Of the new singles, there's not a real stinker in the bunch although one or two might have a tough fight ahead of 'em to make it to the top of the charts. There is a good mix of newcomers and artists coming on their second singles along with some interesting Southern Roots/Rock and Texas music acts in the rundown this week.
Corey Wagar - “Take Ya Back” 
With a Top 40 Music Row hit (“I Hate My Boyfriend”) to her credit, newcomer Corey Wagar looks to build on that single’s success with this, the first single from an upcoming project. Featuring a joyful melody and an easy to sing-a-long to lyric about the power that songs have in their ability to bring you back to a space and time of a memory hooked to a song in your mind. The production reminds me of something that Shania Twain might have released and Wagar’s vocal is strong and immediately memorable.
Maggie Rose - “I Ain’t Your Mama”
Signed to the newly formed RPM Record label, Maggie Rose used to be known as Margaret Durante for a couple of other singles while with R&J Records. The name change is an organic one as it’s what she’s called by her family. Like “Take Ya Back” above, “I Ain’t Your Mama” is a catchy tune. The melody is a smokin’ little track that is full of all kinds of spirited fills backing up Maggie Rose’s attitude and charm-filled vocal. It’s a clear contemporary track but Legendary producer James Stroud keeps the song grounded in country music.
Listen to “I Ain’t Your Mama” here
Blackberry Smoke - “One Horse Town”
Blessed with talent that makes them one of the best live acts in the south, Blakcberry Smoke’s true-to-life songs are soaked in the spirit of southern rock acts like Lynyrd Skynyrd, 38 Special and the like. They scored some marginal success with singles from Little Piece of Dixie, their 2010 release but if anything is truly a breakthrough for the band, it’s their upcoming debut for Zac Brown’s Southern Ground Artists label, The Whippoorwill. One of the highlights of the album is this track. While there have been plenty - plenty - songs that talk about growing up in a small town, “One Horse Town” doesn’t follow the ‘got out but had to come back’ cliche-ridden route and instead is simply a story of the kind of small town most people grow up in, the kind of town most people never leave and the story is about how people stay there and ‘swollow your pride to make your family proud. The narrator (Charlie Starr, who co-wrote the song with Travis Meadows and Jeremy Spillman) sings of wanting to get out but again, there’s a fear of the unknown that holds him back strong stuff.
Miranda Lambert - “Fastest Girl In Town”
If anyone really had any questions about why she’s topping a sold-out Arena tour in the USA this summer, all one needs to do is take a listen to “Fastest Girl In Town” and the last single, the #1 hit “Over You” to get what kind of artist Miranda Lambert is. The production is cool, Miranda’s attitude is more rock n roll here than perhaps ever before and the vocal is spot on. It’s a story song of the finest order and has to be an absolute blast to sing and perform every week. Radio should have no trouble playing the hell out of this one.
Casey James - “Crying On A Suitcase”
He got into the Top 20 with “Let’s Don’t Call It A Night” and comes back strong with this, his follow-up single. One of the few songs he didn’t co-write on the album, “Crying On The Suitcase” has a boppy melody driving the song along (the bass line feels a little “every breath you take” like) as the fast yet clearly enunciated lyrics are performed with soulful and vibrato-filled charm by Casey James, a guy who came to be signed because of his 2010 Top 3 performance on American Idol but clearly the winner of that dreadful season and an artist who took the time to develop his self-titled album instead of rushing it out to middling results.
Steve Holy - “Hauled Off And Kissed Me”
Is there any artist in country music who has had a stranger career than Steve Holy? It seems like every 5 years he gets a sizeable hit (“Good Morning Beautiful” in 2001, then “Brand New Girlfriend” in 2006, then “Love Don’t Run” in 2011). Now trying to break that streak, Steve comes with this single from the Love Don’t Run album. It’s a personality-filled, slightly shouty sing-a-long ready barroom stomper that could wind up a marginal hit but I don’t know if country radio isn’t already filled with their fair share of ditties for the summer of 2012 already. Fans may also thin it’s “Brand New Girlfriend” Part II and that one still gets plenty of recurrent radio airplay.
Six Market Blvd - “In The Name Of Us” 
Talk about a strong country music ballad. Lyrically strong, “In The Name Of Us” finds the band singing about the raw and real emotions that can happen when the one of your dreams ends up marrying someone else. It feels like a throwback to earlier, more wide-open musical time yet never feels old either. It’s clearly the work of a new band and it’s just one of the many standout songs on their disc Shake It Down
Listen to "In The Name of Us" here
Kip Moore - “Drive Me Crazy”
With a multi-week #1 hit under his belt with “Somethin’ ‘Bout A Truck,” Georgia’s Kip Moore has broken out in a big way with the first multi-week #1 from a new artist since Zac Brown Band hit #1 with “Chicken Fried” in 2008. With radio liking them some Kip Moore, it wouldn’t surprise me to see this single rocket up the charts. The lyrics of “Drive Me Crazy” descirbe a moment of life and times of a man as he describes the taste of first love that burned hot for a moment but ultimately just became a cherished chapter of the narrator’s life. It’s a sharp study of a moment and time and Kip Moore’s voice is certainly identifiable and should have fans clamoring to buy this single as quickly as they bought “Somethin’ ‘Bout A Truck.” It should be an easier song to digest too, as “Drive Me Crazy” has a more traditional lyrical structure that people are used to.
Well, there ya’ll go, our weekly single recap for this week. A couple of these won’t be hitting radio for a litlte while (if at all in the case of Blackberry Smoke and Six Market Blvd) but they’re still great songs nonetheless. What do you think of this collection of songs?
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