New Country Releases Rankdown Thread

[bboat11]

"Trying Not To" is a song that bigfan101 requested, forgot about, "discovered" and fell in love with it through this rd after I put it in, and then sent me a message asking who had requested it because it was wonderful 😂 So that's a fun story!

[LBTrocks]

I was kinda mixed on "Trying Not To" cuz the melody had its moments, and her voice is ok, but I don't think this song worked that well as a duet and I wasn't really feeling that Roman Alexander dude at all. It's a solid song, but not sure it's something I would come back to.

[bboat11]

Up next: Our first #1 loss!!!! 

[taylor]

It's mine, isn't it? 

[bboat11]

18. "How Great Thou Art" - Carrie Underwood

Total: 311
Average: 14.81
Std Dev: 8.05 (3rd largest)


taylor - 1 (RIP :'( )
lady𝓐fan - 2
bigfan101 - 5
bboat11 - 5
zaclord 🌈 - 5
superdave3556 - 6
castleoblivion26 - 8
fearlessarrow - 15
SHOOTER - 15
Darkest Hour - 16
.indulgecountry - 17
someguy - 18
tim - 18
HeyHeyHey - 20
🌺CountryLineDancer - 21
LBTrocks - 21
George Strait Junkie - 21
Kris Kringle - 23
kw9461 - 24
d3vin44 - 25
ClevelandRox - 25

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
Cross Country
Dirt Around The Tree
Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)
Heartbreak Song
How Far Can It Go?
Like A Lady
Never Break Heart
Sad Song
Still Woman Enough
Sunroof
The Highway
The Past Is The Past
Thinking ‘Bout You
True Crime
Woman You Got
Wyoming
You All Over Me

[bboat11]

Apr 27, 2021 21:58:44 GMT -5 taylor said:

It's mine, isn't it? 

I thought I'd warn you so you had time to get your gifs ready :'(

[LBTrocks]

Only reasons "How Great Thou Art" made it to 21 on my list was cuz 1) Carrie's vocals were stunning on it and 2) the songs I put below it were somehow even worse than this song is.

[🌺CountryLineDancer]

Oh c'mon, Runnin Wild is good! 
No way it deserves to be in the bottom 5!!!

[zaclord 🌈]

Y'all are going to hell for your ranks below 15 for this...

[bboat11]

Carrie turned in a LEGENDARY performance of "How Great Thou Art" back during the ACM Women Of Country special (I think in 2011?), with Vince Gill on guitar and background vocals. That has long been one of the most widely acclaimed performances of her career! And then when she put out her gospel album this spring, she kept the song basically the same and gave us a studio version of it!!!!! (With an added verse and chorus in the middle)



She still slays this song just as powerfully as she did ten years ago, and I am SO happy to have a studio version of that performance, because frankly if she had changed it up too much it would have been a huge letdown in comparison to the live performance that she was known for. NOBODY sings this song like this!! I understand that Pulse doesn't like Christian music, but frankly it doesn't matter what she's singing when her vocals sound this good... This should have done better.

[🌺CountryLineDancer]

Also, Trying Not To is a great duet song with nice melody!
Best material by Alana for sure!
Alana and Taylor, great requests there bigfan101!

[taylor]

I knew Carrie would be leaving sooner rather than later, so I was just bracing myself for the pain, lol. I'm glad she managed to get close to the Top 15 though! That alone is a respectable achievement for this song, imo.

I know "How Great Thou Art" and the like are not everyone's cup of tea and that's perfectly fine (who am I to force my beliefs down someone's throat?!), but I'm in the boat where the music means so incredibly much to me, and hearing CU sing these songs is a gift. If you love Carrie's latest album as much as I do and want to see HGTA in another rankdown, look no further than the My Savior Rankdown, which is another RD I'm hosting and is due May 26!

This is the definitive version of HGTA. There is no other person imo, alive or dead, who has done or will likely ever do this song better. ONLY Carrie Underwood can outdo Carrie Underwood.

[bboat11]

Apr 27, 2021 22:07:44 GMT -5 taylor said:

I knew Carrie would be leaving sooner rather than later, so I was just bracing myself for the pain, lol. I'm glad she managed to get close to the Top 15 though! That alone is a respectable achievement for this song, imo.

