A long Country Music Picks post is ahead of you. There have been five Fridays in May 2025, which naturally prolongs my list of songs, which haven’t made it to my Country Music Playlists. Enjoy songs I which I felt are worth featuring as of that month!
New Songs of the Week of 2nd May 2025
1st May 2025 has been a public holiday in major parts of Europe and the world. I could relax a bit, but had to work on that Friday. Good country music made it more enjoyable to me.
Kacey Musgraves – Lost Highway
My May 2025 country song selection is opened by one of the most famous and popular female country artists. In fact, Spacey Kacey released Lost Highway already on 30th April 2025 – but I just built this song selection based on each and every Friday. Lovely one.
Brooke Eden – Giddy Up!
I absolutely loved Brooke Eden’s 2022 EP Choosing You, which even made it to my list of Best EPs of that year. In early May 2025, she released the country-party-pop song Giddy Up! – and I am dancing with her.
Rascal Flatts feat. Backstreet Boys – What Hurts The Most
This month features a couple of acts which you would not necessarily link to country music. The legendary Backstreet Boys are one of them. However, with the Rascal Flatts, they had quite a nice collaboration partner for What Hurts The Most.
Becca Bowen – Bettin’ on You
Rocking guitars and a cool fiddle – Becca Bowen can do that. The Carolina country lady released the very catching Bettin’ on You, which barely missed my major playlist.
Colin Stough – White Trash
For Colin Stough, the song White Trash is his first mention on my website. The 2023 American Idol third-placed artist released his debut EP the same year. Last year, he added his sophomore EP, Lookin’ For Home. Really nice song.
Trisha Yearwood – Bringing The Angels
Triple Grammy Award holder Trisha Yearwood released Bringing The Angels in early May 2025 as well. The song is also teasing her new album he Mirror, which is scheduled for 18th July 2025.
Emily Ann Roberts – The Fence
Emily Ann Roberts is another country artist, who boosted her career with a TV talent show. In 2015, she was part of Blake Shelton’s team at The Voice and reached the finals. Since then, she released two EPs and a studio album.
Clayton Johnson – Talk is Cheap
With his 2022 single Howdy, Clayton Johnson had his first major appearance in playlists and airplay. He is originally from California, but nowadays resides in Nashville. By the way, he also became famous by dating Lana Del Rey in the early 2020’s.
Dylan Gossett – American Trail
Dylan Gossett closed the main stage on the first day of Country To Country 2025 in Berlin. In early May, he released the slower, but catching song American Trail. Nice one.
Matt Lang – I’ve Learned
In 2020, I featured Matt Lang’s album More. Despite some playlist appearances on my project, I lost a bit track of him. This song suggests that I might be wrong. It’s a beauty.
New Songs of the Week of 9th May 2025
I had a quite weird trip that weekend, which I put into a trip report. The first full week of May 2025 featured some really nice new country songs. Here is my selection:
The Marcus King Band – Honky Tonk Hell
The country rockers The Marcus King Band are soon about to play in Europe again (see my Tour Date Overview). I am sure they will take you to the Honky Tonk Hell with its groovy blues-rock style.
Brooke Law – Big World
Despite Brooke Law is releasing music since 2018, her May 2025 song Big World means her first Flyctory.com appearance. The British artist was born in London and played at multiple British festivals already. This one is a beautiful and gentle singer-songwriter style release.
Maggie Baugh – Oklahoma on Saturdays
If you are guessing where Maggie Baugh is originally from, based on the song title, you might be wrong. She is originally from Florida – and there is definitely some Florida sun in her Oklahoma on Saturdays. I really like this one.
Dillon Carmichael – Raised Up Wrong
My last major review of Dillon Carmichael is dated as of 2021. In that year, he released the EP Hot Beer. The stomping style country rocker Raised Up Wrong will rather lead to some additional cold beer consumption, I guess.
Hayden Blount – Livin’ Missing You
With a distinctly raw, plainspoken form of instinctual song craft, 21-year-old Hayden Blount is the real-deal epitome of a next-gen country outsider – that’s how his own website describes Mayden Blount. He is a Tennessee artist from Savannah. His song spreads some Tom Petty vibes, I feel – and like it.
