The year 2020 was an odd one for the world, but the year certainly had plenty of great music. These four country songs all came out in 2020 and have sadly already been forgotten, even though they are really, really good.
Videos by American Songwriter
“Starting Over” by Chris Stapleton
“Starting Over” is the title track of Chris Stapleton’s fourth studio album. Written by Stapleton and Mike Henderson, the song is about being given a chance to start over and celebrating the joys of trying something new.
“Starting Over” says, “And it don’t matter to me / Wherever we are is where I wanna be / And honey, for once in our life / Let’s take our chances and roll the dice / I can be your lucky penny / You can be my four-leaf clover / Starting over.”
Stapleton and Henderson wrote “Starting Over” years before Stapleton put it on one of his albums.
“As you do with songs sometimes, you write them, and pull it back out,” Stapleton tells NPR. “You listen to it, and maybe it means something else in a different time, which is beautiful. That’s what actually gives it life to me.”
“The Good Ones” by Gabby Barrett
“The Good Ones” is Gabby Barrett’s second single, and her second No. 1 hit. Part of her freshman Goldmine album, Barrett penned the song with Zach Kale, Emily Landis, and Jim McCormick. The song is inspired by Barrett’s real-life husband, Cade Foehner, whom she met while they were both competing on American Idol.
“I had just been thinking of when we were dating,” Barrett tells The Boot. “At the time during American Idol, people in my family would ask me, ‘How’s your boyfriend doing?”‘And I’d be like, ‘Oh, he’s good. He’s a good one. He’s a keeper.’
“What I’m Leaving For” by Lady A
If there’s a classic case of right song, wrong time, it’s Lady A’s “What I’m Leaving For”. Written by Sam Ellis, Lauren Veltz, and Micah Premnath, the song is about saying goodbye to the ones you love to pursue your passion.
“What I’m Leaving For” says, “Take a look at our little paradise / It ain’t much but baby, you and I / Picked the right stars, made the right wish / Ain’t nothing out there like this / And it kills me that I gotta go / Couldn’t do it if I didn’t know / That every time I’m walking out that door / You know what I’m leaving for.”
“What I’m Leaving For” was just beginning its ascent up the charts when the world shut down. They followed “What I’m Leaving For” with “Champagne Night”, which became a No. 1 hit for them.
“One Margarita” by Luke Bryan
“One Margarita” is not only a great Luke Bryan song, but it’s a great video as well. Michael Carter, Josh Thompson, and Matt Dragstrem penned this song, which is on Bryan’s Born Here, Live Here, Die Here record.
The video for the feel-good, party track was filmed at Bryan’s 2020 Crash My Playa event. In addition to Bryan, his wife Caroline and mother LeClaire appear in the video, along with members of Old Dominion, Lady A’s Charles Kelley, Caylee Hammack, and more.
Photo by Astrida Valigorsky/WireImage
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