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by Julian Spivey
40. "Mississippi Nuthin'" by Shovels & Rope
Shovels & Rope, the married duo of Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent, are at their very best when they just let loose with rip-roaring, fast paced snarling lyrics with their voices intertwined effortlessly. “Mississippi Nuthin’” is my favorite track by the two since I first got to know them with “Birmingham” almost a decade ago. The track sees an old pair of friends from high school who’ve undergone a reversal of fortunes since the good ol’ days and the former football star comes to less popular acquaintance with a get rich scheme.
39. "What Gave Me Away" by Trisha Yearwood
This was a year where I was blown away by songs from female vocalists who seemed long past their time (Reba McEntire, Tanya Tucker) and one of the highlights was “What Gave Me Away” by Trisha Yearwood. It’s certainly Yearwood at her sexiest as she sings about a spark of attraction, she finds with another while out on the town – a feeling anybody who’s had an immediate connection with another can identify with. The track is particularly intimate as backing vocals are supplied by Yearwood’s superstar Garth Brooks who doesn’t overdo them, which is somewhat surprising for Brooks, but I’m sure he realized this was Yearwood’s shining moment.
38. "Gloria" by The Lumineers
It was incredibly hard to pick the “greatest tracks” from The Lumineers 2019 album III, as it’s a concept album telling the story of a family through three characters and multiple generations. If there’s one album you should absolutely listen to from start-to-finish without skipping around this year, it’s III. There are some tracks on the album that work well as stand alones and “Gloria” (have you realized how many Lumineers songs are named after women?) is one of them. The track is about an addict who just couldn’t be saved and was inspired by a family member of band member Wesley Schultz who told Paste Magazine, “Loving an addict is like standing among the crashing waves, trying to bend the will of the sea.”
37. "Delta Line" by Emily Scott Robinson
“Sounds Like: Country-folk songs about America in all its pain and glory with the literate, Southern gothic sensibility of Flannery O’Connor” … that how Billboard described Emily Scott Robinson’s album Traveling Mercies and I also believe it to be an apt description of my favorite track on the album – “Delta Line.” It’s a somber song in which all of its characters are going through something of their own personal Hell, which seems to be commonplace in a poor, rural delta town. The acoustic guitar and crying fiddle throughout really nail the bleak sound the song is going for.
36. "Chasin' Wild Horses" by Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen has always been great at coming up with these story songs of masculine loners striking out on their own and the cowboy in “Chasin’ Wild Horses” fits right in with this long-running theme. Springsteen’s narrator compares his attitude and personality to that of his actual job in that it’s all just “chasin’ wild horses.” The soaring orchestra strings that accompany all of Springsteen’s Western Stars album really helps to create the image of wild horses running along the Montana plains.
35. "If You Don't Love Me" by Leo Rondeau
I love the songwriting on Leo Rondeau’s “If You Don’t Love Me” and how he spins everything together as if he’s just now understanding he’s in a one-sided relationship. Rondeau told Wide Open Country: “The subject matter is about someone who runs from a good thing because they’re afraid of being tied down.” The song has a fun country-funk groove to it that really moves the song along that Rondeau credited drummer Aaron Shafer-Haiss with coming up with.
34. "All Your'n" by Tyler Childers
Tyler Childers’ “All Your’n” was recently nominated for a Grammy for Best Country Solo Performance and that right there shows you how the Grammys actually get country music award nominations better than the award ceremonies dedicated solely to country music. “All Your’n” is a laid back love song but isn’t your typical hollow lyrics – this is one of the most fleshed out with characteristics and unique flourishes love song you’re likely to ever here.
33. "Barbara's Song" by Ian Noe
This sounds like it should’ve been recorded by the Grateful Dead in their heyday. Ian Noe’s “Barbara’s Song” is an old-timey sounding folk song about a train crash and what goes on with the passengers come the end. The last thing on our narrator’s mind before he perishes is that he wants someone to tell Barbara Brown how much he loves her. Like much of Noe’s impressive debut Between the Country this tracks sound timeless as if it could’ve been written all the way back in 1904 when it’s set.
32. "What Whiskey Does" by Randy Houser
I had written Randy Houser off. I was a big fan of the very first single, “Anything Goes,” that he released in 2008, but hadn’t been into anything of his since. But I remembered how great he sounded on his debut single and read some of the rave reviews of his new album Magnolia and how he’d left the mainstream to record what he wanted and checked it out. The album is impressive, and my favorite track was “What Whiskey Does,” a drinking song about taking to a bottle to drown the pain of a lost love. Houser sounds as good as ever here.
31. "Jesus & Elvis" by Hayes Carll
“Jesus and Elvis” is quite the story song from Hayes Carll about a woman whose son went off to fight in the Vietnam War on Christmas Eve and never made it back home, so she decorates her bar in his two favorite things: Jesus and Elvis. There’s at least some truth behind the song as Carll remembered an old dive bar he knew of “where it was always Christmas and there was nothing on the jukebox past 1968,” according to an interview with American Songwriter.
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