This week finds a full slate of artists releasing new music for the new year. Music icon Ringo Starr teams with bluegrass luminary Molly Tuttle on a song from his newly released country album Look Up, while Lily Rose, Kip Moore, Kat Luna, Kameron Marlowe and Chancey Williams also start off 2025 with new songs.
Check out all of these and more in Billboard‘s roundup of the best country, bluegrass and/or Americana songs of the week below.
Ringo Starr feat. Molly Tuttle, “I Live for Your Love”
Starr previously issued a country-leaning, Nashville-recorded album in 1970 with his project Beaucoups of Blues. Now, he mines the rich, stylistically vast realms of country, bluegrass and pop again on his new album Looking Up, which finds Starr teaming with T Bone Burnett and a slate of top-flight musicians including Krauss, Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Larkin Poe and Lucius. Among the gems on the album is this Starr/Tuttle collaboration, a lush country construction that centers on lasting love. “I live in the moment, I live in the now/ I live for your love,” they sing, with Tuttle’s airy soprano an understated, uplifting foil for Starr’s unmistakable voice.
Chancey Williams, “The Ballad of Uncle Don”
Thick slabs of fiddle and a jaunty, full-throttle rhythm bolster this vividly-detailed tribute to Williams’ uncle, “an Oklahoma roughneck” known for breaking in horses that would throw most other cowboys. A compelling meld of authentic storytelling that infuses his family’s experiences, alongside a heady mix of country tinged with rock influences, and Williams’ undeniably country voice. Williams, a Wyoming native who is one of only two artists (the other being the late Chris LeDoux) to compete in the rodeo as well as perform on the main stage at Cheyenne Frontier Days, keeps issuing one stellar track after another.
Kameron Marlowe, “Hello Whiskey”
Marlowe, possessor of a sonorous, grainy vocal style both commanding and soulful, puts that formidable instrument to great effect, as he continues his upward trajectory with this song of a broken-hearted figure intent on numbing his anguish with copious amounts of liquor. Written by Marlowe, Kendell Marvel and Phil O’Donnell, this somber track is one of several that are laser-focused on exploring the nuances of emotional crisis on Marlowe’s upcoming EP, Sad Songs for the Soul, out Feb. 21.
Kat Luna, “Happiest I’ve Ever Been”
Luna follows up previous releases such as “That Girl” with this post-breakup ballad. Lyrically, Luna’s English-Spanish hybrid details her emotional arc from heartbreak to healing. Tender guitar and Nathan Chapman’s understated production keep Luna’s voice as the song’s fulcrum, highlighting her vocal dexterity. Luna wrote this ballad with Erika Ender, Josh Kerr and Peytan Porter. Track after track, Luna keeps steadily building her resume as a compelling country vocalist and emotionally transparent writer.
Peter Rowan and Wyatt Ellis, “Winds of Rowan County”
Bluegrass music icon Rowan, whose own career was ushered into national prominence when he was a young instrumentalist in the 1960s performing with Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys, now teams with 15-year-old mandolin prodigy Ellis for the title track to Ellis’ new double-sided single. Ellis wrote the song as an instrumental at age 13, after performing at Rowan’s Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Rowan worked with Ellis to add lyrics to the resonant, lilting instrumentation, meshing strikingly well with Rowan’s haunting voice. Together, they’ve crafted a powerful, intergenerational recording that highlights bluegrass music’s legacy and future.
Kip Moore, “Bad Spot”
Moore previews his upcoming album Solitary Tracks (out Feb. 28 via Virgin Music Group) with this swaggering reflection on losing a lover during a less mature moment in life. “That old me in my mirror, he ain’t the guy you need,” Moore sings on this song, written by Casey Beathard (“The Outsiders,” “Homeboy”). This piano-led, mid-tempo groove is spearheaded by Moore’s rugged, heart-on-his-sleeve vocal. He sings of being in a more wisened stage of life, having put some of his youthful weaknesses behind him, and in a position to give love another shot.
MacKenzie Porter and Jake Etheridge (Thelma & James), “Happy Ever After You”
Porter and Etheridge first teased this haunting ballad in December on TikTok, to much acclaim. Now, this married couple, who blend their musical talents as Thelma and James, offer up this pared-back ballad of a love undimmed by the time and miles between them. The urge to cover old tattoos and keep retelling oneself a false narrative war with truth-telling memories bound in old photographs and names carved in a tree. The two vocalists translate the emotional push and pull of longing versus denial on lyrics such as “I got half a mind to give you a call/ But I ain’t chasin’ after you,” with the song’s gentle instrumentation empowering their graceful voices.
Lily Rose, “Let You Know When I Get There”
Rose is quite the songwriter in her own right, but on “Let You Know When I Get There,” she leans on the writing talents of Ben Stennis, Michael Tyler and Hunter Phelps. This heart-tugger of a ballad tunes into a lifetime of deep-seated lessons and moments drawn from lasting familial relationships, whether it a mother asking her teen to check in after meeting with friends, or a grandfather doling out advice. Rose turns in a slightly more traditional-leaning country ballad than she is often known for, but one that still rings with her distinct, dusky, conversational vocal style and polished, understated instrumentation.