I know "How Great Thou Art" and the like are not everyone's cup of tea and that's perfectly fine (who am I to force my beliefs down someone's throat?!), but I'm in the boat where the music means so incredibly much to me, and hearing CU sing these songs is a gift. If you love Carrie's latest album as much as I do and want to see HGTA in another rankdown, look no further than the My Savior Rankdown, which is another RD I'm hosting and is due May 26!

This is the definitive version of HGTA. There is no other person imo, alive or dead, who has done or will likely ever do this song better. ONLY Carrie Underwood can outdo Carrie Underwood.

It may have flopped in this rd, but I 100% expect this song to get its flowers with a nice victory in that album rd I can't wait!

[bboat11]

17. "Cross Country" - BRELAND ft. Mickey Guyton

Total: 308
Average: 14.67
Std Dev: 5.15 (3rd smallest)


SHOOTER - 2
lady𝓐fan - 9
Kris Kringle - 9
castleoblivion26 - 10
d3vin44 - 10
🌺CountryLineDancer - 11
zaclord 🌈 - 12
bigfan101 - 13
someguy - 14
tim - 14
superdave3556 - 15
Darkest Hour - 15
fearlessarrow - 16
LBTrocks - 17
bboat11 - 18
.indulgecountry - 19
HeyHeyHey - 19
kw9461 - 19
taylor - 21
George Strait Junkie - 22
ClevelandRox - 23

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
Dirt Around The Tree
Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)
Heartbreak Song
How Far Can It Go?
Like A Lady
Never Break Heart
Sad Song
Still Woman Enough
Sunroof
The Highway
The Past Is The Past
Thinking ‘Bout You
True Crime
Woman You Got
Wyoming
You All Over Me

[LBTrocks]

We're not really giving SHOOTER any reason to keep coming back to do our country rankdowns

[.indulgecountry]

Love Mickey on this, but BRELAND does his best to ruin everything he touches. This is probably the most tolerable thing I've ever heard from him vocally, but he's still... not good.

[taylor]

I absolutely love Mickey Guyton, but unfortunately not even she could save this song. I couldn't get past BRELAND's vocals and the production wasn't the greatest, either.

[bboat11]

"Cross Country" continues the string of #2 losses, this time with SHOOTER joining tim and bigfan101 and lady𝓐fan

This song is good, but imo it's leaving right about where I expected it to. Mickey is perfect as ever, and BRELAND has been proving to be more solid lately too. However, the competition is getting stiff quite quickly now, and this song simply doesn't stand out melodically the way a lot of the songs that are left do.

[bboat11]

16. "Sad Song" - Nicole Rayy

Total: 289
Average: 13.76
Std Dev: 7.15 (5th largest)


🌺CountryLineDancer - 2
Kris Kringle - 3
tim - 4
castleoblivion26 - 5
taylor - 5
ClevelandRox - 7
d3vin44 - 9
LBTrocks - 12
.indulgecountry - 12
superdave3556 - 14
bboat11 - 14
SHOOTER - 18
kw9461 - 18
zaclord 🌈 - 19
bigfan101 - 19
Darkest Hour - 20
George Strait Junkie - 20
lady𝓐fan - 21
fearlessarrow - 21
someguy - 22
HeyHeyHey - 24

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
Dirt Around The Tree
Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)
Heartbreak Song
How Far Can It Go?
Like A Lady
Never Break Heart
Still Woman Enough
Sunroof
The Highway
The Past Is The Past
Thinking ‘Bout You
True Crime
Woman You Got
Wyoming
You All Over Me

[LBTrocks]

"Sad Song" was quite good, but tbh it started getting a bit monotonous halfway thru, so it missed my top 10 fairly easily.

[bboat11]

Things are continuing to get more and more painful, with "Sad Song" adding 🌺CountryLineDancer to the #2 loss club, and a whole string of other top 5s as well! I liked this one quite a bit, certainly much better than her song in the 2020 Canadian Country rd. Although this feels like a good time for it to leave based on what's left.

[taylor]

I braced myself to lose my #1, not another Top 5!!!  >

"Sad Song" is one of the best songs I've heard in 2021 thus far. This was CAPTIVATING, from beginning to end. Nicole has an incredible voice and this sounds like something that radio would eat up! This should've done a bit better.

