10 Best Country and Americana Songs of the Week: Florida Georgia Line, Jason Eady

Guitarist Graham Young and bassist Adam Reed fleshed out the sound of their folky L.A.-by-way-of-Michigan band with the addition of keys player Christian Wilder – and the result is riveting rock & roll with a country edge. New single “Just Good Night” pulses with organ, as Young sings of almost maddening time spent alone: “The radio makes me crazy and the silence does the same / but there’s a savior of the sunrise just behind the mountain range.” It’s a musical rebirth of sorts for the Rattlers, who continue to make their bones with their intense live show: they’ll play Bonnaroo this weekend. J.H. 

“We’re bound to float that Malibu / with that flip-flop attitude, with that old-school mixtape playin'” Karen Fairchild sings in the opening verse of Little Big Town’s new warm-wearther anthem, just before the danceable chorus hits full groove. It all adds up to make it another lightning-in-a-rum-bottle hit for the vocal group, who have proven themselves adept at capturing the summer zeitgeist with past seasonal smashes like “Pontoon” and “Day Drinkin’.” After the dour breakup single “When Someone Stops Loving You,” it’s good to hear the carefree version of the foursome return. S.B.

Taking its name from the location of a music festival he once played in Northern California, “Calaveras County” finds Americana troubadour Jason Eady in a jauntier, more lighthearted mood than the gritty storytelling of his self-titled LP from 2017. Eady shares vocals with his wife Courtney Patton as he relays a feel-good encounter with the kindness of strangers. No mere optimist’s parable, the song — the first from a new record due August 10th, I Travel On — is based on an episode from Eady’s own childhood when his father’s truck ran out of gas during a family trip. J.G.

Harper Grae reckons with the ghost of a mother she never really knew in “Bloodline,” the Alabama native’s new single and first release from a forthcoming EP and video series. Her uptempo, stomp-and-clap arrangement has traces of the rafter-rattling folk of the Lumineers, but Grae’s a platinum-voiced country-pop singer with a flair for turning her harrowing past into high art. Here, she fearlessly surveys the damage, and wonders if she’ll be able to escape the gravity of her mother’s troubles, comparing her everyday experience to a high-wire walk. “Take the truth and twist it ’til it fits you like a noose,” sings Grae. It’s riveting, heartbreaking stuff that doubles as trauma therapy. J.F.

With new song “This Town’s a Drag,” Cordovas announced That Santa Fe Channel, their latest album, due August 10th, and their first for ATO Records. Produced by the Milk Carton Kids’ Kenneth Pattengale, “This Town’s a Drag” takes stock of a “straight-laced” town with “no drugs” or anything too fun to be found. The track boasts a laid-back arrangement that still feels tight, offering up some room for noodling while showcasing the serious chops for which the jammy Americana band has become known. B.M.

Sometimes the fear of god is more unsettling than any demons the mind can muster. In “I’m Afraid,” ex-Show Ponies member Jason Hawk Harris channels the confession of a childhood friend scared stiff by his mother’s unsettling piety, pairing it with a ripcord beat, boogieing piano, and electric guitar that tears off notes in jagged shards. Harris’ beleaguered warnings and nasally delivery are reminiscent of Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle, but his message is more about self-preservation than faith. Or, as he puts it, “Buddy, you can’t be too careful when it comes to holy ghosts.” J.G.