New Country Releases Rankdown Thread

[SHOOTER]

Room full of haters. Tragic.

[tim]

Kenny’s “Everyone She Knows” did about as good as I had been hoping it might as I knew a few of you would automatically lump this into last place. It’s nothing special but I found it to be quite the ear worm and the more I listened to it the more I warmed up to it.

I tend to hold Clay’s early material in pretty high regard and he is one of those artists that I’ve been a fan of since he debuted on the scene in 1993. I like his recent offerings well enough but it’s nowhere near as good as his output from the mid 90s. And although I try to avoid doing this it’s hard for me to not try and compare his latest material to his golden era.

“Rolling Stone” was love at first listen and I never wavered on not putting this into my top 5. I’m not all that familiar with her other material so for sure need to add some of her songs to my playlist. Disappointed that this couldn’t make it into the top 10, though!

I’m with bboat11 on “All Night” as I still have mixed feelings about it. More than not I enjoy most of Brother Osborne’s material, but I’m just not feeling as passionate about this as the others on Pulse seem to be. Nonetheless, I’m always exited for new music from them and can’t wait to hear more.

[bboat11]

Here is a recap heading into the top 10!

25. Trash My Heart - Walker Hayes (442)
24. Almost Maybes - Jordan Davis (370)
23. The Optimist - Kelleigh Bannen (365)
22. Julianna Calm Down - Dixie Chicks (350)
21. Got Me - Gabby Barrett ft. Shane & Shane (346)

20. Fire And Flame - Kip Moore (333)
19. Every Other Memory - Ryan Hurd (325)
18. Never Have I Ever - Danielle Bradbery (323)
17. Only Children - Jason Isbell (320)
16. When You're My Age - Lori McKenna ft. Hillary Lindsey & Liz Rose (319)
15. Lady - Brett Young (316)
14. Everyone She Knows - Kenny Chesney (311)
13. Easy Goin' - Clay Walker (284)
12. Rolling Stone - Lainey Wilson (278)
11. All Night - Brothers Osborne (261)


The Top 10:
6th Avenue Heartache - Sara Evans
Girls Like Me - Martina McBride
I Called Mama - Tim McGraw
Light Changes Everything - Carolyn Dawn Johnson
Poet’s Prayer - Sunny Sweeney
Rodeo Clown - Randy Rogers & Wade Bowen
Six Feet Apart - Luke Combs
Small Town Hypocrite - Caylee Hammack
When Life Is Good Again - Dolly Parton
You Make It Hard - Hot Country Knights ft. Terri Clark

[Sambalada]

I'm sorry but All Night has horrible lyrics all throughout the song

"I got the all if you got the night"

Wtf

[austin]

My guess
10. Rodeo Clown - Randy Rogers & Wade Bowen
9. Six Feet Apart - Luke Combs
8. When Life Is Good Again - Dolly Parton
7. Light Changes Everything - Carolyn Dawn Johnson
6. You Make It Hard - Hot Country Knights ft. Terri Clark
5. I Called Mama - Tim McGraw
4. Girls Like Me - Martina McBride
3. 6th Avenue Heartache - Sara Evans
2. Poet’s Prayer - Sunny Sweeney
1. Small Town Hypocrite - Caylee Hammack

[bboat11]

Jun 29, 2020 16:46:34 GMT -5 Sambalada said:

I'm sorry but All Night has horrible lyrics all throughout the song

"I got the all if you got the night"

Wtf

"I got the all if Y'ALL got the night"...

Which is even worse!!!!!!  

[gardyfan]

Jun 29, 2020 16:08:02 GMT -5 bboat11 said:

Jun 29, 2020 16:00:06 GMT -5 gardyfan said:

I'll guess Martina but hope it's not.

Unfortunately it was even worse for you

Of course it was. Rankdown is cancelled! 

[.indulgecountry]

Another mixed bag of reveals. Disappointed to see Brett Young finish this low, but also thrilled that Kenny Chesney and Brothers Osborne are out of there before top 10, especially surprising in the case of the latter. I still don't quite "get" Bros. Osborne. They've got a lot of clunkers and when they're on, they're still just alright to me?

[HeyHeyHey]

I really wanted to like “You Make It Hard” but I just don’t. It is so weird...

I hope it is out soon!

[castleoblivion26]

this rankdown is trash :(

Kip Moore, Clay Walker, and Brothers Osborne all missing Top 10 is just wrong. Especially when songs like "Poet's Prayer", "Rodeo Clown", and "Six Feet Apart" are still in. I like Sunny Sweeney but something about "Poet's Prayer" just did not work for me. "Rodeo Clown" isn't bad but got old pretty quick. As for "Six Feet Apart", it is a song that I enjoy but it doesn't compare to the other songs remaining.

[bboat11]

Let's do a few more! ;)

---

10. "Rodeo Clown" - Randy Rogers & Wade Bowen

Total: 259
Average: 11.77
Std Dev: 7.68 (3rd largest!)


