This week’s slate of new music includes fresh tracks from Luke Combs, Shelby Lynne and Becky Buller. Combs offers up a contribution to Twisters: The Album, while Lynne teams with Karen Fairchild, Ashley Monroe and Gena Johnson to craft new music. Bluegrass mainstay Buller highlights the importance of mental health care on her latest, while Aaron Vance blends radio-ready sonics with a romantic vibe. Meanwhile, Laci Kaye Booth issues her full-length debut, chock-full of top-shelf songwriting.
Luke Combs, “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma”
Combs issues one of his most ferocious vocals to date from the first blistering notes of this thumping barnburner. Written by Combs with Jonathan Singleton and Jessi Alexander, this song is part of the companion album to the movie Twisters. As such, this careening country-rock number blends lyrics that center on translating the passion for thrill-seeking that comes with chasing tornadoes. “Scared of nothing and I’m scared to death,” is how Combs describes it on one verse, while the wall of thunderous percussion and sinewy guitars churn, winding into a chorus that feels tailor-made for crowds to lift up their cups and shout along with.
Shelby Lynne, “Over and Over”
As Lynne’s masterpiece album I Am Shelby Lynne celebrates its silver anniversary, the singer-songwriter proves she continues to possess one of music’s most distinctive voices on her new song “Over and Over.” She depicts the tale of someone remembering an old flame, and the cascade of memories that keep trailing from the past to the present. Horns, tambourine and a swell of voices further elevate Lynne’s crystalline voice. The song was produced by Lynne, Karen Fairchild, Ashley Monroe and Gena Johnson, as Lynne prepares an upcoming album with Fairchild.
Becky Buller feat. Aoife O’Donovan, “Jubilee”
Ten-time International Bluegrass Music Association award winner Buller puts a spotlight on a subject rarely covered in bluegrass music with her latest album, Jubilee, which centers on battling with depression. Released May 17, the album was initially commissioned by the FreshGrass Foundation to debut at their Bentonville, Arkansas festival. Buller and her band recorded the album live; on the title track, featuring Aoife O’Donovan, she remembers the idyllic early days of love, but yearns for a time of respite as demands and stresses pile up — a topic that no doubt resonates deep with so many listeners. The harmonies here are superb, backed by expertly-rendered mandolin, guitar, banjo, bass and fiddle.
Aaron Vance, “Will You Marry Me (Cause I Wanna Be Your Man)”
Mississippi native Vance has been releasing music for more than a decade, with songs including “Cabin Fever” and “Outlaw Jones,” and has been spotlighted by the Black Opry as well. Here, he dusts off a song he wrote solo in 2015. “Will You Marry Me,” produced by Rich Karg, gives a fun, uptempo vibe to this romantic missive. Groovy, twangy guitars and laid-back percussion provide an undertow as Vance’s clear, resonant voice chronicles a couple’s story from friendship to lovers, as he pops the question in song. Vance is steadily stacking his cards as a singer-songwriter of ineluctable artistic power.
Laci Kaye Booth, Loneliest Girl in the World
Livingston, Texas native Booth issues her debut full-length album with Loneliest Girl in the World, out via Geffen Records. Across 15 tracks, Booth largely stays within slow grooves and singer-songwritery sonic terrains, which place the focus squarely on her softly smokey voice and vivid story arcs. She tries to shake off her overthinking, “good girl” ways in “Nightmare” and in “South,” she muses how she’ll handle it if her lover’s wanderlust for open spaces leads him from the city and out West. Snippets of phone calls with family lead into the album’s closer “Hang on Houston,” as she sings of missing home as she chases her dreams in the “ten-year town” of Nashville. Smart songwriting and tasteful production proliferate the album, highlighting her talents as both writer and vocalist and making Booth one of the genre’s brightest newcomers.
