New Country Releases Rankdown Thread

[bboat11]

13. "Rebels & Angels" - Terry McBride ft. Patty Loveless

Total: 263
Average: 13.15
Std Dev: 5.93


George Strait Junkie - 3
fearlessarrow - 7
taylor is terrified - 8
Darkest Hour - 8
superdave3556 - 8
gardyfan - 9
kw9461 - 9
castleoblivion26 - 9
Kanenrá:ke - 12
d3vin44 - 12
lady𝓐fan - 12
LBTrocks - 14
HeyHeyHey - 15
.indulgecountry - 15
austin - 15
ClevelandRox - 16
bboat11 - 21
tim - 23
someguy - 23
SHOOTER - 24

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
Bridges
Closer To Closure
Cold
Girls In My Hometown
I’d Take Another One Of Those
I’m Not For Everyone
love and hate (ballerini)
Next Girl
Same Devil
Sometimes It’s Too Late
What Do You Think Of?
Whiskey And Rain

[Darkest Hour]

Rebels & Angels is good traditional country song.

[bboat11]

I am SHOCKED by how well "Rebels & Angels" did here. I found this one to be one of the most forgettable songs of the entire rankdown. It has novelty value in the fact that Terry managed to not only find Patty Loveless, but then get her to leave the farm long enough to record a song!

However, it is melodically weak, and Terry McBride himself is not a name that would automatically draw a bunch of support on Pulse (He was the lead singer of '80s band McBride and the Ride, btw. As we all know, he wasn't the most famous "McBride" for very long... Lmao). So is this finish here solely due to Patty? Did the traditional arrangement gain it some points? I guess we'll never know. It's not nearly as strong of a country bop as Earl Thomas Conley's was to my ears, and yet he struggled mightily in the bottom 5 while this one had no resistance whatsoever.

I expected this to be a bottom 5 contender, but the majority of its ranks fell between #8 and #15, which helped it to remain a fairly comfortable top 15 contender for most of the submission process.

[bboat11]

12. "Girls In My Hometown" -  Danielle Bradbery

Total: 257
Average: 12.85
Std Dev: 5.87


fearlessarrow - 5
lady𝓐fan - 5
HeyHeyHey - 5
kw9461 - 6
superdave3556 - 7
d3vin44 - 7
gardyfan - 8
taylor is terrified - 10
.indulgecountry - 10
bboat11 - 14
SHOOTER - 14
LBTrocks - 16
castleoblivion26 - 17
austin - 17
ClevelandRox - 17
someguy - 18
tim - 19
Darkest Hour - 20
Kanenrá:ke - 20
George Strait Junkie - 22

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
Bridges
Closer To Closure
Cold
I’d Take Another One Of Those
I’m Not For Everyone
love and hate (ballerini)
Next Girl
Same Devil
Sometimes It’s Too Late
What Do You Think Of?
Whiskey And Rain

[bboat11]

Danielle Bradbery is one of the best vocalists in the business right now, but her material very rarely manages to cross the line from good to great imo. This is yet another song that fits that description for me. The big improvement with this song from some of her other recent material is the fact that it is undeniably country! She sounds great with this acoustic sound! Lyrically this song has a lot to offer as well. I really enjoy the "Are they getting married? Are they getting jaded?" line, because those are two very real things that happen to people after high school, lmao. That line has made me think every time I have heard it.

I hope Danielle comes with a smash that really allows her voice to shine next, however. She's got the best voice for belting since the era of such big-voiced powerhouse women like Martina/Faith/Jamie/Carrie, but no songs that are anywhere near as inspiring as theirs!

