8 Must-Hear New Country Songs: Tommy Prine, ERNEST, 49 Winchester, Hannah Dasher & More

Tommy Prine continues etching his own legacy as a singer-songwriter in his latest outing, while Melonie Cannon and Cody Jinks pay tribute to the late Vern Gosdin, and Hannah Dasher offers a gospel-flavored song of grace. Meanwhile, ERNEST and 49 Winchester team for a deliciously bluesy cover of a Willie Nelson classic.

Tommy Prine, “Cash Carter Hill”

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A few nights spent at the Carter Family home offered creative rebirth for Prine; this song originated as a poem he wrote after hiking up a hill behind the home — a poem he later turned into song. “Paint not the picture of another man’s steps,” he sings, as Prine’s new song encapsulates his journey in crafting his own artistic perspective and sound apart from his own famous father’s — the late singer-songwriter John Prine. The track steadily builds from stark acoustics to a full-bodied, gleeful blend of rhythms and electric guitar, led by elegant lyricism. “Cash Carter Hill” will appear on Prine’s debut album, This Far South, out June 23 via Thirty Tigers.

Melonie Cannon and Cody Jinks, “Set ‘Em Up Joe”

On her new album, Cannon pays homage to one of her mentors, the late Vern Gosdin–and she welcomes a slew of collaborators to join in, including Willie Nelson, Vince Gill and Alison Krauss.

Cody Jinks joins on a version of Gosdin’s “Set ‘Em Up Joe,” which served as the second single from Gosdin’s 1988 classic project Chiseled in Stone (and became a No. 1 hit on Billboard‘s Country Songs chart). Cannon’s voice is warm, endearing and nuanced, and pairs nicely with Jinks’s grizzled vocal rendering on this enduring hit that itself pays tribute to another country music luminary, the late Ernest Tubb.

Over the course of her career, Cannon has provided harmonies on recordings by George Jones, Reba McEntire and others, and has vocalized on demo sessions for writers including Dean Dillon and Hank Cochran; this album follows her previous solo outings, a self-titled 2004 project and 2008’s And The Wheels Turn.

Hot Country Knights With Darla McFarland (a.k.a. Dierks Bentley and Lainey Wilson), “Herassmeant”

Mullets, flannel, and aviator glasses are back as Dierks Bentley’s wise-tracking “’90s country group” side project Hot Country Knights returns, fronted by “Doug Douglason” (a.k.a. Bentley). They team up with “’90s country star,” Darla McFarland (a.k.a. recent ACM Awards victor Lainey Wilson) for a hilarious track that simultaneously nods to the current social climate, with lyrics including “I backed up my dump truck, packed all my junk up,” that signal to Wilson’s recent social media viral moments that have focused on Wilson’s physical assets in recent months. The track is one of a pair of new songs from Hot Country Knights, alongside the intentionally Garth Brooks-esque “Midknight Rodeo.”

Hannah Dasher, “Ugly Houses”

As an artist, Dasher is known for her megawatt personality and for crafting zesty tracks. But here, Dasher teams with Robert Arthur to craft this ballad filled with gospel underpinnings, as she sings about finding a faith that involves embracing imperfection and eccentricities. “Well I ain’t no fancy castle/ Got too much junk inside,” she sings, pledging that if a higher power will take a chance on a fixer-upper, she’ll take down the for sale sign. “Ugly Houses” is part of Dasher’s upcoming album The Other D**n Half, out Aug. 4.

Grace Tyler, “Sound of You Gone”

This pensive piano ballad finds Tyler in the depths of grief, desperately seeking ways to bring back a loved one as she catalogs the myriad of little ways that absence is acutely felt — from a leaky faucet that’s not yet fixed to a phone that now is silent. By the song’s bridge, she’s conjuring up any bargain to bring her loved one home. Tyler wrote this stately, atmospheric track with Emily Kroll, Jesse Labelle and Liz Hengber and it intently captures the emotional hallmarks of loss — a timely message for this recent Memorial Day weekend. A superbly resonant outing.

ERNEST and 49 Winchester, “Night Life”

“Flower Shops” hitmaker ERNEST teams with soaring group 49 Winchester for this Spotify Singles release, a cover of the 1960 Willie Nelson hit “Night Life,” which has been covered by everyone from Ray Price and George Jones to Aretha Franklin and B.B. King. This iteration is soaked in tinkling, jazzy piano and tumbling with bluesy guitar melodies and swaggering vocals, as they ponder the road they chose on the key line, “The night life ain’t no good life/ But it’s my life.” The song wraps as they swap ad libs about drinking and doobies on this sterling showcase of freewheeling, homage-paying musicality.

Matt Castillo, “Corazon” (Video)

Castillo’s song “Corazon” is at No. 2 on this week’s Texas Regional Radio Report, and the south Texas native just released an accompanying video clip for the track. Housed on his 2022 project The River Continues, “Corazon” is a dancefloor-ready track, bolstered by surging guitars and flashes of accordion. The lighthearted music belies lyrics that depicting a guy who knows his relationship is ending, but his heart refuses to accept the relationship has fizzled. The music video highlights not only Castillo’s energetic live show, but the growth of his audience as he continues carrying a torch for more traditional-minded country music.

Brian Kelley, “See You Next Summer”

Kelley continues the beach vibes on his latest release. This time around, he offers an extra shot of twang, rippling over lyrics about a summer romance as hot as the beach sand under a blazing sun — and the inevitable moment as two lovers wrestle with clinging to the last few moments of their summer love. Written by David Garcia, Michael Hardy (HARDY) and Hillary Lindsey, this track seems ready-made for both country radio and the coming hazy, laid-back weeks.

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