Jon Stone and Kristy Thomas, the duo American Young, recently released their latest single “Wasn’t Gonna Drink Tonight.” The song, which was written by Jon along with Lee Brice and Billy Montana, can be found on the duo's self titled EP released in June.

Don’t be misled by the title, the song isn’t an ode to drinking and having a good time. Quite the contrary, it is a love song about going out and unintentionally seeing the person who didn’t just break your heart, but “tore it all to pieces,” causing certain emotions to take over and leading one to drink a bit too much (even though that wasn't the initial plan for the evening).


"I wasn't gonna drink tonight
I didn’t wanna see your eyes
Just here for a good time
No I wasn’t gonna want a fight
Butstin' up my knuckles on my truck
No I, I wasn’t gonna drink tonight"

Jon takes lead vocals on the track, but emotions are best conveyed when the duo harmonizes, specifically in the chorus and the bridge.
If you like this song, check out their EP which includes their first single, "Love Is War."

"Wasn't Gonna Drink Tonight" impacts radio July 28th.

3.5 Stars

In June, Sonia Leigh released her amazing EP, Counting Skeletons, but she returns this week with brand new music, a song she wrote entitled, "Put It In Your Pocket." 

If you have listened to Counting Skeletons, your first thought might be, "this is really different for Sonia Leigh," (and you're right), but after Sonia sings the first few words, you'll realize it is an insanely catchy, exuberant song that has "breakout" written all over it. Mixing modern elements with twang, "Put It In Your Pocket" is a perfect summer tune, one that finds Sonia's unique gravelly vocals expressing the joys of "living in the moment" and being happy. You will be singing along in no time.

"Kickin' out summer jams
Gettin' turned up
Sittin' on a tan
Gonna let the speakers blow
Put it in your pocket
Big blue sky, golden sun shinin' down heavenly light
Hey can I get it to go
Put it in your pocket"

"Put It In Your Pocket" can be heard on Sirius XM's The Highway as a Highway Find. Do yourself a HUGE favor, listen to the song, purchase it and request it! Help make this the song that puts Sonia Leigh on everyone's radar!

You can purchase the single here.

4.5 Stars

Scottish born folk singer-songwriter Colin Clyne, is set to release his new album The Never Ending Pageant on Fat Hippy Records on July 21st.  The album, produced & engineered by Grammy Award Winning Engineer Alan Sanderson (The Rolling Stones, Burt Bacharach), is a delightful slice of folk and Americana by way of Scotland.

Colin, who was crowned ‘Best Acoustic Act’ at the San Diego Music Awards in 2011 and 2012 (previous winners include Jason Mraz and Jewel) is an artist who is equally comfortable with upbeat folk tunes (“Toast The Happy Times”) as well as songs more melancholy (“Dunnotar Skies”). The lead off track, “Merry Go Round,” as well as “I’d Rather Do,” are pure goodness; they will instantly hook you with their melodies and subtle harmonies. All eleven tracks are well written and touch on themes universal and relatable (love, moving on after a relationship has ended and enjoying life).

And, if you are a lover of the harmonica (and who isn't?), you will be thrilled to know the expressive instrument is well represented here on multiple songs including “Top Of The Mountain,” “Sizzle Not The Steak,” “Playing God” and the title track.

Colin Clyne has made an album that, whether you are in Scotland or the States, you will want to seek out and give a listen.

For more information, visit his official website.

4 Stars

Kenny Chesney offers up a spirited summer tune with his latest release “American Kids.” The song, written by Rodney Clawson, Shane McAnally and Luke Laird, takes all sorts of unique musical turns, including a Sugarland-esque introduction and spoken verse, but somehow it all works and before you know it, you’re bopping along. The catchy hand clap filled chorus is sing along ready and sure to go over well live. The nostalgic lyrics capture a picture of youth with references that will be highly relatable to listeners of a certain generation as well as the current “American Kids.”

Key lyrics: “A little messed up, but we’re all alright”.....aren't we all?


“We were Jesus save me, blue jean baby
Born in the USA
Trailer park truck stop, faded little map dots
New York to LA
We were teenage dreamin’, front seat leanin’
Baby, come give me a kiss
Put me on the cover of the Rolling Stone
Uptown down home American kids”

4 Stars

Joshua Scott Jones, best known as one half of the country duo Steel Magnolia, released his debut solo album, The Healing, on Tuesday, June 3, 2014. The 11-track release is a collection of well written songs that reflect upon his journey over the past few years in an honest, personal and emotional way. Joshua wrote or co-wrote all eleven tracks as well as executive produced the record. He has said, “This has been a long time coming for me,” he said. “I feel like it’s really a chance for my voice to be heard.”