[bboat11]

Recap:
25. You Got Away With It - Brett Young (425)
24. Come In (But Don't Make Yourself Comfortable) - Caroline Jones (399)
23. The Flame - Camille Parker (385)
22. Runnin' Wild - Midland (326)
21. My Masterpiece - Darius Rucker (322)

20. Stairway To Heaven Highway To Hell - Tracy Lawrence (322)
19. Trying Not To - Alana Springsteen ft. Roman Alexander (316)
18. How Great Thou Art - Carrie Underwood (311)
17. Cross Country - BRELAND ft. Mickey Guyton (308)
16. Sad Song - Nicole Rayy (289)


Top 15:

Dirt Around The Tree - Candi Carpenter ft. Brandi Carlile
Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home) - Elle King & Miranda Lambert
Heartbreak Song - Callista Clark
How Far Can It Go? - Hailey Whitters ft. Trisha Yearwood
Like A Lady - Lady A
Never Break Heart - Eric Church
Still Woman Enough - Loretta Lynn ft. Reba McEntire & Carrie Underwood
Sunroof - Brooke Eden
The Highway - Terri Clark
The Past Is The Past - Brandy Clark ft. Lindsey Buckingham
Thinking ‘Bout You - Dustin Lynch ft. MacKenzie Porter
True Crime - Taylor Acorn
Woman You Got - Maddie & Tae
Wyoming - Jo Smith ft. Vince Gill
You All Over Me - Taylor Swift ft. Maren Morris

[🌺CountryLineDancer]

Wish my request Sad Song stayed a little longer, but glad to see positive comments from some posters!
At least Nicole did better than 2020 Year-End RD where she got tanked in the bottom 6.

[lady𝓐fan]

"How Great Thou Art" is one of the few religious songs I enjoy and Carrie does a wonderful job with it 

[SHOOTER]

Apr 27, 2021 22:14:11 GMT -5 LBTrocks said:

We're not really giving SHOOTER any reason to keep coming back to do our country rankdowns

None. Lose my number!

[Darkest Hour]

Talk about overproduction for You Got Away With It...How come this still have two top 10 ranks tho

Come In would be much better if Caroline Jones has the charisma of Shania Twain to play off these cheeky songs.

The Flame sounds extremely messy, from the vocals to arrangement. No memorable points at all.

Damn I really like Runnin' Wild and especially the chorus, although it's on a lengthy side, the way that the notes ascend from first to third time of "And you run" and then the descend from fourth and final time sounds quite cool, but I suppose the demo-ish production doesn't help.

I have heard too much of this kind of chorus by Darius Rucker. Really the only highlights of his country career are Wagon Wheel and Straight to Hell which are covers.

Stairway To Heaven Highway To Hell is solid but Tracy Lawrence's voice is not the easiest to get into.

Trying Not To is okay country pop. Not really distinctive but at least a solid hook I guess.

I thought How Great Thou Art would have more supporter. It really isn't bad but I wish a softer cut like the gospel radio single Nothing But The Blood of Jesus, or Because He Lives, or Victory In Jesus which is more in line with my impression of country gospel, from My Savior would be showcased here. Plus I don't think Carrie's high notes are that pleasant.

I commented on Cross Country on "March" Madness and the main point is Breland's vocal is just ok.

The vocal in Sad Song is a bit too loud. Plus the melody is not very memorable.

Like A Lady needs to leave soon.

[Darkest Hour]

Apr 27, 2021 22:14:11 GMT -5 LBTrocks said:

We're not really giving SHOOTER any reason to keep coming back to do our country rankdowns

There are good country-adjacent black artists releasing right now (Rhiannon Giddens, Valerie June, Yola, Amythyst Kiah...), but they would probably be the odd ones in these rankdown playlists.

[bigfan101]

Apr 27, 2021 21:53:20 GMT -5 bboat11 said:

"Trying Not To" is a song that bigfan101 requested, forgot about, "discovered" and fell in love with it through this rd after I put it in, and then sent me a message asking who had requested it because it was wonderful 😂 So that's a fun story!

Hahaha yeah, major blonde moment for me here. This is what happens when i forget to save songs i like on Spotify 😂🤦🏻‍♂️

Surprised to see it so early! It had a great beat and vocals even if it’s on the poppier side of things.

[d3vin44]

Apr 27, 2021 22:59:33 GMT -5 🌺CountryLineDancer said:

Wish my request Sad Song stayed a little longer, but glad to see positive comments from some posters!
At least Nicole did better than 2020 Year-End RD where she got tanked in the bottom 6.

A great discovery for me! Thank you for requesting it!