Music On Mondays: Picks Of The Week 12/7/20

Kalie Shorr’s new album “Open Book: Unabridged”

“I’m a little out of touch with reality, it’s never been that nice to me,” Kalie Shorr sings in the new release “Lying to Myself,” from the upcoming Open Book: Unabridged release. The DIY country performer elevates this confessional narrative about a doomed relationship with an emo-ish type of intensity that ramps up to a cathartic finish of ringing, bell-like guitars and cracking snare drum. 

“I remember the week before recording Open Book, sitting on my living room floor with my friend and co-writer Savannah Keyes, cutting out strips of paper with the song titles on them. We were rearranging, taking ones out, putting them back in, and narrowing it down was so hard. I ended up starting a new list of songs I would record on a deluxe version, if I ever got there. I've literally been dreaming of this since before I even recorded Open Book. I'm ecstatic to get to do this with tmwrk records and see where else this album can go with such an incredible team behind it,” says Shorr.

Carly Pearces’s new song “Show Me Around”

Filling the silence of loss and sadness with a heartfelt tribute, CARLY PEARCE wrote “Show Me Around” for her champion busbee and his family following the late producer’s unexpected death. The song was penned alongside their frequent collaborator Emily Shackelton and Ben West with powerful lyrics. 

“As my mentor and friend, busbee helped me share the parts of my own life that I could only explain through music. He holds such a sweet place in my heart, and I truly hope ‘Show Me Around’ brings comfort to his wife Jess and their three little girls. At his funeral, a songwriter that all of us in Nashville love named Barry Dean gave a speech that painted the most beautiful picture of Heaven. There is no way to ease the pain of losing someone you love, this felt like a really hopeful way to look at our loved ones meeting us again one day and showing us around,” expressed Carly, who earlier this week shared some others’ sweet sentiments upon hearing the track.

Abby Anderson’s new song “Don’t Matter Now”

Abby Anderson’s new release, “Don’t Matter Now,” perfectly encaptures the rolling of emotion through a temporary situation and the light at the end of the tunnel. The folk-inspired and consistent beat lends themselves to the rainy day feel of the tune. In 2020, the year has been wave, but Abby has inspired to ride the wave until we land on a beach somewhere, sun shining and all. 

Lauren Davidson’s new release “Halfway To Hungover”

Bring on the edgy break up song of the year! No wallowing, no crying, just standing up, dusting ourselves off and bring on the drinks! Lauren Davidson’s rock country version of a break up is full of swag and moving on, oh and quite a bit of alcohol. New Jersey’s Lauren continues to put her own brand on country, and this break up anthem has classic written all over it. We can not wait to hear more from Lauren, including a full EP coming next year!

Rachel Wammack’s new cover “A Million Dreams”

The commercial voice for Discovery+, Rachel Wammack’s new cover of The Greatest Showman’s “A Million Dreams” opens us to a world of discovery (no pun intended).  “I’m very grateful,” Rachel tells Everything Nash. “It’s my first cover song in the studio, that’s not a Christmas song. Discovery channel  has a new streaming app that they are launching called Discovery+. It’s going to be like Disney+. They are doing a commercial for it, that’s like a montage of all these channels that are going to be on the streaming service, like HGTV, Animal Planet, Food Network, whatever.”

Check out Rachel’s voice in Discovery+'s new commercial: 

“They are doing the song, ‘A Million Dreams,’ from The Greatest Showman, as their background song for the montage of all the channels,” she reveals. “And so Discovery reached out to my team, along with some others and was like, ‘We’re looking for someone who can do this, and it’s in their wheelhouse, to sing ‘A Million Dreams.'”