In today’s crop of new music, Megan Moroney and Kenny Chesney team up on a song celebrating their time spent on Chesney’s Sun Goes Down Tour last year. Meanwhile, Dierks Bentley previews his upcoming Broken Branches album with a new release. Julie Williams pays homage to those who have uplifted and inspired her, while roots music luminaries Leftover Salmon and I’m With Her also offer new music.
Kenny Chesney and Megan Moroney, “You Had to Be There”
On this breezy, jaunty summer tune, Moroney reminisces on a summer filled with music and magic, first as a fan soaking in music from the nosebleed seats, then as an artist. She chronicles her journey from attending a Chesney concert in Atlanta seven years ago, to being an opener on his 2024 tour. Chesney joins on the second verse, his warm, conversational voice offering advice on lines including “Keep your heart on your sleeve and your chin held high.” The song has a classic Chesney feel and serves as an excellent vehicle for their intertwined voices.
Dierks Bentley, “Standing in the Sun”
Dierks Bentley offers another preview of his upcoming album Broken Branches (out June 13). His latest song, written by Kyle Sturrock, compares life’s hardships to hurricanes and freezing snows, but maintains that his lover’s affections are life-refreshing, noting that “noise dies down and life slows up” when he’s with the one he loves. Gently rippling guitars and a laid-back tone echo the song’s sentiments.
Julie Williams, “The Women Who Made Me”
Williams, known for her work on her 2024 EP Tennessee Moon and her 2023 self-titled project, offers up a new song dedicated to confident, resilient women. Jangly guitars and serene fiddlework lace with Williams’ honeyed vocal as she pays tribute not only her mother, but also the influence of many of country music’s female greats. She namechecks songs including The Chicks’ “Wide Open Spaces,” Trisha Yearwood’s “XXXs and OOOs” and Sara Evans’s “Born to Fly,” and celebrates the strength and wisdom of her mother, who “carried a heavy load/ Never let on,” and taught her to lean into music as a solace.
Leftover Salmon feat. Sam Bush and Del McCoury, “Let’s Party About It”
Venerated jam band Leftover Salmon has been known for its latticework of country, bluegrass, jazz and rock for more than three decades, and on the new LP, Let’s Party About It (which released May 9 on Compass Records), it’s clear the group has no intention of pausing its eclectic, free-wheeling brand of music and dedication to top-shelf musicianship. The project’s title track further spotlights Leftover Salmon’s communal approach to music-making, and highlights Dave Matthews Band’s Jeff Coffin on soprano saxophone, as well as Sam Bush on fiddle. The rollicking tune pulls listeners in with its lively spirit and urges them that is better spent united in partying rather than in harmful division.
I’m With Her, “Wild and Clear and Blue”
This celebrated trio of Sarah Jarosz, Sara Watkins and Aoife O’Donovan released their first collaborative album as I’m With Her in 2018, with See You Around. They return with a new release via Rounder Records. On the project’s title track, backed by a mesh of violin, guitar, piano and mandolin, they reminisce about childhood moments spent soaking in music that played in their mothers’ cars, finding a gem of an album in dusty record bins, and how those moments spurred their musical passions and have stayed with them as the years have passed. Their shimmering harmonies are tightly woven purity, giving the song’s nostalgic message ample space to take center stage. The project marks a glorious return for this talented trio.