George Strait Junkie - 2
Darkest Hour - 3
lady𝓐fan - 3
BackwoodsBarbie - 3
taylor - 4
kw9461 - 4
gardyfan - 7
LBTrocks - 7
fearlessarrow - 7
bboat11 - 7
superdave3556 - 8
BB🌕 - 11
ClevelandRox - 13
tim - 16
someguy - 17
HeyHeyHey - 18
Sambalada - 18
.indulgecountry - 20
SHOOTER - 21
castleoblivion26 - 21
austin - 24
d3vin44 - 25


@xfer

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
6th Avenue Heartache
Girls Like Me
I Called Mama
Light Changes Everything
Poet’s Prayer
Six Feet Apart
Small Town Hypocrite
When Life Is Good Again
You Make It Hard

[bboat11]

Kicking off the top 10, we say goodbye to "Rodeo Clown". Honestly, this song is so awesome to me! This is the perfect blend of legit funny humor and perfectly neo-traditional production. I am so glad you suggested it Darkest Hour. Making discoveries like this is exactly why these rankdowns are so worthwhile imo. I seriously doubt I would have ever heard it otherwise!

I am a bit surprised to see this in the top 10 tbh, because it felt like every single list that came in tried to tank it. As it turns out, more than half of us had this in our top half, so it really didn't do as badly as I felt like it was going to Although d3vin44 does lose his last place here. Now everyone's last place is gone.

[taylor]

The pure country realness of this song was utter bliss and led to my #4 rank. Glad this at least made the Top 10!

[bboat11]

9. "You Make It Hard" - Hot Country Knights ft. Terri Clark

Total: 258
Average: 11.73
Std Dev: 5.91


George Strait Junkie - 4
SHOOTER - 4
Darkest Hour - 5
bboat11 - 5
d3vin44 - 5
lady𝓐fan - 6
kw9461 - 7
fearlessarrow - 8
.indulgecountry - 9
castleoblivion26 - 10
ClevelandRox - 11
BackwoodsBarbie - 12
superdave3556 - 12
gardyfan - 13
Sambalada - 14
LBTrocks - 16
someguy - 18
austin - 18
taylor - 19
BB🌕 - 20
tim - 21
HeyHeyHey - 21


@xfer

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
6th Avenue Heartache
Girls Like Me
I Called Mama
Light Changes Everything
Poet’s Prayer
Six Feet Apart
Small Town Hypocrite
When Life Is Good Again

[taylor]

I thought the music video for this was hilarious but it was hard to take the song seriously and I know that's the point but tbh I probably won't be seeking this song out (until it appears in its next rankdown). I did LOVE Terri's vocals in this

[bboat11]

Hot Country Knights' schtick isn't for everyone, with the blatant double-entendres and all-around silliness, but I have been loving how deliciously '90s their sound is. "You Make It Hard" even goes so far as to bring back the "key change while singing the bridge" idea, which you pretty much never hear anymore nowadays!

Also, how fricking awesome is it for them to drag Terri Clark back into the spotlight! She is one of the most underrated country artists of the last 20 years imo. Based on how consistent and strong her career was when she was a big hit-maker, she really shouldn't have been dropped like a hot potato by American country radio right in her prime. She's still going strong in Canada, and making waves behind the scenes in the Nashville community though!

[bboat11]

**Shameless plug for the Terri Clark album series that I will be starting soon...**



Seriously, she's one of the most consistent album artists EVER. Hopefully some of y'all will check her out with me!!

[bboat11]

Also, I really need to expose ClevelandRox right now... Y'all, this man did not know that Hot Country Knights was a Dierks Bentley project... When he sent me his submission he literally asked me if that singer was Dierks Bentley in a wig...

[bboat11]

8. "Light Changes Everything" - Carolyn Dawn Johnson

Total: 256
Average: 11.64
Std Dev: 6.03


LBTrocks - 1
austin - 2
superdave3556 - 4
taylor - 6
d3vin44 - 7
bboat11 - 8
castleoblivion26 - 8
Sambalada - 8
someguy - 9
BB🌕 - 9
kw9461 - 11
.indulgecountry - 11
Darkest Hour - 14
lady𝓐fan - 14
George Strait Junkie - 15
ClevelandRox - 16
gardyfan - 16
SHOOTER - 17
fearlessarrow - 18
BackwoodsBarbie - 19
tim - 19
HeyHeyHey - 24

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
6th Avenue Heartache
Girls Like Me
I Called Mama
Poet’s Prayer
Six Feet Apart
Small Town Hypocrite
When Life Is Good Again

[fearlessarrow]

"Rodeo Clown" was a really great discovery! A #25 rank for this over the likes of "Trash My Heart" and "Almost Maybes"....  I see that it's #1 on the Texas radio charts right now too.

