This week, Alison Krauss & Union Station preview their upcoming first album in 14 years, while Charley Crockett continues his hard-charging music release pace with his latest song, and Country Music Hall of Famer Randy Travis pays homage to his love for horses in his latest AI-assisted song.
Check out all of these and more in Billboard‘s roundup of the best songs in country, Americana and bluegrass to release this week week below.
Alison Krauss & Union Station, “Looks Like the End of the Road“
Alison Krauss & Union Station is set to release its first album in 14 years, when the group issues the new album Arcadia on March 28. A preview of that project comes in the form of “Looks Like the End of the Road,” written by Jeremy Lister. Krauss’s ethereal voice is as haunting as ever on this mournful ballad, where doleful lyrics look back on a time marked by regret and deceit, and get elevated by the elegant interplay between Krauss’ voice and Jerry Douglas’s soul-piercing steel guitar.
Randy Travis, “Horses in Heaven”
The Country Music Hall of Famer released his first song incorporating the use of vocal AI last year, when he unveiled “Where That Came From.” Travis returns with another AI-assisted song, one that honors Travis’ lifelong love of horses, as well as his late father, a horse trainer in North Carolina. Written by Jon Randall and Matt Nolen, this song features gentle guitar and restrained percussion lifting its message, contemplating the possibility of an afterlife filled with horses, musing that thunder is a band of angels riding on horses across the skies. The feel is classic Travis, with a song that sounds as though it could have been plucked from any number of his 1980s albums.
Camille Parker, “Run Wild”
This CMT Next Women of Country alumna shifts her sound into a mesh of soulful pop and country to chronicle her journey of chasing her musical dreams in Atlanta and Nashville. “I can’t put down these cigarettes and I can’t shake these songs in my head,” she sings. The purity of Parker’s voice lends a soothing aspect to the song, adding a touch of tension to the song’s lyrics tracing the trials she’s weathered, including miles of traveling in a beatup vehicle, and fighting to have her music heard. Polished guitars and churning percussion make this a radio-ready track.
Charley Crockett, “Lonesome Drifter”
Over the course of the past decade and more than a dozen albums, Charley Crockett has cemented himself as not only a keenly talented artist with a respect and deep knowledge of his musical forebears, but also as a central figure in the future of Americana music. He continues his dogged album release pace by introducing his upcoming Shooter Jennings co-produced album Lonesome Drifter — his first project after newly signing with Island Records — by releasing the title track to the project. His signature commanding, grainy voice melds masterfully with the guitar, tambourine and steady percussion underpinning the song’s story of a drifter making his home on the highways and in every town.
Karley Scott Collins, “Runner”
In a few short years, Karley Scott Collins has proven her adeptness at creating soul-searching songs and high-flying uptempo tracks that equally showcase her stunner of a voice. Here, this multi-talented vocalist, songwriter, guitar player, producer and bassist crafts a self-aware, introspective look at the lingering impact of a broken heart, one that finds her hesitant to step out and find love again. Collins co-wrote the song with Sam Backoff, Zane Callister and Ashley Ray. This year, Collins will be opening on Keith Urban’s High and Alive tour.
