J.R. Carroll is on an absolute tear right now.
Largely known as one of Zach Bryan’s closest friends and bandmates during his meteoric ascent this past year, J.R. Carroll has quietly garnered a strong and dedicated fan base of his own over the years, ever since the release of his 2020 EP Long Story Short.
This quiet momentum got quite a bit louder when he released his second EP Raging in the Dark in July 2022, and now fresh off of a great run of shows opening with his full band in sold out rooms across the country for Charles Wesley Godwin, fans and media outlets everywhere are making their J.R. Carroll praises known.
Despite a pretty deep vault of unreleased tracks on YouTube, Carroll’s streaming platform catalog of officially released music is relatively shallow. As a result, there has been a lot of buzz about Carroll releasing more music, and today, his heavily anticipated OurVinyl Sessions have finally dropped.
A big deal and a great exposure opportunity for a fast growing up and comer like Carroll, he is joining the likes of Cole Chaney, Morgan Wade, Tyler Childers, and so many more who have taken part in powerful OurVinyl performances.
This past week, Carroll took to Instagram to announce the project and touch on what it means to him:
“I’ve been watching OurVinyl for years and years. I discovered so many of my favorite artists, and favorite performances watching and listening to the content they produce. It’s hard to overstate how much it means to me that they took the time to work with me and help make a dream of mine come true.
I’m really proud to announce that my OurVinyl Session will be out on March 7th, and I’m beyond honored to have worked with such a great group of folks to make this project happen. I hope y’all like it, and I can’t wait for all of you to hear it!”
A four-song project in tandem with OurVinyl, the EP features a new live recording of the already released ode to the tour life “Other Than That,” as well as live takes of new songs “Pray,” “Make You Weep,” and “Bandit.”
My early favorite of the new releases, and perhaps already one of my favorites in his whole catalog, “Make You Weep” is a heartfelt co-write with another up-and-comer who has been on fire of late, Tanner Usrey. Any song written by a duo with the songwriting chops of these two is going to be a good one, but I think they’ve got something special with this one.
“Does it make you weep, does it shake you to your core
Is it in your bones that you don’t need me anymore
I should probably just be happy that you’re here
I meant it when I said that I’d rather die alone
And it’s killing me just how easily you moved on…”
All four of these songs are special, though, and should be a must-listen for country music fans everywhere.
These songs are proof – it’s only up from here for Carroll and his team. JR Carroll is the real deal, people… and if I were you, I’d buy stock NOW.
