Lav's Music Corner

Chris Stapleton has become a critically acclaimed mainstay of modern country music. Just as his 2015 debut album Traveller  was being anointed as one of the definitive country masterpieces of the 2010s, he was reinventing himself entirely. In 2020, Stapleton started over on the album Starting Over  which took an even more defined narrative and often quite uncommercial focus. Regardless the album was a smash hit with basically everyone that heard it. With his status firmly cemented, Higher  had every opportunity to be a victory lap.  Review by Lav:  I still considered myself a Chris Stapleton skeptic in 2020. I liked his music but I didn't LOVE it. Starting Over changed that. The album featured the dynamic musings of a truly compelling songwriter presented with the raw grime and intensity of great country and folk music. So to say I was excited for a follow-up would be an understatement, especially after I liked all of the singles a lot. While the album is plenty...

For my work outside of blogging, I have to listen to and pay a lot of attention to the Billboard Hot 100. For that reason, there are some albums I haven't properly reviewed that I've heard the entire tracklist of countless times through. So for this week's rapid-fire reviews we're covering some of those.  One Thing At A Time  - Morgan Wallen Yes, Morgan Wallen. In the before times he was actually a really compelling up-and-coming voice in country music that I was pretty interested in. He had some more stripped-down heartfelt songs of angst and heartbreak that really clicked with me, especially 7 Summers  which ended up on some of my year-end lists. He released a massive record that was inconsistent despite having its moments but I was banking on him being somebody whose music I enjoyed for a while. And then. Not only did he face one of the biggest controversies in all of music in recent years when he got caught saying numerous racial slurs on camera. Since then, I also ...

Zach Bryan is an Oklahoma-based country singer who had somewhat of a breakthrough 2022. After building up momentum for years he released his first top 10 album American Heartbreak  last year which also contained his first massive hit song Something In The Orange . Now just a year later, he's following that extremely long album up with a more scant collection of songs that see him leaning into his folk influence and raw stylings.  Review by Lav: Ever falling short of being the definitive music influencer, I didn't really hear about Zach Bryan until everybody else did. Late last year I called his breakthrough mainstream hit Something In The Orange  one of my favorite hit songs of the year and it also landed on my singles of the year list. I completely stand by both of those choices. While his album American Heartbreak  was far too long and inconsistent for me, I was really excited to see what Zach had to offer with this shift to more conventional full-length, and he di...

Margo Price is a Nashville via Illinois country singer who released her first two albums on Jack White's Third Man Records. Between her second and third albums, she shifted to Loma Vista and Strays  marks her second project put out on that label. Review by Lav: Margo Price has been a beacon of country music for a number of years now. I fell head over heels in love with her debut album Midwest Farmer's Daughter  and while I didn't love either of her next two records quite as much I still enjoyed her genre fluidity and the unique flavors she brings as a songwriter. I bounced back and forth on some of the singles from Strays  and while it might be her most inconsistent project to date, it also has thematic throughlines that make it worth listening to in its entirety. The record was teased with three singles and I'd like to just skip right to what I and pretty much everyone else seems to agree is the best song on the album. Change Of Heart  kicks off with a Black Keys-st...