FIRST 5 - Start With These New Releases 3/19
Most weeks, there is so much new music that its hard to know where to start. That’s where I come in!
I’m a music fan like most people - genre-independent and I just like what I like. Of course, I also get to play what I like for a global audience of country music fans listening to my show via Apple Music Country Radio. That makes me even more accountable to the music and the choices and it means I listen intently to everything that comes out each week. This was a day where there’s so much amazing new stuff that I almost couldn’t settle on the songs I will post. My intention is that if you listen to these 5 songs, its a great place to start finding more music you’ll love!
I’ve got all the stuff I’m listening to this week on my official playlist TY BENTLI’S DAILY SOUNDTRACK
Here are the FIRST 5 new releases you should hear:
“Hooch” - Drew Green
Last night, Corri and I had a friend ask if he could pick our brains on studio equipment as he builds a podcast even bigger going into his next season. We talked preamps, interfaces, mics, compressors, plug-ins and more stuff that I only have limited knowledge of (gained primarily from my engineering friends and my own mistakes), and Corri - as always - has educated herself on, in detail.
Really, I’m much more the person to call if you want to talk music - especially if we’re gonna knock around stories about the legends, or introduce each other to new songs! Drew Green. He apparently rides with mason jars in the crew cab (ask Amber)..
The first “Hooo-ooch” sneaks up on you and will force you to mimic the “oooohhh!” emoji (you may have to FaceTime me to see the face I’m talking about) - this song is exactly what I was hoping it would be when I knew Drew Green had music comin!
This is that “Woods” ‘Skew’ “Dirt Boy” baby that brings back the Dirt Boy.
LISTEN ON APPLE MUSIC: “Hooch”
“Last Cigarette” - Morgan Wade
There are 10 boxes of Girl Scout cookies in my freezer right now. Thats also a lie - there are 8 boxes, and one of them is missing 3 cookies. I ate two boxes yesterday. Tagalongs and S’mores (I did share 5 of the s’more cookies with the kids).
When Corri met me, I was so strict on my diet that I didn’t even eat ketchup. I was pretty happy about that, and found it easy, but quarantine has gone from “bye bye six pack abs” to “hello shadow in my belly button” to “I’ve only got two pair of jeans that I’m comfortable in.” We have stayed very low key and since I can’t go to a concert or an escape room or on a snowboarding trip - although that’s seeming more possible - I just allowed myself some snacks. And I had hernia surgery and a vasectomy, and Covid which led to HUGE gaps in my gym time… so with my niece raising money for Girl Scouts, I obviously went wild on the order. Food has become a vice. Every other day is “I’ll get back on track…tomorrow.”
So, even though there were a few on-and-off-and-back-on relationships I could’ve written about here, I chose to write about those cookies. Which are clearly haunting my mind.
Seems to be a different demon in Morgan’s song - and if you know her story, you know that addiction existed there, and she stood up to it. The analogous lyrics are really cool. Morgan’s album Reckless is officially out, and there couldn't be a more perfect title for introducing the world to Morgan Wade - and every song lives up to expectations set by that title. Enjoy the engulfing acceptance of weakness that offers momentary bliss.
LISTEN ON APPLE MUSIC: “Last Cigarette”
“My Way” - Lathan Warlick & Tyler Hubbard
I’ve got a lot of musical sides - when I was a kid, some of my first tapes (literal f’n cassettes!) were Poison and Guns N Roses. Early CDs included MC Hammer, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Criss Cross. As I got into my teens, I was definitely into alternative - lots of Green Day, Offspring, No Doubt and Oasis. But I won’t say I didn’t bump some boy bands, and my grandpa got me into jazz. My friend’s dad worked at “Lite-FM” so I kept in touch with Kenny G and Jim Brickman music…. I loved Dave Matthews, and country music was on my radio as I went to bed each night (101.9 KTWB at the time).
