finishes at #9 here, her third of 2024 thus far. The heartland rock vibe of this autobiographical song about Kassi's parents, married with her colorful vocals, spoke to the majority of us as all but four posters had this somewhere in their top half, with five top 10s, spearheaded by SHOOTER's #2 best. Three bottom 10s are lost, including a bottom 5 from austin.

[.indulgecountry]

8. "Wild Horses" - Kylie Frey

Total: 166

George Strait Junkie : 2
taylor : 4
kw9461 : 5
LBTrocks : 6
Darkest Hour : 7
.indulgecountry : 9
bboat11 : 11
nuggie99 : 12
castleoblivion26 : 12
tim : 16
🌺CountryLineDancer : 16
SHOOTER : 20
Kris Kringle : 21
austin : 25

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Songs Remaining}
4x4xU
Am I Okay?
Cowboys Cry Too
Dammit Randy
Heaven by Noon
Somewhere with Her
Three Drinks Behind

[.indulgecountry]

Texan country artist Kylie Frey improves on her performances this year as "Wild Horses" slides into the top 10 with a #8 finish, besting her showings for "Miss Thang" and "Woman Outta Love" from earlier this year which both came up shy of the threshold. Frey scores six top 10 ranks, led by George Strait Junkie's #2 rank (thankfully for him he saw his #30 depart shortly before this one). OTOH, she did manage just a couple bottom 10s.

[.indulgecountry]

7. "Somewhere with Her" - Josh Turner

Total: 161

nuggie99 : 1
tim : 4
kw9461 : 4
🌺CountryLineDancer : 5
castleoblivion26 : 5
George Strait Junkie : 7
.indulgecountry : 13
bboat11 : 14
Darkest Hour : 16
austin : 16
LBTrocks : 17
SHOOTER : 17
Kris Kringle : 18
taylor : 24

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Songs Remaining}
4x4xU
Am I Okay?
Cowboys Cry Too
Dammit Randy
Heaven by Noon
Three Drinks Behind

[.indulgecountry]

Similarly to Kylie Frey, Josh Turner's third time is the charm as well as he improves upon his prior two performances this year by making the top 10 with "Somewhere with Her," a pre-issue release from This Country Music Thing. nuggie99 is the first #1 loss we've experience in awhile, but those will become more frequent as we narrow in on the victor. He scored four additional top 5 ranks, which is impressive. He only missed the top 20 of one poster's list.

[.indulgecountry]

6. "Three Drinks Behind" - George Strait

Total: 157

tim : 2
George Strait Junkie : 5
nuggie99 : 6
LBTrocks : 7
castleoblivion26 : 7
Kris Kringle : 8
bboat11 : 9
austin : 10
kw9461 : 10
SHOOTER : 12
Darkest Hour : 17
🌺CountryLineDancer : 18
taylor : 18
.indulgecountry : 28

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Songs Remaining}
4x4xU
Am I Okay?
Cowboys Cry Too
Dammit Randy
Heaven by Noon

[.indulgecountry]

George Strait misses out on the top 5 by a margin of less than 10 points with the plucky "Three Drinks Behind." While the majority of his ranks came in the top 10 for King George here, more of them were in the lower half of the threshold, though tim loses a #2 here. He had a few ranks in the teens, but I was the lone dissenter in the bottom 10, but I just feel like this song is poorly produced and fails to stack up to the bulk of this list. With him bowing out, we are left with an all-female top 5 (save for the male collaborator on Kelsea's track).

[.indulgecountry]

5. "Cowboys Cry Too" - Kelsea Ballerini, Noah Kahan

Total: 150

castleoblivion26 : 1
tim : 3
taylor : 5
Kris Kringle : 6
bboat11 : 6
.indulgecountry : 6
austin : 6
kw9461 : 7
🌺CountryLineDancer : 14
Darkest Hour : 14
George Strait Junkie : 19
SHOOTER : 19
LBTrocks : 20
nuggie99 : 24

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Songs Remaining}
4x4xU
Am I Okay?
Dammit Randy
Heaven by Noon

[.indulgecountry]

Kelsea Ballerini's Patterns lead secured a top 5 spot with the last few lists that came in. Ballerini recruited Noah Kahan for the deep yet sneakily smooth "Cowboys Cry Too," which managed to land at the top of castleoblivion26's list and within the top 10 of seven other participants. The track was a bit polarizing, however, as this still picked up a few lower rankings, though only one of them was outside the top 20.

