Once again, there’s plenty of great new country music coming out this Friday. Some of country music’s biggest acts have released new singles, while others are debuting their latest albums.
Country music fans are in for a good weekend of new music. Some of country’s most famous artists are coming out with new songs and albums, including Chris Stapleton, Thomas Rhett, Easton Corbin, and Josh Abbott Band. Additionally, fans will get to hear collaborations between Tim McGraw & Midland, Kelsea Ballerini & Shania Twain, and Reba McEntire & Darius Rucker. But it doesn’t stop there. In fact, we even have a new album to listen to from the Man in Black himself: Johnny Cash.
So let’s dig into the latest country music singles and albums that released for the week of Nov. 13.
Chris Stapleton Releases New Album, ‘Starting Over’
On Friday, country superstar Chris Stapleton released a brand new, full-length album titled “Starting Over.” For the first time in three years, Stapleton is sharing an album full of new music with fans.
The singer’s newest album took him and his band out of their comfort zone – their comfort zone being RCA Studio A in Nashville. Stapleton has recorded all three of his previous albums in the famed Nashville studio. However, for the new record, he wanted to switch things up. So during the winter of 2018, Stapleton and his band traveled to Alabama’s iconic studio Muscle Shoals Sound. Yet, things didn’t quite add up while trying to create a record there.
“It was a different process for us,” Stapleton told The Tennessean. “The room’s very much a part of the band, to me, when you’re makin’ records. All these weird things were going down. The power shut down in all of Muscle Shoals while we were trying to record. There were all these weird stops. I’m a big ‘listen to the signs of the universe’ guy. We were in this what felt uncomfortable, to me, zone of tryin’ to make a record.”
The band shut down their recording, went on tour, and put the album on the back burner until a year later. Stapleton returned to RCA’s Studio A during the winter of 2019. For his previous albums, recording sessions took a matter of days, but this time around it lasted years. For Stapleton’s fans, the wait will be worth it.
“This record has a lot of depth in it,” Stapleton said of Starting Over. “It has a lot of variance in tone and music. It feels a little bit like not a complete departure, but a little different lane to some of the things we’ve done. But it still very much sounds like the things that we do.”
Johnny Cash’s Music Reimagined on ‘Johnny Cash and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’
The Man in Black‘s newest album released on Nov. 13, more than 17 years after his passing. It explores some of Cash’s most famous music, but with a twist. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra has reimagined the legendary country artist’s music, recording their own take on 12 of his most popular songs.
The new album highlights Cash’s original vocals accompanied by the orchestra, who recorded at Abbey Road’s iconic Studio 2. The release shares new takes on fan favorites like “Man In Black” and “Ring of Fire.” But, the album also features lesser-known tracks such as “Farther Along,” “Flesh and Blood,” and “Girl From The North Country” – his beloved collaboration with Bob Dylan.