The Healing starts off with “Honk (If You’re Tonky),” but don’t think that this song sets the tone for the remainder of the album. The songs, especially on the back half of the record, really touch an emotional nerve and require one to listen to the lyrics to experience the impact of the songs.

Throughout the album, Joshua’s warm vocals touch on a variety of themes. Love and relationships are the focus of songs such as “City of Angels,” with its subtle fiddle and mandolin, “You & I,” “Rearview” and “Lover Let Me Show You My Heart,” which has a terrific old school country sound.

Piano and fiddle set the mood for “Just How A Heart Breaks” which was written at Cumberland Heights in Nashville, TN, where Jones completed his stay in rehab. “It wasn’t all a waste/’Cause we really know now/Just how a heart breaks.”

Of course there are up tempo numbers too, like the bluesy “Tennessee Blue” and the can’t get it out of your head “Whiskey Anthem” in which a relationship ends and he decides “Life’s too short its not worth the fight anymore/Don’t care what she said gonna paint this town red/Light it up like a star spangled night/Gonna call all my friends/Get lost all weekend/In a whiskey stompin’ goodbye lullaby.”

The album closes with the title track, “The Healing.” A powerful ballad that touches the heart and mind through the atmosphere the melody provides and Joshua’s delivery. “That spark in our eyes/That God was revealing/May the hurt that we’re feeling/Lead to the healing.”

I actually surprised myself by how much I liked this album. Seek out, give a listen and purchase The Healing.

4 Stars

The Healing is available on iTunes and other digital outlets.  To purchase, visit  http://bit.ly/JSJhealing
For more information on Joshua Scott Jones, http://www.joshuascottjones.com

Multi-Award winning UK Country/Americana artist Emma Jane has been performing around Scotland since December 2005. From her first few gigs to her most recent release, the blues, soul and country have all been sources of inspiration in her music.

Those influences are on full display in her newest single from her upcoming album Workhorse. From the pulsating guitar to the thumping drum beats, Emma Jane’s “Run” is an infectious, soulful, bluesy gem that might just wear out your mp3. With its foot stomping rhythm, hand claps (who doesn’t love those!?!?) and spot on vocals, the song tells the story of letting an ex know that revenge is coming for letting her fall “like these cold autumn leaves.”

“Well I’m sitting outside in my rocking chair
With a glass of Jack Daniels and a smell in the air
And I’ve smelt that smell before it’s like sweet revenge
Oh and when that man pulls up in the drive
I’m gonna let loose I’m gonna let fly
And I’ll show him, just how bad and good girl can be
Baby watch out I don’t fall easy
Baby watch out I don’t fall soft
Baby watch out I might be crazy
Oh and crazy is what crazy does” 

You wouldn’t want to be on her bad side, “Run” and pick up this single.

4.5 Stars

For more information and to pre-order Workhorse, visit her official website

Sonia Leigh returns with new music; her first since 2011’s 1978 December. Released independently, Counting Skeletons, draws from Sonia’s varied musical influences to make a cohesive, sonically appealing and diverse EP that melds pop, country and southern rock.

The hit waiting to happen, Dangerous, opens the album. Its old school rock and roll feel immediately grabs you and doesn’t let go. The songs upbeat melody is pared with the story of being with someone who is “a silver lining with bad timing.” “I am redeemed by the grace of the love in your eyes/You’re so kind/I know that it’s wrong to be here/’Cause someone waits for me there/The love of my life”

Missed opportunities and losing the one you love are the focus of the rockin’ Fairytale Dream. “Tell Cinderella that I hope she has a ball/She’ll be dancing like a princess as my teardrops fall.”

She addresses being saved from a bad relationship in Quicksand, and in Fulgurites (yea, I had to look the up the definition) asks a potential lover to stay: “I don’t want you to go home tonight/Please don’t leave this room/It’s magic to be by your side.”

Sonia has the ability to have the listener think about, and question, the meaning of her lyrics, like she does in the title track, Counting Skeletons. With its pounding drums, distorted vocals and slightly eerie tone, Counting Skeletons, is easily the standout track on the EP. I’ll leave its interpretation up to you.

The EP closes out, and slows down, with Alabama. An ode to effect that state (or person?) has on her. “I made a bee line for central standard time/Where I don’t need to dress up to impress/Alabama, you’ve got some kind of charm/Alabama/Those loving arms keep me warm/Every time I fly away a southern wind whispers stay/And I don’t care if it ain’t cool/Alabama, I’m true to you.”

