For the morning crowd.

Maybe I'll give the new Jesse Welles a cha... Oh.

2011 me thought the best way to handle workplace trauma from spending years under the thumb of a virulent sociopath was to see Horrible Bosses in the theater 6 times.

Second pick for #CountryRockSunday comes from Angaleena Presley, making good on her "Holler Annie" moniker as 1/3 of Pistol Annies: www.youtube.com/watch?v=skPj...

For #CountryRockSunday, the single that marked Lee Ann Womack's full pivot out of the mainstream. Her staccato phrasing on this chorus is *everything*. www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JF2...

Re-upping for the post-holiday skyline: www.countryuniverse.net/2026/07/04/t...

Spent 5h at the neighborhood pool, where the playlist was about 50% Morgan Wallen. And I know I've said this since he dropped his very first single long before the N-word video, but goddamn that man makes deeply shitty music.

My "4th of July shirt" (IYKYK) is officially old enough to buy its own booze this year. How this thing hasn't dry rotted is a wonder. Peak Geriatric Millennial shi(r)t.

Doing my small part to create the "Madonna deserves an Album of the Year nomination at the Grammys" narrative / whisper campaign. Because Madonna absolutely deserves an Album Of The Year nomination at the Grammys for Confessions II.

Our retrospective feature of The Greatest Debut Albums in Country Music kicks off with the 1960s and 1970s (don't be misled by the weirdly cropped banner image): www.countryuniverse.net/2026/07/04/t...

Rediscovering this album... I am truly impressed. Sometimes you're not in the right mood to listen properly. That must have been my case 2 months ago.

Happy CLOVIS Liberation Day. One of Crockett's very best records.

Aaron Lee Tasjan's "I Love America Better Than You" is a *forever* flex.

I am offended as a music critic who knows that rap's commercial dropoff began much earlier than the USAID cuts

K. Urban, flow state (*1/2): His taste has been questionable for ages, and this utterly inessential (mostly) covers album embraces the worst elements of Yacht Rock as aspirational: A flouting of privilege that allows him to demand something so gauche be considered cool. Perfect for a Mar-A-Lago gig.

Swamp Dogg, ... Afterlife (****): Continues the late-career tear he's been on, bringing to bear his incorrigible personality and sense of mischief on a collection of songs that aren't as deep as the title suggests but that do consider a few big question. He remains a national treasure.

Angie K, Whiskey & Hemingway (***1/2): She continues to navigate a wholly mainstream-friendly aesthetic, and her music would immediately elevate any radio playlist. That she foregrounds queer relationships and her Hispanic heritage goes a long to explaining why she hasn't been given that chance.

A delightful thread about how BTAS has the best take on The Joker:

related: i'm giving a talk next weekend on ~texas women in country~ at one of my favorite places: the library!!! if you're in dfw come hang out with me for a bit :)

Billy. MuahFugging. Strings. Baby. New stuff #Bluegrass youtu.be/Gyp1OqCwnpE?...

Well fuck my pancreas, we're getting a Jeni's location.

C. Goodwin, Howdy (EP)(***1/2): Between Braxton Keith and now this kid, if I'm Zach Top, I'm worried that I've been lapped by upstarts who swerved into my lane with the actual *songs* I didn't bother to write. Goodwin's a strong vocalist, but it's his wordplays and structure that impress most.

Ok I combined them youtu.be/bIych5PtN1E?...

100% co-sign as being pro-Hanson on merit for a long time, and it's a massive bummer that at least 2/3 of them are full-on MAGA.

Her movement isn't great, but Serena can still smack the absolute hell out of a tennis ball. However this turns out, she's acquitted herself awfully well in this first singles match.

CoJo, Banks... (***): His ascent to one of the genre's primary standard-bearers has been based upon a level of artistic credibility, as a pretty great singer of songs that are consistently two standard deviations above the Music Row mean. That hate crime of a "Travelin' Soldier" cover...