[bboat11]

Recap:

25. Earth To God - John Rich (448)
24. Long Live - Florida Georgia Line (377)
23. Angel From Montgomery - Wynonna Judd (334)
22. Just About Over You - Priscilla Block
21. One Too Many - Keith Urban ft. P!nk

20. Do What You Can - Bon Jovi ft. Jennifer Nettles
19. Silverado Saturday Night - Aaron Watson
18. We Go Together Like - Abby Anderson
17. Better Said Than Done - Earl Thomas Conley
16. What He Does - Rachel Wammack
15. Think Of Me - Jesse Keith Whitley ft. Lorrie Morgan
14. You Time - Scotty McCreery
13. Rebels & Angels - Terry McBride ft. Patty Loveless
12. Girls In My Hometown - Danielle Bradbery



The top 11:
Bridges - Mickey Guyton
Closer To Closure - Jamie O'Neal
Cold - Chris Stapleton
I’d Take Another One Of Those - Shenandoah ft. Zac Brown Band
I’m Not For Everyone - Brothers Osborne
love and hate (ballerini) - Kelsea Ballerini
Next Girl - Carly Pearce
Same Devil - Brandy Clark ft. Brandi Carlisle
Sometimes It’s Too Late - Jamie O'Neal
What Do You Think Of? - Lauren Alaina ft. Lukas Graham
Whiskey And Rain - Michael Ray


Which of these songs will miss out on the top 10??!?! I'm going to wait until more people are here tomorrow afternoon before I show you ;)

[Darkest Hour]

I will still say Danielle Bradbery's vocals is overrated a lot by Pulse 
And then there is somewhat problematic second verse:

When I see a denim jacket
When I hear a kid say a dirty word
...
I go home by myself and I cannot think about
The girls in my hometown

Which doesn't really make sense at all and potentially (unnecessarily) divisive.

[SHOOTER]

I figured it wouldn't make the top-10 but What He Does is Rachel's best song by FAR!

[bboat11]

Oct 30, 2020 0:25:13 GMT -5 Darkest Hour said:

I will still say Danielle Bradbery's vocals is overrated a lot by Pulse 

I can see how you would think this based on exclusively her singles, but have you watched any of her live covers on YouTube? Stumbling into some of those was when I started to realize how talented she is. She has a HUGE range, with very consistent control throughout the entirety of it. She doesn't lose support down low like Maren does, she doesn't lose resonance up high like Faith does, she doesn't ever lose control of her power and become overly brassy like Carrie does, she has much more dexterity for runs and melisma than Martina does, she doesn't lose confidence in her ability to hit high notes in a live setting like Sara did for most of her career, she has much better enunciation than LeAnn Rimes... And of course to be comparing her to women like that means that she automatically is in a class above ladies like Carly, Kelsea, Kacey, etc. who will never be known for their vocals........the huge problem, however, is that her material has never been anywhere close to as good as any of those other ladies!

I could understand being underwhelmed by her tone or something (I personally think it has a pleasant warmth to it, but others might find it to be vanilla and look for a bit more texture), but from a technique standpoint, she's the complete package. But she's out here wasting it on s**t like "Friend Zone" while other people find the songs like "Small Town Hypocrite"... Lol. And she'll probably never be big because of it.

(Speaking of "Small Town Hypocrite", Caylee Hammack is another one that is ready to start being compared to the more powerful vocalists of the genre's recent past. It seems from her output and her live performances so far that she'll have the ability to emote better than everyone except for possibly Reba and Jo Dee! Must be a redhead thing? )

[fearlessarrow]

"Girls in My Hometown" is possibly the best thing I've heard from Danielle Bradbery since "The Heart of Dixie" (which I love). I've been continuously underwhelmed by her material so this was a nice surprise!

[taylor is terrified]

"Never Have I Ever" and "Girls in My Hometown" were both incredible. Stay mad, all of you!

And bboat11 haven't you yourself said that due to "It Won't Always Be Like This," Carly oughta be compared to the likes of Faith? :kii:

[tim]

Oct 29, 2020 23:09:07 GMT -5 bboat11 said:

"tim , do you know what the story is with this album? Like, when was it recorded? Why was it suddenly released? The fact that he's dead, and it's an album called "The Lost Album", has me intrigued, lol.