There’s no female voice on radio or otherwise like Sonia Leigh. You’d be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t pick up this EP.

4.5 Stars

Counting Skeletons will be available on iTunes on June 3rd

For more information visit Sonia Leigh's official website

Grammy nominated and platinum-selling country star Jamie O'Neal returns with her first new album in five years, Eternal.

"Eternal is a little different for me," says O'Neal. "I grew up listening and looking up to all these incredible artists who helped pave the way for singers like me. These songs helped shaped me into who I became as a performer. I was already singing some of these songs in my show and just loved the way I could wail on them. Those traditional, big emotional ballads are hard to come by these days, which is why it was such an honor and a challenge to record such great music."

Produced by O'Neal and her engineer/musician husband Rodney Good, Eternal is an eleven song collection that features Jamie's take on country classics. The album opens with a more up tempo, twangy take on "Born To Run" then Jamie lends her unmistakable voice to songs such as "Leavin' On Your Mind" (Patsy Cline), "The Sweetest Thing" (Juice Newton), and "I've Done Enough Dying Today" (The Gatlin Brothers). She adds a female voice, and slows down, Kris Kristofferson's "Help Me Make It Through The Night" and takes on the George Jones and Tammy Wynette classic duet, "Golden Ring," which features Andy Griggs. 

"Wide Awake," the only original song included on the album as a bonus track, was written by O'Neal and her dad, Jimmy Murphy. She says the song is an "ode to all women who have to sleep beside a snoring moose every night." The humorous track is definitely the standout of the album. "He's snoring again and I'm wide awake/It's like a Nascar race being run on his face and the bed starts to tremble and shake/I try to roll him over I kick him with my feet/Hell I gotta wake him up so i can get some sleep."

Eternal is a collection that will definitely be embraced by Jamie's fans and hopefully introduce country classics to a new audience.

Highlights include "Wide Awake," "Just One Time," and "Golden Ring."

4 Stars

It’s been awhile since we heard new music from Sunny Sweeney, but thankfully she’s back…and in a feisty and fun way! Her new single, “Bad Girl Phase,” written by Brandy Clark and Jessie Jo Dillon is a bit of an anthem for women who want to break out of being that “good girl” (even for a little bit) and just have some fun…and most importantly, do it without apologies. The melody provides the swagger and Sunny’s vocals deliver the lyrics with a spunky assuredness.
It's a good one!!





“Gonna line my eyes, I'm gonna paint them black
Gonna lose my red lipstick to a whiskey glass
I want one of those nights that goes on for days
I'm in a bad girl phase
Yeah I know where the good book stands
But right now I just can't love one man
My moral compass is taking a break
I'm in a bad girl phase”

4.5 STARS

The single is currently being played on Sirius XM's The Highway and is available at digital retailers.
It will impact country radio on June 16th.
Her forthcoming album, Provoked, will be available sometime later this year.

Jamie Lynn Spears debut EP The Journey will be released on May 27th. The EP boasts five tracks, including her current well received single “How Could I Want More.” The songs were all co-written by Jamie Lynn along with songwriters including Liz Rose (Taylor Swift, Eli Young Band), Chris Tompkins (Carrie Underwood), Tyler Hayes (Gloriana), Rivers Rutherford (Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley) and Lisa Carver (Reba McEntire, Sugarland).

The banjo infused “Run” kicks off the EP. The song is about getting in the car, taking off and enjoying life because “either way the sun’s gonna come.” The country rocker “Shotgun Wedding” tells the story of a “two bored kids on a Friday night” who discover they’re pregnant "in the ladies room of the BP” which leads Daddy to give his blessing on a shotgun wedding, whether he's ready or not.

“Mandolin Summer Sun” is reminiscent of early Miranda Lambert. It’s the perfect sing along about being free, enjoying life and falling in love. “With that freer than you’ve ever been/Throwing caution to the wind/Praying that it never ends/Mandolin summer sun.”

The piano ballad “Big Bad World” closes out the EP. As on “How Could I Want More,” Jamie’s vocals really shine on this track. Her soft, airy voice never seems to be forcing the lyrics or emotions about a small town girl who is hit with the realities and difficulties of life now that she is in the city without anyone to “remind me who I am.”

The EP is a solid first outing from Jamie Lynn and one that you should not hesitate to pick up.

4.5 stars