So…when you throw some cool mixes of the 808s I loved, layered with an urgent lyrical flow over a solid country loop (now a thing), I’m certainly gonna lean in. Lathan Warlick is a phenom - so I was super amped to hear how he was gonna follow up the incredible journey of “Roots.” (btw, CLICK HERE and get to know Lathan through the video series he produced around the single). That trap beat and the weekend levity that this song is requesting make it easy to get stuck on repeat, but make sure you check Lathan out with Raelynn, Matt Stell, and Granger Smith - plus, dig back on Lathan’s music and watch the growth as he found the lane that seems to suit him and allow for his positive messaging to reach further than ever!
LISTEN ON APPLE MUSIC: “My Way”
“Trying Not To” - Alana Springsteen f. Roman Alexander
When you’re thoughts keep returning to the same person, at some point you have to stop playing it cool and just let it happen! Corri and I never talked on the phone during the week in the early months of our relationship - even when I moved from LA to New York, and we were long distance. We would text, and then spend hours on the phone each Saturday. We were super independent, and busy enough that it was doable to just let the anticipation and stories build up during the week. IF we did have a pressing matter, the first words on those calls would be “sorry to call but…”. haha. Looking back, it seems ridiculous, but I’ll admit that it seemed to work, and it made me that much more excited to see her when we’d do the cross-country flight every couple weeks.
My point…was that this song reminds me so much of those random moments where I’d want to call Corri, even if it was a Wednesday, and would try to hold off until Saturday - meanwhile settling for a text and going on a run toward the Statue of Liberty and Freedom Tower (which, for a kid from South Dakota, were fairly distracting).
This song was crafted in a really cool way - verses being shared between artists, rather than separate verses for each - and Alana told me this was intentional. The title started the conversation, but the idea to be unable to stop the integration of these two voices was what sent Alana, Roman, Jerry and Jared down this path in the writing room. (I also find it fascinating that they ended up writing the hook at the end of the process). This song swells at the right moments - the production is insane (pretty sure there’s a fiddle/electric guitar battle in the middle!). Alana and Roman’s voices are WAY more seasoned than they have any right to be this early in life…stars. They combine in a way reminiscent of the repartee between Hillary Scott and Charles Kelley, or a Carrie & Brad duet - back and forth, back and forth…
LISTEN ON APPLE MUSIC: “Trying Not To”
“If You Change Your Mind” - Hunter Hayes
When I lived in Little Rock, I hosted a monthly live music night at the water park there - Wild River Country! I met a ridiculously talented family called The Pricecrew that invited me to join them in a couple performances during their shows - where I learned a couple moves to *NYSNC songs and slid into the choreography. Super fun…especially cuz I secretly freakin love *NSYNC. Especially Celebrity (and No Strings Attached and eh…never mind.)
So if “Pop” comes on your playlist, and I’m anywhere nearby, you may see me break it down.
so…this was sorta spurned by the fact that Hunter Hayes is a music prodigy in the way that JT, Charlie Puth, and NeYo can just create the unimaginable. I feel the same way about Nick Jonas, but I feel like I may have maxed my boy band related references for this one country music blog. This song breaks every expectation you might have had from the guy whose genius we have watched reveal itself through music since you were calling me to request “Storm Warning.”
This is absolutely one of my favorite songs this year. Sneakily…it starts off with that tuxedo-reflecting 50s era (Sinatra-like) intro. Drops into an engaged, syncopated (Neptunes/Timbo/JT influenced) track.. Those tosses to falsetto, the staccato accents. Its over WAY too soon…that’s why I control my own damn playlist. I can play it 5 times if I wanna, and then continue onto the next song on my Daily Soundtrack
LISTEN ON APPLE MUSIC: “If You Change Your Mind”
Its Not Over
I’ve got WAY more new music to share, along with my general favorites to play on The Ty Bentli Show, right now. Normally I would say to hit ‘shuffle’ on a playlist. Not this one.
(I couldn’t pick one of the lines, so I just left all the drafts:)
Midland, Miranda, McGraw and more.
Keith, Kassi, Kissel and more.
RD, TR, and BO.
Walker, Lainey, Triston and other names that none of your friends have and more.
You’ll love it start to finish:
TY BENTLI’S DAILY SOUNDTRACK is on my homepage on Apple Music.