We asked, you answered.
When it comes to the state of country music right now, it feels as though we might be living through lightning in a bottle. While it’s nothing new, there has been cycles of really good and really bad country music over the years, right now just feels like a really special and unique time.
For the most part, we have banished bro-country (yay!), we have artists veering back toward the more traditional roots of country music, and artists like Zach Top are getting nominated for CMA Awards, which is beyond promising for the future of the genre. But the real kicker is that independent acts, or at least ones without any kind of mainstream radio support have become household names and festival headliners. Artists like Tyler Childers, Cody Jinks and Sturgill Simpson are selling out massive venues, Muscadine Bloodline is touring with Post Malone, Charley Crockett and Billy Strings are HUGE, Koe Wetzel is certified rockstar, Whiskey Myers can pack a room with the best of them… it’s wild to see.
Of course, we also have the opposite of that where artists are taking the word “country” and bending it into a hip hop and R&B-fueled subgenre dominated by Beyoncé, Shaboozey, and TikTok artists like the viral “Oil Money” singer, Graham Barham.
But out of the list of artists who are making a positive impact on country music, boy, are we so lucky to be living in a world filled with their music. We have Turnpike Troubadours telling folks they are done with their second record since they reunited, Cross Canadian Ragweed is back together, Zach Top is dominating the classic country sound, and so is Texas-based artist Braxton Keith.
And on the female side of the spectrum, we have powerhouses like Ella Langley and Taylor Hunnicutt, who embody what being a bad a** woman looks like. And we have heavenly, whimsical voices on the ears like Sierra Ferrell and Willow Avalon.
There’s so many who have exploded and still so many left for the masses to discover.
We asked the fine followers of our Instagram page, Twitter (X), and TikTok to share with us who they think some of the most underrated country artists are right now. Here are some of the answers you folks overwhelmingly commented on the posts.
“Charley Crockett”
“Jake Worthington” – Ernest even agreed with this one, folks.
“Brent Cobb”
“Red Clay Strays”
“Cole Goodwin”
“Braxton Keith”
“Muscadine Bloodline”
“Laci Kay Booth”
“Randall King”
“Stephen Wilson Jr.”
“Wade Forster”
“Charles Wesley Godwin”
“Benjamin Tod”
“Hailey Whitters”
“Drake White”
“Larry Fleet”
That’s a solid list of listening there, folks. A few of these artists have already promised new music for 2025, like CWG and Muscadine Bloodline, so there is no better time than now to tune into a few of these folks.
Of course, we had to ask the opposing question as part of our timeline cleanse to get your opinions on who you think is overrated right now.
It appears that the overwhelming majority named Beyonce, Morgan Wallen, and Zach Bryan on that list. Still, getting over who’s side to take on the Bri break-up drama? Or over the similar-sounding songwriting and low-quality production on some tracks? I can see both sides of this ,but there are times when you have to separate the art from the artist when personal drama creeps into their profession.
However, this is a fun list to creep through while you’re here. Some of y’all have some hot takes.