This album includes previous material that Earl had written throughout his career. He finally got around to recording some of these songs in 2000/2001, but for whatever reason the album kept getting delayed and never got released during his lifetime. “Better Said Than Done” is classic Earl and I’m glad that you included it as I’m sure there’s a handful amongst the group who may not be familiar with him. He was one of the most consistent hitmakers of the 80s where eighteen of his songs went number one. My first introduction to him likely came from CMT as I remember seeing the video for the Keith Whitley duet “Brotherly Love” (probably around 1992) and soon became more familiar with his earlier work. You could still hear some of his material on country radio in the early 90s, but his contemporary style that was most popular in the 80s kind of got phased out of the genre for the neo-traditional sound.  Anyways, for anyone who might be interested in checking out some of his songs I'd recommend "Love Out Loud," "Right From the Start", "Don't Make It Easy for Me", and "Angel in Disguise" just to name a few.

[bboat11]

Oct 30, 2020 9:09:55 GMT -5 taylor is terrified said:

"Never Have I Ever" and "Girls in My Hometown" were both incredible. Stay mad, all of you!

And bboat11 haven't you yourself said that due to "It Won't Always Be Like This," Carly oughta be compared to the likes of Faith?

Okay, first of all, you have the weirdest memory!  

But yes, I do remember saying that now that you mention it. But it was in the context of Carly using a large amount of mixed voice to deliver a compelling and powerful performance of a softer song. Her mixed voice had a lot more soul and power to it than I would have expected, which is why it made me think of someone like Faith Hill. But Carly will never have as versatile and dynamic of a voice as Faith. Her high belt range seems to be rather nonexistent, lol. Someone like Lee Ann Womack would have probably been a better comparison. She's somebody who has always been able to deliver a riveting performance using mostly head voice/mixed voice despite having a fairly limited belting range.

[bboat11]

Speaking of women with strong belting ranges....

Let's do #11!!

SPOILER: Click to show

{Tractors in my Hometown}
fearlessarrow -
lady𝓐fan -
HeyHeyHey -
kw9461 -
superdave3556 -
d3vin44 -
gardyfan -
taylor is terrified -
.indulgecountry -
bboat11 -
SHOOTER -
LBTrocks -
castleoblivion26 -
austin -
ClevelandRox -
someguy -
tim -
Darkest Hour -
Kanenrá:ke -
George Strait Junkie -

[bboat11]

11. "What Do You Think Of?" - Lauren Alaina ft. Lukas Graham

Total: 254
Average: 12.7
Std Dev: 6.09


d3vin44 - 5
castleoblivion26 - 5
austin - 5
HeyHeyHey - 6
.indulgecountry - 6
SHOOTER - 7
someguy - 8
LBTrocks - 10
ClevelandRox - 10
tim - 12
lady𝓐fan - 14
Kanenrá:ke - 14
George Strait Junkie - 15
superdave3556 - 18
gardyfan - 18
Darkest Hour - 18
fearlessarrow - 19
taylor is terrified - 20
bboat11 - 20
kw9461 - 24

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
Bridges - Mickey Guyton
Closer To Closure - Jamie O'Neal
Cold - Chris Stapleton
I’d Take Another One Of Those - Shenandoah ft. Zac Brown Band
I’m Not For Everyone - Brothers Osborne
love and hate (ballerini) - Kelsea Ballerini
Next Girl - Carly Pearce
Same Devil - Brandy Clark ft. Brandi Carlisle
Sometimes It’s Too Late - Jamie O'Neal
Whiskey And Rain - Michael Ray

[ClevelandRox]

Lauren Alaina missing the top ten?!

[bboat11]

Oct 30, 2020 15:54:11 GMT -5 ClevelandRox said:

Lauren Alaina missing the top ten?!

This is why I wanted to wait until today Y'all thought she would be a top 5 contender!!

[bboat11]

Anyway, "What Do You Think Of?" was one of my biggest disappointments of this rankdown. Some of y'all have been spending weeks acting like it's the most surefire hit of her career thus far, and I do not hear it at ALL.

I don't know who Lukas Graham is, but his voice is absolutely horrendous. This song is a perfect example of "just because you can doesn't mean you should". Of course I am referring to the entire second half of the song when he is trying to out-belt Lauren, and his voice is soooooooo horrifically thin and whiny... He makes it borderline unlistenable, tbh. And yet all the sexist bro country fans are always bitching about how female vocalists sound so "shrill". I can't. I only put it as high as #20 because Lauren's parts are good enough to escape my bottom 5...