[bboat11]

Carolyn Dawn Johnson is somebody who I have always loved, but tend to forget that she exists because she has been dormant for so long... So when castleoblivion26 asked me to include her new song I was like OF COURSE!!!! And I am glad, because "Light Changes Everything" proves that she is still as great as ever. Her voice is so pleasant and easy to listen to, and clearly has not aged even a tiny bit. My only complaint with this song is that the production starts to sound pretty cheap once the chorus hits, but it isn't enough to take away from the song imo.

CDJ's solo releases have all been phenomenal, but the bulk of her career has consisted of her being a background vocalist. She was Martina McBride's background vocalist for several years about the time she tried to launch her solo career (which is why Martina appeared as the background vocalist on "Georgia" on CDJ's debut!), and she has also toured with Miranda Lambert in the years since her career sputtered out. Glad to see she's still doing well!

[bboat11]

7. "Poet's Prayer" - Sunny Sweeney

Total: 248
Average: 11.27
Std Dev: 6.39


BackwoodsBarbie - 2
BB🌕 - 3
George Strait Junkie - 3
Darkest Hour - 4
superdave3556 - 5
.indulgecountry - 5
lady𝓐fan - 7
d3vin44 - 8
Sambalada - 9
gardyfan - 9
kw9461 - 10
tim - 11
someguy - 13
austin - 14
taylor - 14
HeyHeyHey - 15
bboat11 - 16
fearlessarrow - 17
LBTrocks - 18
SHOOTER - 20
ClevelandRox - 22
castleoblivion26 - 23


@xfer

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
6th Avenue Heartache
Girls Like Me
I Called Mama
Six Feet Apart
Small Town Hypocrite
When Life Is Good Again

[LBTrocks]

No way I'm catching up on commenting on every reveal lol. So I'll just talk about a few.

I'm actually not at all surprised that The Brothers Osborne missed the top 10. "All Night" is a jam but I can see where it would be polarizing, and I actually didn't expect it to do nearly as well here as it did.

Lainey Wilson is AMAZING and "Rolling Stone" is probably her best song yet!!! I adore it so freaking much 

Not sure why the Kenny tune was so terrible to my ears, but it was completely unlistenable to me. So glad its out.

"Light Changes Everything" is absolute perfection and I am so glad that it made the top 10! Carolyn Dawn Johnson has always been one of my favorite artists... her voice is absolutely incredible as is most of her music. 

[bboat11]

Sunny has much better songs than "Poet's Prayer", but this is still a pretty nice song. The most noteworthy aspect is definitely that dobro that is littered throughout the arrangement Such an underutilized and underrated instrument!!

[LBTrocks]

Jun 29, 2020 22:41:47 GMT -5 fearlessarrow said:

"Rodeo Clown" was a really great discovery! A #25 rank for this over the likes of "Trash My Heart" and "Almost Maybes"....  I see that it's #1 on the Texas radio charts right now too.

Completely agree with this!! "Rodeo Clown" was traditional country greatness. Loved it.

[fearlessarrow]

Having loved some of Sunny Sweeney's work in the past, I really wanted to like this more than I did but there's something about the vocals that is off to me in "Poet's Prayer". The instrumentation is gorgeous though.

[bboat11]

Jun 29, 2020 22:55:27 GMT -5 fearlessarrow said:

Having loved some of Sunny Sweeney's work in the past, I really wanted to like this more than I did but there's something about the vocals that is off to me in "Poet's Prayer". The instrumentation is gorgeous though.

To me it sounds like a raw take, like it's just her and a guitar and a dobro all playing straight through in one take like they're singing around a campfire or something. That unpolished sound is definitely an intentional choice, but might also be what's throwing it off for people I think.

[bboat11]

Hmmmmm..... Any guesses for what will be the final song to miss the top 5??!!?!?!?!!!


6th Avenue Heartache - Sara Evans
Girls Like Me - Martina McBride
I Called Mama - Tim McGraw
Six Feet Apart - Luke Combs
Small Town Hypocrite - Caylee Hammack
When Life Is Good Again - Dolly Parton

[taylor]

Rough guess:

1. When Life Is Good Again - Dolly Parton
2. Small Town Hypocrite - Caylee Hammack
3. 6th Avenue Heartache - Sara Evans
4. Six Feet Apart - Luke Combs
5. Girls Like Me - Martina McBride
6. I Called Mama - Tim McGraw

[bboat11]

6. "Six Feet Apart" - Luke Combs

Total: 230
Average: 10.45
Std Dev: 5.41 (4th smallest!)


HeyHeyHey - 1
gardyfan - 2
lady𝓐fan - 4
kw9461 - 6
fearlessarrow - 6
Sambalada - 7
George Strait Junkie - 8
tim - 8
someguy - 8
BackwoodsBarbie - 9
Darkest Hour - 9
taylor - 9
d3vin44 - 10
LBTrocks - 11
castleoblivion26 - 14
BB🌕 - 15
superdave3556 - 15
.indulgecountry - 15
bboat11 - 15
SHOOTER - 18
ClevelandRox - 19
austin - 21


@xfer

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
6th Avenue Heartache
Girls Like Me
I Called Mama
Small Town Hypocrite
When Life Is Good Again