Am. Aquarium, New Ways... (****): With Shooter Jennings' insistence on making every band he produces sound interchangeable, it's up to BJB's songwriting to retain the band's singular identity. He is, of course, up to that task, refusing all apologies for foregrounding his empathetic POV.

ON THE RECORD Polaris jurors get quotable on the Album Long List nominees. Boy Golden - Best of Our Possible Lives... by Amanda Ste-Marie Winner announced September 22 at Massey Hall in Toronto. Tickets available now (link in bio)

Half of my LinkedIn feed is people talking about how great my Elizabeth Holmes level sociopath former boss is because they got sucked into her cult of personality, and the other half is this AI slop Corporate Body Dysmorphia sponsored content, and just burn it all down.

Second pick for #CountryRockSunday is from this week's new River Shook album. And it's the closest River's ever come to recording what sounds like it could be a hit single: www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXcy...

Get yourself a slawburger for #CountryRockSunday: www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTBW...

T. Merritt, Sugar (****): Her best album since Tambourine a lifetime ago, and it is not particularly close. She shakes off the Americyawna trappings with a ramshackle, loose-limbed set that allows her to cut loose with her most soulful, evocative singing and sharpest writing in literal decades.

What a treat today! We've got the great @nikostratis.com on the new and final Jackass film, and the gang's delightfully dangerous, hilarious and heartwarming legacy. www.welcometohellworld.com/decades-of-g...

L. Turner, Road Recordings (***): Young'un remains firmly in "promising" territory rather than "great right now," but it's refreshing to hear an upstart of his generation drawing clear inspiration from D. Scott, C, Knight, REK. A bit of studio polish would help, but when it all does click, look out.

Boots Riley has been trying to tell ppl this for a minute.

R. Shook, s/t (****1/2): The great irony, of course, is that it's the genre's loudest authenticity fetishists who'll piss and moan about Shook having crafted this solo debut as an expression of living as their authentic self, consequences be damned. Shook knows this, of course, and leans in.

M. Moore, Sunshine State (**1/2): Split equally between tracks that imagine if Kenny Chesney could sing in tune and tracks that imagine if Cole Swindell could sing more than three notes. Fine in ways that are hard to care about one way or the other, but is not an actively hateful Music Row dude, so.

N. North, cedars house (***1/2): Still prone to issues of quality control, but he's taken a pretty substantial leap forward on this album. The best tracks really lean into his knack for country songwriting traditions, set to rhythm tracks that add shape to his narratives. He brings some twang, too.

ON THE RECORD Polaris jurors get quotable on the Album Long List nominees. Tami Neilson - Neon Cowgirl... Donald Teplyske Winner announced September 22 at Massey Hall in Toronto. Tickets available now (link in bio)

I reviewed the new River Shook album for @rainbowrodeo.bsky.social rainbowrodeomag.com/river-shook-...

I did not expect the Cape Fear series to turn Max Cady into the anti-hero the audience roots for because every other character is utterly insufferable, contemptible, or both every last second they're on screen, but here we are.

As ever, essential Friday reading. This week's playlist really hits, too.

From our annual Pride issue: Talking with The Cowgays about reclaiming ’90s country, healing religious trauma and spreading queer joy like wildfire.

Not beating the Happy To Collaborate With Problems rep this morning.

One of many, many reasons why we're pals. 👇👇

beautiful performance inspired by this poem m.youtube.com/watch?v=B7F0...

Happy Willow Avalon and Andrew Sa album drop day, y'all. Get on those.

Literally all I could think about while reading the Robert Eggers interview in Esquire.

*Very* excited by what 'boozey is doing with his next project. And love that he enlisted Leon Bridges and 2/3 of I'm With Her for this Tiny Desk.

Another round of People Not From Here Talking Out Of Their Ass About KY Politics. This person quote-replied herself to her 109K followers with a *completely false* statement about how McConnell's possible replacement would be named. Just flat-out wrong.