Payton Smith – Nobody Else
Even though Payton Smith had a couple of Country Music Playlist appearances, I so far just featured him once explicitly. He was part of the November 2024 Country Picks. Half a year later, he deserves being back with Nobody Else.
Chris Lane – Shade Tree
Chris Lane is ready to be one of the major artists of upcoming CMA Fest (see my preview post). I guess that many visitors will long for a Shade Tree in sunny Nashville – and enjoy listening to this song.
Lecade – Love Me Anyway
Lecade’s civil name is Cade Brinkley. He is originally from Baton Rouge in Louisiana, but then drove is professional music career from Jackson in Mississippi. Love Me Anyway is a really nice, modern country track.
Hayden Haddock – Keep Me Up
In 2018, the Texas country music artist Hayden Haddock stepped into the spotlight of the music scene, releasing his debut EP First Rodeo. Since his 2020 album Red Dirt Texas, there have just been individual single releases, though.
New Songs of the Week of 16th May 2025
The weekend of 16th May 2025 was in focus of rock music. My favorite musical Rock of Ages had some of their last shows in Duisburg. I had the honor of covering the last show there. Nonetheless, I also cared about my country music heart.
Mary Kutter – The Devils Wore a Lab Coat
I had the honor to feature Mary Kutter at the last day of C2C 2025 in Berlin. I absolutely loved her set on Sunday morning. With The Devils Worse a Lab Coat, she is addressing the US pharma crisis in a remarkable way. Great song.
Willow Avalon feat. Charles Wesley Godwin – The Actor
Willow Avalon is a relatively new artist. She released her debut album Southern Belle Raisin’ Hell in January 2025. For The Actor, he works with Charles Wesley Godwin. With three studio albums and two studio EPs released so far, the Morgantown, WV, country-folk artist is more established in the music business already. I love their collaboration at The Actor.
The Castellows – Broke
Just two weeks before The Castellows released their new EP Homecoming, they released this single. I more and more enjoy the sound of the country sibling trio.
Brandon Chase – Send Down A Rainbow
Brandon Chase’s website dramatically tells how the Texas artist has been lost breathe multiple times during his very early days of life. Nowadays, he is looking back to a quite nice country music career. He was part of Blake Shelton’s team in the fifth season of The Voice and had a 30 million Spotify streams song with Dilemma, released in 2018.
Thompson Square – You Were There
It’s almost six years ago since I featured a Thompson Square show in Cologne. The duo will also be on the CMA Fest stages in Nashville soon. Hope to have Kiefer and Shawna back on European soil soon as well.
McCoy Moore – John Deere Blue
McCoy Moore already made it twice into my Country Music Picks, in the February 2025 and March 2025 editions. After a hiatus of a month, the Florida native is back with this lovely one.
Adam Chaffins – Kentucky Girl
Adam Chaffins’ website quotes the All Country News with Adam Chaffins proves once again that he is a master of emotive storytelling, seamlessly blending his Appalachian roots with a fresh, contemporary perspective. I at least enjoyed his traditional style story about the Kentucky Girl quite much. The song is part of his album Trailer Trash.
Scoot Teasley – Whiskey Burns
Scoot Teasly mixed R&B vibes into country music. His most popular song o far is likely The Chop, as it is frequently used by the Atlanta Braves MLB baseball team. Whiskey Burns is a modern, very energetic one.
New Songs of the Week of 23rd May 2025
My key event of that week was definitely the lovely and intimate Caylee Hammack concert in Cologne. However, there are many more artists and songs worth mentioning.
Sammy Arriaga – Selena
Sammy Arriaga is combining country sounds with Latino vibes. His later May 2025 release is built exactly on that concept. It definitely adds a nice flavor to the country music scene.
The Reklaws – Never Drinking Again
The Ontario siblings The Reklaws typically make me smile. Her new single release is not diverting from that. And it is one of the few Canadian songs in my post this time.
