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5 Must-Hear New Country Songs: Hudson Westbrook, Dylan Scott, Lauren Watkins & More
This week's crop of new tunes features fresh music from Hudson Westbrook, Madeline Merlo, Gavin Adcock, Dylan Scott and Lauren Watkins. Westbrook and Scott offer up amorous new songs while Watkins and Merlo each delve into non-linear trajectory of heartache's aftermath. Beyond love and loss, Adcock's latest finds him singing of bad decisions and corresponding consequences.
Find all of these and more in Billboard's roundup of the best new country songs of the week below.
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Hudson Westbrook, 'Texas Forever'
Westbook offers up one of his most tenderly sentimental tracks to date on this song touting how some things will forever be entwined, such as the words 'Texas Forever' and his unyielding affections with his lover, even as he has to leave home for the road. 'The highway's in my veins, but you'll always have my heart,' he sings, further evincing his talents as a dynamic country vocalist. The song is the title track to his upcoming debut album, out July 25.
Madeline Merlo, 'Middle of the Bed'
This plaintive slice of pop-country centers on a post-heartbreak healing process that isn't quite complete. Fusing her honeyed vocal with a slick, prominent instrumentation that captures both the freeing feeling of being emotionally on the mend, while still hinting at how moments of brooding and longing flare up in the darkest nights. 'I reach for you like we ain't broke up/ For a second even wonder where you went,' she sings. 'Middle of the Bed' is featured on Merlo's most recent EP, One House Down (From The Girl Next Door).
Gavin Adcock, 'Morning Bail'
Just days after being arrested in Tennessee on charges of reckless driving and violation of open container laws, Adcock seemingly tipped his hat to the incident in his new release, 'Morning Bail.' 'I gotta quit drinkin' on a broken heart,' he sings, pouring his grainy vocal over cut-to-the-quick lyrics about a night of drinking that quickly gets out of hand. Adcock has quickly gained a reputation as rowdy performer as comfortable with a rollicking barn-burner as he is with a confessional, unfiltered track, and this song only adds to that status.
Lauren Watkins, 'I'll Get Through It'
Watkins revels in a confident swagger on this jaunty, uptempo track aimed at helping the brokenhearted dance through the pain–with the help of some songs on the jukebox and a favored alcohol. 'I got a hangover in store/ But just like you walking out that door/ I'll get through it,' she sings, infusing the song with an unapologetic, grit-your-teeth determination. The song offers a taste of her musical evolution since her 2024 project The Heartbroken Record, and fans will get to hear more when she makes her Grand Ole Opry debut June 20.
Dylan Scott, 'Till I Can't, I Will'
A steady, hard-driving rhythm underpins this hearty, romantic track, which finds Scott declaring his enduring affections for his lover. Vocally, he delivers this track with an easygoing charisma. Featured on Scott's new album Easy Does It, this song is upbeat, breezy and ripe for summer tour dates. Scott wrote the song with Jesse Frasure, Ashley Gorley, Chase McGill and Taylor Phillips.
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