[bboat11]

Ladies and Gentlemen, the top 10!!!

Bridges - Mickey Guyton
Closer To Closure - Jamie O'Neal
Cold - Chris Stapleton
I’d Take Another One Of Those - Shenandoah ft. Zac Brown Band
I’m Not For Everyone - Brothers Osborne
love and hate (ballerini) - Kelsea Ballerini
Next Girl - Carly Pearce
Same Devil - Brandy Clark ft. Brandi Carlisle
Sometimes It’s Too Late - Jamie O'Neal
Whiskey And Rain - Michael Ray

[raylatch98]

Oct 30, 2020 15:59:26 GMT -5 bboat11 said:

Anyway, "What Do You Think Of?" was one of my biggest disappointments of this rankdown. Some of y'all have been spending weeks acting like it's the most surefire hit of her career thus far, and I do not hear it at ALL.

I don't know who Lukas Graham is, but his voice is absolutely horrendous. This song is a perfect example of "just because you can doesn't mean you should". Of course I am referring to the entire second half of the song when he is trying to out-belt Lauren, and his voice is soooooooo horrifically thin and whiny... He makes it borderline unlistenable, tbh. And yet all the sexist bro country fans are always bitching about how female vocalists sound so "shrill". I can't. I only put it as high as #20 because Lauren's parts are good enough to escape my bottom 5...

Thank you. I am a huge Lauren Alaina stan and even I can't get into the song, like please let the next single be either "Getting Over Him" or hell if the Jon Pardi camp refuses, go with "Run" as a safe option. Lukas Graham sucks as a vocalist and the song is her worst song besides "Barefoot and Buckwild".

[castleoblivion26]

wow bboat11 I'm a bit disappointed in your trash taste lmao. JK of course. I wholeheartedly disagree that Lukas Graham sounds bad, I actually like his voice with Lauren's. He may not have the most powerful voice but it is effective. This song took a little bit to grow on me but now it is an absolute favorite for me

[bboat11]

Oct 30, 2020 16:44:10 GMT -5 castleoblivion26 said:

wow bboat11 I'm a bit disappointed in your trash taste lmao. JK of course. I wholeheartedly disagree that Lukas Graham sounds bad, I actually like his voice with Lauren's. He may not have the most powerful voice but it is effective. This song took a little bit to grow on me but now it is an absolute favorite for me

His timbre is exactly the same as a saxophone mouthpiece. Which I can guarantee literally nobody would describe as a sound that they "like"




Edit: Actually this guy gets a pretty robust and resonant sound from the mouthpiece. If you've ever heard like a middle schooler playing a saxophone mouthpiece, THEN you'd know what I'm hearing when I hear Lukas Graham.

[.indulgecountry]

Oct 30, 2020 0:45:46 GMT -5 SHOOTER said:

I figured it wouldn't make the top-10 but What He Does is Rachel's best song by FAR!

Bringing the TASTE as per usual. I am disappointed -- but not surprised -- that Ms. Wammack didn't do better here. "What He Does" slays. The moody darker vibe of the production and the way her vocals on the verses dip low and feel very textured and layered are to die for, and the way she scoops up into that explosive chorus is just blissful. The accented way she sings the titular line is also really catchy. I would love to see it get pushed to country radio because it's her most accessible song for that avenue yet!

Oct 30, 2020 15:59:26 GMT -5 bboat11 said:

Anyway, "What Do You Think Of?" was one of my biggest disappointments of this rankdown. Some of y'all have been spending weeks acting like it's the most surefire hit of her career thus far, and I do not hear it at ALL.

I don't know who Lukas Graham is, but his voice is absolutely horrendous. This song is a perfect example of "just because you can doesn't mean you should". Of course I am referring to the entire second half of the song when he is trying to out-belt Lauren, and his voice is soooooooo horrifically thin and whiny... He makes it borderline unlistenable, tbh. And yet all the sexist bro country fans are always bitching about how female vocalists sound so "shrill". I can't. I only put it as high as #20 because Lauren's parts are good enough to escape my bottom 5...

