“Baby Don’t Cry” - Jamey Johnson
Some call Jamey an ‘outlaw’ but you can select any of the tunes from any of Jamey Johnson’s three albums and put them here on this list. Taking a listen to The Guitar Song, That Lonesome Song and The Dollar immediately makes this evident. There’s not a song that could ever be confused as a pop or even pop-country. Jamey’s country and that’s what he’ll always be.
“Born To Be My Man” - Joey + Rory
Not only two of the greatest people that I personally know in country music, Joey+Rory are also one of the keepers of the country music flame and while both Album Number Two and The Life Of A Song are loaded down with great country music songs, perhaps no better song on the album is greater than this song, a song performed in the tradition of classic duets like Dolly and Porter and Loretta and Conway.
“His Memory Walks On Water” - Erin Enderlin
Erin Enderlin is one of the songwriters behind Alan Jackson’s “Monday Morning Church” and Lee Ann Womack’s “Last Call” and if those two songs don’t support Erin’s chops as a neo-traditionalist, taking one listen to the new Erin Enderlin EP will most certainly cement ‘em. Produced by fellow neo-traditionalist Jamey Johnson, the EP features those two songs in acoustic form and some damn fine songs like this one. Erin’s voice also sounds like an younger Pam Tillis at times as well.
“Where Country Grows” - Ashton Shepherd
Gretchen Wilson was once seen as the ‘female neo-traditionalist’ du jour and while she’s still making great music, I feel as if Ashton Shepherd’s own country ‘cred’ is even higher and that makes her one of our favorite country neo-traditionalists on this list. Her sophomore album Where Country Grows is as good as any country record released this year and I have no doubt that it will provide a couple more hits outside of “Look It Up” and the title track.
“Trailblazer” – The Roys
This brother-sister duo of Lee and Elaine Roy has made massive waves in the bluegrass world and while that would be enough to write off the duo for some, “Trailblazer” is a fantastic song of country roots. The song is on their Rural Rhythm Records debut Lonesome Whistle.
“When I Get It” - Craig Campbell
A song ripped right from Craig’s life, it showcases Craig Campbell’s neo-traditionalist self-titled album quite well. This is an artists who doesn’t care to cross-over to country music because he would rather make the music he loves, country music.
“Leavin’ A Lonely Town” – Easton Corbin
Gotta give Easton credit for strong song-selection on his well-received self-titled debut album that gave us two #1 hits in “A Little More Country Than That” and “Roll With It.” The album has quite a few chestnuts like this track here and while Easton clearly comes from the school of George Strait, he still manages to stand out.
“Walkin’ The Floor Over You” – Teea Goans
This Opry regular may not be a big name to most of y’all here but don’t let that fact fool ya (that’s kinda a point of these lists, isn’t it?). Teea’s album The Way I Remember It featuers a mixture of remakes like this Bill Anderson classic and new ones like her current single “Letter From God” but the traditional country sound’s never missing from her songs. Read more about Teea here.
“Old School New Again” – Jerrod Niemann
Take one listen to this song and you know exactly where Jerrod Niemann says, “They call me a throwback, another old hat act. But I can’t help that’s who I am…” Jerrod may playfully touch parts of country’s big tent but even when he covered an old pop/rock hit “You Don’t Treat Me No Good” and turned it into “Lover, Lover,” he still kept it country. The rest of Judge Jerrod & The Hung Jury is pure country music with traditional country music being the meat of the record.
“All My Friends (Are Behind Bars)” – Justin Haigh
This Texas-based newcomer has a voice that recalls Tracy Lawrence and every song on his first nationally distributed album People Like Me. There’s simply not a bad track on the record and quite a few are standouts (read the review linked above to see more about them) and perhaps nothing is more apparent of this neo-traditionalist’s country roots than “All My Friends (Are Behind Bars).”
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