3 Country Songs That Bridge Old Nashville and New Nashville

There are many new traditionalists floating around Nashville. These artists take sounds from country history and bring them into the modern era. They are helping to build a bridge from where the genre has been to where it’s going now. Below, find three of the biggest artists today who fancy themselves traditionalists in the country space and their top songs.

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“I Never Lie” — Zach Top

Zach Top is one of the fastest rising neo-traditionalists in the country scene today. He earns frequent comparisons to Alan Jackson or Keith Whitley, putting him on a straight path to the top of the country mountain. His voice is a carbon copy of the 80s and 90s, bringing in nostalgic flavor to the modern charts.

The country singer has many songs that could fit comfortably on this list, but we’re focused on one of his biggest, “I Never Lie.” This mid-tempo ballad takes its time setting up the bittersweet joke in the chorus. The singer rattles off some lies about how well he’s doing post-breakup, only to reveal the kicker: “I wish I could say I miss you / But you know I never lie.” If you heard the songwriting in this song and didn’t know the artist performing it, you’d likely think this was a song from several decades ago instead of a modern favorite.

“In Dreams” — Sierra Ferrell

Sierra Ferrell looks way back for her music. The West Virginia native borrows elements of traditional folk. While Top’s music dates back only a few decades, Ferrell’s lives in the 20s or 30s. Her breakout hit, “In Dreams,” is retro country magic. Listeners instantly locked onto it because of how in tune it was with the earliest country traditions.

Ferrell uses her singular set of vintage inspirations to deliver a catalog that stands very far apart from her peers’. No one else is peddling the exact same sense of traditionalism that Ferrell has made a name for.

“Heart Like A Truck” — Lainey Wilson

Though there is much that is contemporary about Lainey Wilson, her vocals and stage presence call to mind icons from the 90s. While so much of modern country is borrowing pop influences and shedding its titular twang, Wilson is laying it on thick. It’s that kind of unabashed country-ism that has made her such a force in the genre.

Wilson isn’t the most traditionalist out of any country artist playing today, but she does borrow elements from a time when country was country, no genre-blending required. Her name-making track, “Heart Like A Truck,” is indicative of that.

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