Lol, first off the Jon Pardi duet is the one that everyone has been clamoring for... for obvious reasons seeing as 1) country radio loves him and 2) it is a total radio-ready BOP! This song got briefly mentioned as a possible dark horse radio hit when the EP came out because it was SLAYING on iTunes, that's why. It doesn't really sound like something made for country radio at all, but it was connecting in a way that Lauren Alaina's music rarely does with the general public (the poor girl never sells/streams all that well, unfortunately), which automatically made some of us raise our eyebrows. It was also pegged as something with possible crossover success since it's a duet with an act who's had a few CHR hits and it sounds like something that would not be closely tied to country radio like a duet w/ twangmaster Pardi would.

[bboat11]

Oooo, a bassoon reed being played incorrectly sound just about right too!!

[bboat11]

LMAO we need that man from the bassoon video to narrate Lukas Graham's vocal performance!!

"Here Lukas is waaaay too high pitched; he's getting a single tone, no resonance, his throat is way too tight, he's gotta loosen up a little bit." 😂

[bboat11]

Alright let's see who managed to beat Lauren by a single point at the last minute!

[bboat11]

10. "Sometimes It's Too Late" - Jamie O'Neal

Total: 253
Average: 12.65
Std Dev: 7.01


bboat11 - 2
LBTrocks - 3
Kanenrá:ke - 3
taylor is terrified - 3
castleoblivion26 - 6
d3vin44 - 8
austin - 10
HeyHeyHey - 11
someguy - 11
.indulgecountry - 12
ClevelandRox - 12
SHOOTER - 13
gardyfan - 16
tim - 17
George Strait Junkie - 19
lady𝓐fan - 20
fearlessarrow - 20
superdave3556 - 22
Darkest Hour - 22
kw9461 - 23

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
Bridges - Mickey Guyton
Closer To Closure - Jamie O'Neal
Cold - Chris Stapleton
I’d Take Another One Of Those - Shenandoah ft. Zac Brown Band
I’m Not For Everyone - Brothers Osborne
love and hate (ballerini) - Kelsea Ballerini
Next Girl - Carly Pearce
Same Devil - Brandy Clark ft. Brandi Carlisle
Whiskey And Rain - Michael Ray

[fearlessarrow]

The production held this one back a lot for me, her other song in this RD is much better imo.

[bboat11]

I'm shocked that "Sometimes It's Too Late" didn't end up being one of our most polarizing songs! It has a substantial amount of ranks in both the top 5 and the bottom 5! It started out struggling pretty mightily, but ended up growing steadily for the entire submission process, as most of the extreme dislike came right at the beginning.

Tbh I can understand why the verses to this one might be hard for people to get into, but that chorus is pure magic!!! Jamie's vocal gives me literal goosebumps when all the beat-driven production suddenly gets stripped away and she launches into that first chorus with her voice clear as a bell She still sounds 25 somehow after all these years. "You're the reason that I breathe, you're the love of my life" in particular is just filled with soul, and I can't help but get it stuck in my head.

She also demonstrates what a nimble and dexterous vocalist she is here, with small yet fast runs like the "yeah" towards the end of the chorus, and the diva-esque ascending run coming out of the bridge/instrumental solo. And perhaps the most impressive vocal moment of her entire career comes in the final "You're the love of my life", when she effortlessly belts an F#5 out of nowhere, then immediately dials it back to a soft head-voice moment by the end of the same line. I literally fall in love with her vocals more every time I hear this song, which is why I had to include it.

"Closer To Closure" is the better song as a whole though, so I'm glad to see that one still in the running! But getting this one to the top 10 too was icing on the cake :)

[bboat11]

I'd like to share another Jamie O'Neal song to wrap up this page. Alongside "Closer To Closure" and "Sometimes It's Too Late", "Someone's Sometimes" also came out in September, featuring John Paul White (of the Civil Wars). I chose to exclude it only because I already had my heart set on the other two, but this song would have been really interesting to rank as well! It's got a traditional country vibe going on, which would have probably helped it to do better among those of you who have felt that Jamie's new music is too out-there in the production department :)