Maddye Trew – Single of the Year
Is Maddye Trew the Single of the Year? At least, the Nashville resident is singing about that. The Belmont University graduate released her debut single Only Sometimes in 2020. Based on Spotify streams, the song is still her most successful track of her career. Maybe this one is changing it.
Blake Smeltz – Nicotine Daydream
There are so many country songs about alcohol. Blake Smeltz is going for another popular drug in his 2025 song release. Maybe it is boosting the song career of the Virginia artist, who started to release songs in 2023.
Alexandra Kay – The Last
If there was an Artist of the Month at Flyctory.com, Alexandra Kay was a hot candidate. Her concert on 12th May 2025 in Cologne was absolutely amazing. The following week, she released a new song, The Last. And that one is definitely worth a listen.
Kyle Clark – Country Boys
Country Boys is the second appearance for Kyle Clark in this post category. I featured him in the February 2025 edition already. A really nice new track by the Hawaii-origin artist.
Rodney Atkins feat. Elijah Atkins – Watching You 2.0
The song I first have in mind when I think about Rodney Atkins is Thank God For You, a Logan Mize write. That week, the 56-year old Tennessee artist paired up with his oldest song Elijah for this really nice song.
Bottomland – Sorry State
Bottomlnd is a Texas country music duo, which has formed in 2025. However, Cannon Brand and Justin Lane Gates were part of the Texas music scene before. With Over You, Over It, they already had a quite successful track. Let’s se how Sorry State is performing.
Demps – Single Mama
Demps and her song Single Mama close the fourth set of May 2025 song releases. In late August, he will be on a country music cruise, alongside big names like Gretchen Wilson, Jo Dee Massina or Chase Rice. Sounds like a fun trip!
New Songs of the Week of 30th May 2025
Wow, it’s CMA Fest week. I had a massive list of new songs for that week. Every country artist wants to present something new in Music City. Quite hard work to condense it – but I feel I managed to do so.
Ashland Craft – Kick Rocks Cowboy
I had one major feature about South Carolina artist Ashland Craft so far. In 2021, I reviewed her album Travelin’ Kind. I really like her rocking new song Kick Rocks Cowboy.
Danny Kensey & Barefoot Joe – Get Laked
Get laid? Oh, sorry, I misunderstood the lyrics somehow. Danny Kensey and Barefoot Joe rather prefer to Get Laked. Not only the title of the song makes me smile.
Carolyn Miller – I’ll Always Be
It’s feels so good to me to have more new music by Carolyn Miller again. While she is currently featured in my Country Music Playlists with Fighting For You, here is her latest track.
Myles Morgan – I Still Got It
Myles Morgan is a country artist from Alabama. Right before May ist over, he released I Still Got It. I really like that one.
Kaylee Bell – Red Dirt Romeo
Red Dirt Romeo by Kaylee Bell just very barely missed the Country Music Playlists. One reason for that was that I did not feel ready to kick her amazing Keith out of there. Enjoy this lovely track by the New Zealand artist.
Jenna Davis – San Diego
I really love the Californian city San Diego. Jenna Davis takes us there in her new song. After her November 2024 debut EP Sike, she is releasing another piece of music I really enjoy listening to.
Bryan Ruby – Diggin’ (‘Til The Corn Comes Up)
Nashville-based Bryan Ruby is not only a well-reputed songwriter, he is also have a strong social advocacy. The gay artists founded an organization for LGBTQ baseball players for example. His music is remarkable as well – here is his latest one.
Niko Moon – Sandcastles
The closing song of this month’s posting is Sandcastles by Niko Moon from Tyler in Texas. A gentle melody with summer vibes – how it be better?
Title picture: Alexandra Kay – The Last
Country Music Picks – The Playlist
I will also present the new songs of a month in a new, dedicated playlist. The playlist will be completely flushed and reset with the next Country Music Picks posting.
CMA Fest Postings
I tagged all CMA Fest-related postings appropriately:
US Hotel Reviews
Here all reviews on hotels & other accommodation in the USA: