​Zach Bryan electrified the sold-out crowd at the Simmons Bank Arena in Little Rock, Ark. on Monday, May 13 on night one of his two-night stand at the venue on his Quittin’ Time tour.

Bryan has seen a meteoric rise in the music industry over the last half decade made especially unique by the fact that he doesn’t really get any mainstream airplay in the genre his music is most familiar with – country music. He’s truly been a DIY success story going from uploading videos on YouTube and recording his own albums in a rented Airbnb to an artist capable of selling out multiple nights at big arenas in cities across the country. In all my years going to shows and listening to music I’ve never seen a rags-to-riches success story happen this quickly and I’m not sure I completely understand it.
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Bryan has a down-to-earth personality that seems to speak to his loyal and massive following and his songwriting speaks to the ills and issues of a life lived hard in the heartland without dumbing it down to the level you’d hear on mainstream country radio.

In his song “Highway Boys,” he sings: “this sound I got is mine, man” and it’s a line that early on upon hearing the song it kinda made me roll my eyes a bit with its audacity. But after seeing his legions of fans connected to his music on Monday night I can tell he’s certainly hit upon something that few artists today, especially outside of the “mainstream,” have found.

Monday’s show was a bit unique for me as a concertgoer. I like Bryan. But this crowd at his shows LOVES him. The closest thing I’ve ever really seen to it in all my years of attending concerts is Bruce Springsteen’s following.

Bryan began his set a little after 9 p.m. with “Overtime” from his self-titled 2023 album. The crowd erupted right off the bat and never calmed down for the entire two-hour, 24-song set. The upper bowl of the arena was literally moving below our feet, which was something of a disconcerting feeling.

He performed the show in the round moving from mic to mic set up in four locations on the stage in the middle of the arena floor. In the round isn’t my favorite staging setup for a concert but it’s not as rough with Bryan as in past acts I’ve seen use this format because he goes from mic to mic rapidly, sometimes hitting all four spots during the performance of one song.

Bryan performed seven songs from the newest album on the night, including “Tourniquet,” “Smaller Acts” and “Hey Driver.” “Hey Driver” is one of my favorite tracks on the album but it does lose a little something live without the soulful sounds of Michael and Tanya Trotter of The War and Treaty throughout. I was thrilled to hear his first career Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “I Remember Everything,” one of the album’s highlights because I didn’t think we’d get the song since it’s a duet, but Bryan aptly handled it all solo.  

My favorite performance from the newest album on Monday night was “East Side of Sorrow,” which has a stellar chorus and a terrific tribute nod to Turnpike Troubadours, one of my favorite bands and clearly an inspiration for Bryan.

Bryan’s output of music over the last few years has been insane. He released a double album American Heartbreak in 2022, the self-titled album last year and two EPs over the last two years and already has a new album ready to come out sometime between now and the end of the year, of which he performed two new songs from on Monday night: “The Great American Bar Scene” and “28.”

I can’t give my opinion on those new songs as sometimes an arena show isn’t conducive to making out all of a new song’s lyrics.

Bryan performed five songs from American Heartbreak on Monday, including two of my favorite performances in “Oklahoma City” and “Open the Gate,” a terrific rodeo song.

Other highlights of the show included “Oklahoma Smokeshow,” “Heading South” and “Nine Ball.”

Bryan ended his set with the title song to his current tour, “Quittin’ Time,” a song that should be a country hit if radio would dare to play him, but you know you have to “play the game” to get country music airplay and Bryan doesn’t seem to play anyone’s game but his own.

Bryan returned for an epic – mostly in length, not necessarily in performance – encore of “Revival” in which he introduced his talented bandmates between repeated choruses. Listen, the song itself is awesome. The chorus is killer. I appreciate the namedrops of Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash, both personal heroes of mine. But damn it seemed to go on forever and, well, I have a thing about repeating choruses too much.

The audience loved this extended version of “Revival,” which seems to have become a staple at Bryan’s live shows. I would’ve been a bit happier with another song or two in the encore, perhaps my favorite “Something in the Orange,” which unfortunately didn’t make the cut on Monday night.

Bryan’s show on Monday was a fun night filled with great songs and a ridiculously “on” crowd. If you have the chance to see him perform live don’t pass it up.

 
Singer-songwriter Charles Wesley Godwin brought his brand of homespun Appalachian-inspired country music to The Hall in Little Rock, Ark. on Wednesday, May 8, for an incredible evening of music.
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The 30-year-old from West Virginia has released three albums in his half-decade-long recording career and has proven to be one of the best up-and-coming singer-songwriters on the outside of the mainstream of country music.

Godwin has toured and recorded with his friend Zach Bryan, who’s become perhaps the biggest act on the outskirts of mainstream country music, and it’s surprising to me he hasn’t reached the same heights as his buddy because he’s arguably better.

Much of Godwin’s set these days comes from his most recent album, the exquisite Family Ties from September of last year. The album can truly be considered a concept album in that the whole project is the theme of his family and how the life of a touring musician can impact that life.

The show began a little after 9 p.m. in the jam-packed club-style venue with “Cue Country Roads,” which pays tribute to Godwin’s home state and its most famous song, John Denver’s “Take Me Home Country Roads,” both of which appear on Family Ties.

Godwin performed most of Family Ties on Wednesday night. Honestly, it’s the kind of album he truly should consider performing from start to finish and then put some of his other album tracks either before or after it.  

My favorite songs on Family Ties are the title track and “All Again,” which were probably my favorite performances of Godwin’s set, but the entire show was so good it’s truly hard to pick favorites. “All Again,” clearly written for his wife, reminds me so much of mine – and my wife who attends almost all of these shows with me said it reminded her of me, as well, which made for a lovely moment. And, when Godwin gets to the epic “strike me down” line in “Family Ties” makes for a very memorable in-concert moment with the entirety of the building shouting along.

Other highlights from Family Ties during the set were his beautiful tribute to his daughter, “Dance in Rain,” the tribute to his father, “Miner Imperfections,” and the incredible performances of the entire Allegheny High band on “The Flood” and “Another Leaf.”

Godwin might be the face, the frontman, but the Allegheny High already should have a reputation as one of the best backing bands in country music, all contributing beautiful on their respective instruments while leading to a fun, camaraderie onstage you just don’t see all that often.

The band is led by guitarist (and the group’s co-producer with Godwin) Al Torrance, who even took the audience by surprise at one point on Wednesday night by appearing in the mezzanine for a solo. Max Somerville is on piano, Nate Catanzarite on bass, Read Conolly on pedal steel and banjo, Eric Dull on guitar, mandolin and one very kickass trumpet solo and Joe Pinchotti holding things down on drums. I’m not sure how long all of these guys have been playing together but it feels like a tight-knit group of like-minded individuals who were meant to be brothers on stage.

One of the crowd’s favorite moments of the evening was clearly when Godwin performed “Jamie,” a song he collaborated with Bryan on for Bryan’s 2022 EP Summertime Blues. He immediately then performed “Jesse,” which Bryan had collaborated with him on for Godwin’s 2021 album How the Mighty Fall.

Godwin and the band performed many of their best tracks from their previous two albums, Seneca (2019) and How the Mighty Fall (2021) throughout the night including “Lyin’ Low,” “Temporary Town” and “Strong” from the 2021 release.

It was Seneca that introduced me to Godwin’s work and the tracks “Seneca Creek” and “Hardwood Floors” on that album both appeared very high on my list of best Americana and Country songs of 2019 for this very website.

So, I was thrilled when Godwin placed both songs into the later portion of his set. The Allegheny High took a break for Godwin to perform “Seneca Creek,” a tribute to his grandfather who fought in the Korean War and came home to his wife to help build a family and homestead, alone just him and his guitar.

The band would come back for a terrific two-song encore that consisted of “Hardwood Floors,” a terrific barn-burner about just wanting to spin his wife around the floor of a dance hall, and finished off with their cover of the aforementioned Denver classic that has become West Virginia’s state song.
It was a fantastic evening of terrifically written and brilliantly performed country music that was completely true to Godwin’s way of life and inspired almost wholly by those he loves most. Family ties truly run deep in him.

If you ever have the chance to see Godwin in your neck of the woods do not pass it by.  

"You and I are about to go on a little adventure together and that adventure is going to span 17 years of music and it's going to be one era at a time."
 
This is what Taylor Swift says after welcoming all of her fans to her record-breaking Eras Tour, the tour Swift began in March of last year and will continue until December of this year. The tour has grossed over $1 billion and the film of the concert became the highest-grossing concert film in box office history last year. The Eras Tour celebrates the journey of Swift as an artist who has reinvented herself throughout her career-spanning different music genres, different sounds, and different Eras.  
 
The different Eras Swift has created throughout her career are the reason she appeals to so many people (if they let her, of course). If you are driving a pickup truck and listening to "Tim McGraw," you are in your Debut Era. If you’re Daddy's princess trying to have a "Love Story" with somebody forbidden, you are in your Fearless Era. If you are a girl born in "1989" going out on your own and discovering love and life, you are in your 1989 Era. If you are one who has been wronged and feels vengeful due to your damaged "reputation," you are in your Rep Era. Lastly, if you are in your sleepless nights era contemplating life and love, you are in your Midnights Era. (Personally, I am in my Midnights Era)
 
What is so great about these different Eras is that I may be in my Midnights Era today but I could be in my Rep Era tomorrow. Some of these Eras may never really appeal to me but that is OK. 
 
This brings me to the newest Era being entered into Taylor Swift's catalog: The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology.
 
The most important thing people need to know about this album before listening is that it is an album to soak in and reflect on. It is not a pop album you can listen to and fully get the meaning while dancing and moving on to the next album. The Tortured Poets Department is not an album to consume like a fast food burger and fries; it needs to be wined and dined. You need to allow the time to ruminate on all of the lyrics and fully immerse yourself into what Swift is trying to tell us. The Tortured Poets Department is an album that initially, I was skeptical about upon my first listen. However, the album grows on you the more you listen to it.
 
The best way to describe this album is that it has the overall continued synth-pop sound of Midnights matched with the lyricism of folklore and evermore with the biting pen she used when writing reputation. This really should not be too much of a surprise considering her producers are frequent collaborators, Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner who had a hand in all or a few of those albums. This album truly has some phenomenal songs to add to her canon.
 
"Down Bad," a song where she imagines a love being reminiscent of an alien abduction. She falls in love with him and what he shows her but then he leaves her back into the world alone. This song is an absolute favorite and most of my Swiftie friends' favorite song on the album.
 
The lead single, "Fortnight" featuring Post Malone has one of my favorite new lyrics: "I love you. It's ruining my life." 
 
TTPD also has the anthem, "I Can Do It With A Broken Heart" that reminds us we can all put on a smile no matter what we are going through and still do what we need to do. "loml" is one of her saddest songs to date. (I'm not going to spoil what loml stands for). The song that sounds the most like her country days is called "But Daddy I Love Him." It tells the story of a girl in love with a boy that her community and her Dad don't like because he is wild. It is like a more adult version of "Love Story." 
 
There are many more pluses but these are the highlights for me. 
 
My biggest criticism of this album is that the lyrics are not always as concise as what we would expect from Swift. The most glaring example is during the title song where she sings: "You smoked, then ate seven bars of chocolate. We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist." I also was surprised to see so many songs without strong bridges. Swift is known for writing some of the best bridges of all time: "You're On Your Own, Kid," for example. While some of them are fantastic ("The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived"), they are rarer on this album than others.
 
Lastly, I feel during the ‘Anthology’ songs added at 2 a.m. the night of release, the songs run together a little too much. It is like they are full of so much melancholy, you may not notice the song changed if you are listening for the first time. (This happened to me the first time I listened). 
 
While this album is not Swift's best, it still has a lot to say and offer to the world. If you are feeling broken, this album can be healing, even the world's biggest superstar knows what it feels like to have her heart broken. If you are looking for an album full of pop bangers, this is not the album for you. What this album does so well though is to continue Swift's unparalleled success as a storyteller. We all are anxiously waiting to hear what she is going to tell us next. 
 
Swift's many different Eras appeal to so many different people and for so many different reasons. This Era is not the Era I would consider MY Taylor Swift era, but that does not mean this album is taking her career in the wrong direction. While this may not be her best, it’s not a career misfire. Even a Swift album that isn't on par with the rest of her work is still going to be better than a lot of music today. The thing I don't relate to her on is while I do share the sadness she goes through; I don't view things as darkly as she does. This makes some tracks not speak to me as much as others. 
 
While The Tortured Poets Department may be one of those Eras I may never find myself in, it is an Era that makes me believe that it is OK to be a flawed human being and reminds me that even though it may be in different ways, we all have ways in which this life tortures us.

by Julian Spivey

In late March it was announced that performers Toby Keith, John Anderson and guitarist James Burton would be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame's 2024 class. 

Here are my selection's for their best songs: 
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10. “Dream Walkin’” by Toby Keith
Toby Keith’s “Dream Walkin’” only topped off at No. 5 on the Billboard country chart in 1998, which is simply shocking to me. It should’ve gone all the way to No. 1. That album, which shared a name with the song, didn’t have a No. 1 and was the first album of Keith’s career at that point to fail to have a chart-topper leading some to believe he may have been a flash in the pan at the time.  “Dream Walkin’” sees Keith’s narrator having a recurring dream about the woman literally of his dreams kind of coming and going and never being one he can fully capture. I think it’s one of the best vocals of Keith’s career.

9. “Hello Mary Lou” by Ricky Nelson (James Burton on Guitar)
James Burton was a great touring and session guitarist who played on a lot of great records by a lot of great artists. I’d likely have other of his performances on this list if the internet were more accurate on what exact recordings he played on. However, we know he was the author of the influential guitar solo on Ricky Nelson’s 1961 top-10 hit “Hello Mary Lou,” written by Gene Pitney. 

8. ​“She Just Started Liking Cheatin’ Songs” by John Anderson
John Anderson’s 1980 hit “She Just Started Liking Cheatin’ Songs,” written by Kent Robbins, is easily one of the artist’s most notable greatest hits so it’s surprising to learn it only topped out at No. 13 on the Billboard country chart. It’s a unique take on the country theme of cheating songs in that the narrator doesn’t begin to doubt his lover’s loyalty until she gets a hankering for cheating songs. It’s a catchy number from Anderson’s early career. 

7. “How Do You Like Me Now?” by Toby Keith
“How Do You Like Me Now?,” the title track of Toby Keith’s fifth studio album in 1999, is where Keith’s brash persona begins to come out on record. The song is a kiss-off to a woman the narrator pined for in high school, but never even knew he existed, while he winds up having a successful life and wonders if she ever thinks of him now. The song hit No. 1 on the country chart and stayed there for five weeks and even crossed over to being a top-40 pop hit. 

6. “Susie Q” by Dale Hawkins (James Burton on Guitar)
Another epic guitar performance we know for sure that was a creation by James Burton is the solo played on Dale Hawkins’s original recording of “Susie Q” in 1957. Burton has even said he composed all the music to the song but was not given a co-writing credit or share of the publishing. The song’s bluesy, swampy guitar performance would help define the music of Creedence Clearwater Revival when they memorably covered it on their 1968 self-titled debut. 

5. “Wild & Blue” by John Anderson
“Wild & Blue,” written by John Scott Sherill, was John Anderson’s very first No. 1 hit in 1982, which is somewhat surprising to me because of all the Anderson classics I’d heard on classic country radio format stations growing up it was not played a whole lot. I would’ve thought songs like “She Just Starting Liking Cheatin’ Songs, “I’m Just an Old Chunk of Coal” and “Would You Catch a Falling Star” would’ve been the bigger hits for him. But, “Wild & Blue” is absolutely one of my favorite Anderson songs with its wail of a vocal and whining, twanging fiddle and banjo as he sings about a woman who sits up late at night wondering what her man is doing elsewhere. 

4. “My List” by Toby Keith
Toby Keith’s career kind of changed with his song “Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue (The Angry American),” which was written in response to 9/11 as if from the perspective of his veteran father. This is where some of the reactionary stuff began for his career and kind of drew a line in the sand for many when it comes to Keith overall. But his first single after 9/11, was “My List,” released in January of 2002, and it’s truly the song that hit home after 9/11 in its theme of having one’s priorities straight and never putting off the important things in life for tomorrow because tomorrow’s aren’t given. The music video for the song even begins with footage of a couple watching 9/11 coverage on their TV. 

3. “Seminole Wind” by John Anderson
A lot of folks probably felt like John Anderson’s career was over by the early ‘90s. He hadn’t had a hit since 1986 and was probably viewed as a guy whose music was stuck back in the early ‘80s. Then came perhaps the greatest album in his career and a great comeback story in 1992’s Seminole Wind. The album would provide four top-10 hits, including its title track which went to No. 2. “Seminole Wind” was both a tribute to Anderson’s native state of Florida and a call to do better when it came to the environment and to do better with the Florida Everglades. The beginning of the song with its slow, plaintive piano and fiddle solos evolves into an up-tempo Southern Rock/Country beat. It was something country music didn’t have a whole lot of at the time – a banger with a message.

2. “Straight Tequila Night” by John Anderson
The first song off John Anderson’s Seminole Wind album that truly showed the big redhead from Florida was back on top was “Straight Tequila Night,” which went to No. 1 on the country chart in early 1992. The song, which was one of the genre’s best of the ‘90s, sees Anderson playing the narrator counseling a man at a bar that if he wants to go after the woman he’s eyeing he’d better not do it on a night when she’s drinking straight tequila. “Straight Tequila Night,” written by Debbie Hupp and Kent Robbins, proved to be a classic telling of a frequent country theme and provided Anderson with his first No. 1 in nearly a decade. 

1. “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” by Toby Keith
The No. 1 Toby Keith song was a bit hard for me because 1) I don’t like going with the stereotypical answer, which I believe this to be and 2) it’s a song that’s been so overplayed on the radio that at times I just need a break from it – but both of those things truly explain why “Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” the very first thing we ever heard from Keith back in 1993, is such a classic. And, of all of the hit songs in Keith’s career, the content of the song is the most classically country with its story romanticizing the cowboy and Western lifestyle. It’s truly one of the great country music sing-along songs of all time.