[Darkest Hour]

Despite rough showing sometimes at least only my top 10 rankings remain now.

[.indulgecountry]

4. "Heaven by Noon" - Megan Moroney

Total: 126

.indulgecountry : 3
taylor : 3
Kris Kringle : 4
bboat11 : 4
nuggie99 : 4
tim : 7
kw9461 : 8
castleoblivion26 : 8
Darkest Hour : 10
🌺CountryLineDancer : 11
George Strait Junkie : 12
austin : 14
SHOOTER : 16
LBTrocks : 22

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Songs Remaining}
4x4xU
Am I Okay?
Dammit Randy

[.indulgecountry]

Megan Moroney managed to double up and send both of her Am I Okay? cuts this month into the top 5, but "Heaven by Noon" departs first. This cutting lyric inspired by a relative who lost their loved one in the 9/11 terrorist attack was a standout deep cut on Moroney's latest LP and is one of the album's most stone cold country moments. All but two posters placed this top half, with LBTrocks the lone bottom 10 dissenter. OTOH, nine posters lose a top 10 rank, and "Heaven" bested "Cowboys Cry Too" by nearly 25 points, indicating a sizable gap. This and the three songs ahead of it really emerged as the definitive top 4 for July.

[.indulgecountry]

3. "Am I Okay?" - Megan Moroney

Total: 112

bboat11 : 1
castleoblivion26 : 2
.indulgecountry : 2
nuggie99 : 2
SHOOTER : 3
kw9461 : 3
Kris Kringle : 5
🌺CountryLineDancer : 6
George Strait Junkie : 9
Darkest Hour : 9
taylor : 13
tim : 15
LBTrocks : 19
austin : 23

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Songs Remaining}
4x4xU
Dammit Randy

[.indulgecountry]

And just like that Megan Moroney is out of the running as she suffers back-to-back losses. The title cut from her sophomore record, this track is a bit of a 180 from "Heaven" in that it's a playful tongue-in-cheek more upbeat and poppier tune, showing the variety of Moroney's talents as an artist. bboat11 suffers our latest #1 loss, and the majority of us placed this well within our top 10, including a notable stack of six additional top 5s. Again, we see only one outlier rank, this time from austin.

[.indulgecountry]

1. "Dammit Randy" - Miranda Lambert

Total: 74

tim : 1
SHOOTER : 1
austin : 1
kw9461 : 1
taylor : 1
.indulgecountry : 1
Kris Kringle : 2
Darkest Hour : 3
bboat11 : 5
George Strait Junkie : 6
LBTrocks : 8
nuggie99 : 13
castleoblivion26 : 14
🌺CountryLineDancer : 17

2. "4x4xU" - Lainey Wilson

Total: 84

George Strait Junkie : 1
Kris Kringle : 1
kw9461 : 2
Darkest Hour : 4
.indulgecountry : 4
LBTrocks : 5
SHOOTER : 5
nuggie99 : 7
austin : 8
tim : 8
castleoblivion26 : 9
taylor : 10
bboat11 : 10
🌺CountryLineDancer : 10

[.indulgecountry]

In the battle of Miranda Lambert and Lainey Wilson, MirLam comes out in the lead for July with Postcards from Texas teaser "Dammit Randy." She bests Ms. Wilson by a 10-point margin over "4x4xU," the singer's current hit single off Whirlwind. Both ladies duked it out and changed hands on the lead routinely throughout the submission process, but MirLam's absolute firewall of #1 ranks really set her up for victory. However, MirLam did have three lower ranks that helped offset that lead, and Wilson narrowed the gap by being the month's only song to secure only top 10 ranks from everyone that submitted. MirLam pulled off six #1s (which might be the most for any winner all year without me going back and verifying for 100% accuracy), while Wilson managed two #1s. They previously went head-to-head back in May's set when their lead singles ("Wranglers" and "Hang Tight Honey") dropped, and they ironically came out in a tie in point value that time, though MirLam's higher passion won her the tiebreaker and gave them a #2 and #3 finish, so the ladies both improved just slightly this month on that performance.

[Darkest Hour]

And the top 4 are in the order of my lowest to highest remaining ranks so I'm glad with the outcome.

[austin]

I am not Lainey's biggest fan at all, but 4x4xU is a really good hook and the melody is a catchy groove. Miranda's song is the right winner, but I am not upset to see Lainey so high.

[taylor]

Great Top 2. “Dammit Randy” is classic MirLam perfection and I’m happy to see so many others agreed.