song review

Ash Bowers is the perfect voice for his new single 'Shake It Off.' The Tennessee native sings with true grit. His working class upbringing comes through on this song about "shaking off" troubles holding you down.

Hunter Hayes' duet with Jason Mraz is his fifth single release from his self-titled debut album and its repackaging. But 'Everybody's Got Somebody But Me' still manages to show something new to those who haven't bought it. It's a change of pace from the heavy ballads and the more intense country-rocker 'I Want Crazy.' This is the most fun he's been since 'Storm Warning.'

The most important thing a new artist can do is quickly distinguish themselves, and Brothers Osborne do that on their debut single 'Let's Go There.' While not a great lyric, their vocal sound and the bluesy arrangement make this a track to keep coming back to.

Morgan Frazier's new single 'Hey Bully' is a neat and tidy soundtrack for an anti-bullying PSA. The singer shares a story she seems intimately familiar with, but the scattered lyrics don't quite latch on as tightly as one hopes.

Jason Michael Carroll pulls back the production to reveal a new sensitivity in his single 'Close Enough.' The singer has a unique way of taking a phrase and turning, twisting and shaping it to mean several different things within a three-minute song. It's a talent that's on display once again during this regret-filled ballad.

There's an easy sweetness to American Young's harmonies. On their debut single 'Love Is War,' the duo does more than just mirror one another. Jon Stone and Kristy Osmunson are two distinct, yet compatible halves of a truly unique piece of country fruit.

The familiar shuffle that has held down so many of Dierks Bentley's best songs is back in a brand new way on 'I Hold On,' the new single from the upcoming 'Riser' album. Instead of a locomotive guitar, it's the bass that drives this uptempo track about love, faith and family.

'Don't Let Me Be Lonely,' the third single from the Band Perry's 'Pioneer' album, is thematically similar to their biggest hit, but few will confuse this song with 'If I Die Young.' The latest track may not be as instantly catchy, but it's every bit the sharp songwriting effort the cut from the trio's debut album was.

Austin Webb's soulful new ballad 'Slip on By' will catch you off guard if you let it, and that's not such a bad idea. Webb sings a familiar, but not overdone, lesson about appreciating every moment we have on this Earth.

'I Can't Change the World' is Brad Paisley's anthemic ballad from his 'Wheelhouse' album. As a vocalist, he rarely soars like he does on this sonically complex, but lyrically simple love song. His performance as a singer and guitarist actually overshadows the strength of the song.

It would have been foolish to expect anything less than an original from Jennifer Nettles' debut solo effort. 'That Girl' rides in that funky furrow Sugarland cut deep for so many years without sounding like the duo at all.

They don't come much easier to enjoy than Granger Smith. The Texas country singer's understated delivery is something of a trademark, and his latest single 'Silverado Bench Seat' doesn't stray from what fans know and love.