Divorce, miscarriages, booze, and pills: All familiar country music subjects, but Sunny Sweeney makes them sound devastatingly real and impressively new. On the title track, she tackles love triangles with marvelous humor (“Yeah, he’s got a trophy now/For putting up with you”) but goes for the gut on “Bottle by My Bed,” a confessional ballad about her fertility issues. Her masterful tribute to country greats might give you goosebumps: “I play classical music when it rains/Country when I’m in pain/I won’t play Beethoven if the mood’s just not right/I feel like Hank Williams tonight.”
- Miranda Lambert
- Pistol Annies
- Kaitlin Butts