We recently received several CD’s in the mail from artists hoping for a review of their new albums.  We take music reviews very seriously, and often take hours to craft a review for a single album, which can be taxing as we pick apart and analyze each and every song to give it a score and an album average. Due to time constraints and maintaining our own sanity, we are going to list these albums here with a quick overall analysis of each one.

All Suited Up by The Kody Norris Show – This was an excellent Bluegrass album that any Bluegrass fan would enjoy listening to, driven by great instrumentation.

Bridges and Backroads by Jerry Salley – This was another solid Bluegrass album that was more lyrically driven.

I’ll Keep it Country by Cory Keefe – The album title sets itself up with high expectations that he most certainly lives up to!  We are pushing this directly to finalist status for Album of the Year.  This is pure country gold.  When listening to music, you often tend to try to compare a new artist to an established artist that they remind you of.  Keefe reminds you of so many, but it is hard to pick just one.  Some names that come to mind that he should be considered a peer of vocally and stylistically include Randy Travis, Easton Corbin, Joe Nichols, Josh Turner…even George Strait.  If Nashville has any credibility left, he will be the next big thing.    He even was able to land a duet with Lorrie Morgan on this album!  We had already added the first 2 song releases from this album to our 2021’s Best New Country Music Spotify Playlist, so we were glad to hear that the rest of the album was just as good.  We look forward to adding more of the tracks to our playlist as he releases them as singles!

Kaleidoscope by Hilary Scott – Not to be confused with Hillary Scott of Lady A fame, this artist’s 5-track album was more of a pop album than country that did not really move the needle for us as there really wasn’t anything “country” about them.

Our Places by Folks Like Them – This is a very good album that flows back and forth from Country to Bluegrass.  We previously added “The River Still Flows” to our 2021’s Best New Country Music Spotify Playlist.  Definitely worth a listen!

Waiting out the Storm by Billy Droze – Another good Bluegrass album worth a listen!

We really just focus on Country Music here at Hometown Country Music, but we do consider Bluegrass to be historically intertwined with Country Music, so we felt compelled to include them in today’s post.