Yes, the playlists are back! June had all the midyear lists, so I decided to just include some June songs in July’s playlist. Here’s where you can catch up on the latest stuff from artists such as Cody Jinks and Lori McKenna, the second artist to receive a 10/10 review in 2018, as well as check out some underrated names like Wes Youssi & the County Champs, Rhyan Sinclair, and El Coyote. Really strong playlist for the mainstream, including songs from Kenny chesney’s latest, songs from Dierks Bentley’s excellent album that came out in June, and new singles from Eric Church and cam. And speaking of new tracks, we have two strong ones from Jason Eady and Colter Wall off each of their upcoming records; any day either of these guys decides to release music into the atmosphere is a good one. As always, tremendous thanks to Zack for supplying this playlist to the Spotify people.
Apple Music users, you can follow me there @countryexclusive for this and all of our playlists, as well as for updates to the Saving Country Music Top 25. For July’s playlist, Click Here
This is one of the most fun collaborations we’ve ever gotten to do because we were able to discover a new artist together and fall in love with her music right from the start.
Conversation
Megan: So this is cool, we’ve got a debut record from a 17-year-old songwriter from Kentucky. Lots of cool songwriters coming out of Appalachia these days, so you definitely have to check something like this out. And it’s great when we get to talk about debuts, because it’s not only about that album, but also a brand-new artist to love. So what jumps out to you about Rhyan Sinclair herself? Why should people check her out?
Brianna: Well, she’s got a very distinctive sound. Rhyan Sinclair reminds me of Miranda Lambert vocally. More than that, though, she is a very good writer. You definitely can’t tell she’s so young by these lyrics. They make her seem a lot older, and these songs are very real because of that. You feel many different emotions in this album, that’s for sure.
Megan: The voice hit me too. The tone is sort of similar to Ashley Monroe and to Clare Bowen who played Scarlett on Nashville, but you’re right, the other night when you said Miranda, it hit me. I can definitely hear that in her accent and her phrasing. Like early Miranda, from Kerosene and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. To that end, we both found some vocal imperfection in it. You forgive that because she’s 17, and she’ll certainly have time to develop.
As far as the writing, yes, she definitely impresses me. Some of those lines are just outstanding. I agree about the variety in emotions and tempos, although I tend to prefer her slower songs. I do think it’s cool that with such a soft voice, she still does the up-tempo stuff and does it well.
Brianna: What I found most refreshing about the varied tempos on this album is how, for the most part, there’s a slower song and then a faster one. It keeps things from dragging. I like her faster songs quite a bit better, but it’s true that a lot of the slower songs are quite deep and emotional. In short, I think she’s good at whatever tempo she chooses.
I do agree that there are some vocal imperfections, but I’m really excited to see where she goes from here. Once I got past all of that, I really got into this album.
Megan: Based on that, it sounds like our highlights will probably be different. So what were some of yours?
Brianna: I think my favorite song was “The Hourglass.” I loved how the lyrics tell of making the most of the time you have, and yet that time still flies by. It’s life. I don’t think it gets more real than that. I really liked “Barnstormer,” too. Sure, the theme of being a wanderer has been done before, but I like this song because she talks about the ways people see someone like her. I also really liked “The Sad Song.” She says she’s writing it because that’s the only way she can really get her feelings out. That’s got to be true for many songwriters, I’m sure. “Retrograde” is really good too, because she’s tired of being under the weather, as she says. Skeleton Sam” was a really good example of a fast song about a darker topic, I thought. In this case, the subject of the lyrics was a ghost. It’s not often that a singer can sing about something dark at such a fast tempo and make it work, but Rhyan Sinclair does. Finally, I quite liked “I Can’t Sleep.” Again, not being able to sleep do to having things on our minds is something most, if not all, of us have had to deal with at some point.
What were the highlights of this album for you?
Megan: “I Can’t Sleep” was easily my favorite. There’s something so beautiful about the melody of that song that really goes with the lyrics and makes something special. I also liked “Kentucky Night Sky,” and it went well in the track placement after “I Can’t Sleep.” “Selfishly, Heartlessly” was a really nice breakup song; I love that line: “you’re selfishly, heartlessly doing just fine,” something we can all relate to, that we wish the other person was hurting as much as we were. “Barnstormer” and “Free at Last” were my two favorites in the faster category, but mostly, I liked the slow stuff. And I love the way she hits high notes almost out of nowhere. We talked about the vocal imperfections, but the way she can just soar to all these beautiful high notes, even singing them softly as opposed to belting them out, is just effortless and makes those songs and those moments better to me.
Brianna: I do agree with you about that line in “Selfishly, Heartlessly.” She’s got a way of making you feel empathetic, and like the experiences talked about in these songs are ones you can relate to. And as for her vocal ability, I have to agree that she does a great job with those high notes. She’s very subtle about them, and that makes them all the more impacting.
Megan: Yep, you’re right. So I think this is a really strong debut, but I do think it could have been better. I’d have like to have seen it trimmed from 14 songs to 12, and then more time could have been spent to polish it up. Like we said, there’s vocal imperfections and things, and she’ll definitely have lots of time to develop, but it does feel like it could have been a little tighter. We’d probably disagree about what songs to trim because “Retrograde” was actually one of my least favorites, but I just think it would have been better a little shorter and handled with a bit more care.
Brianna: I agree. If a couple songs had been trimmed, I do think the whole album would have been more solid. This, along with some vocal imperfections and a few times where I found the production a little weak, are my complaints about this project. Still, the writing is just too good overall, the tempos keep this from being boring, and Rhyan Sinclair has some very well-done singing moments on here. I’m rating it a very solid 7.
Megan: I’m really excited about this artist. I always love finding something new and fresh and cool to talk about, and Rhyan Sinclair is the kind of artist that makes this outlet fun. I love her voice, the tone and especially all those lovely high notes–we don’t have enough country women nailing notes in the stratosphere like that, that’s very impressive. Her potential as a writer is there in spades as well. I do think the album feels a bit too long and a little rushed in the production aspect; they could have taken some more time here to really polish up some of these songs. But what a great debut record, and Rhyan Sinclair should definitely be on your radar. 7.5 from me.
Brianna: I completely agree, we need more artists with this kind of vocal range. I’m excited to see where Rhyan Sinclair takes her music next. If you’re looking for a new traditional female country artist, look no further than Rhyan Sinclair and Barnstormer.
