With the CMA Songwriters night virtually only just two weeks away now, the start of the annual Country 2 Country festival at the O2 in London is almost within touching distance. We are going to be producing two articles in this short series, 10 songs to look out for inside the arena and 10 songs to catch on the outside festival stages.
10 Songs to Hear Inside the Arena:
Caylee Hammack – ‘Small Town Hyporcite’
Caylee will be on the ‘Introducing Nashville’ segment of the show with Tyler Braden and Alana Springsteen. If we are lucky she might play ‘Redhead’ but it’s ‘Small Town Hypocrite’ that we would love to hear. A delightful, emotional song that showcases Hammack’s terrific vocals incredibly well.
Lainey Wilson – ‘Road Runner’
Take your pick here! For some it will be ‘Things a Man Outta Know’, for others, ‘Heart Like a Truck’ or even ‘Wait in the Truck’ but for us it’s ‘Road Runner’. Could be the perfect opener should Lainey be looking to start things off with a bang!
Lady A – ‘As Far as You Could’
So. Many. Songs. We. Could. Have. Picked. But it’s Charles Kelley’s recent recent ‘As Far as You Could’ that we’d love to hear echoing around the arenas in London, Dublin and Glasgow. Honest, heartfelt and emotional, it’s where Charles is right now and it would be great to hear him sing the song and to hear the reaction he will get to it.
Thomas Rhett – ‘What’s Your Country Song?’
As one of the writers of Cole Swindell’s hit ‘She Had Me at Heads Carolina’ we’re hoping TR might play this one in his set as well but he hasn’t played the UK since ‘What’s Your Country Song’ was released and we love this clever and anthemic take on the tried and tested method of writing a song composed of titles from other Country songs.
Mitchell Tenpenny – ‘Good Place’
‘Bitches’ will be something of an anthem to hear, ‘We Got History’, Tenpenny’s current single will be cool too but it’s ‘Good Place’ that sets our pulse running with it’s ferocious beats and bombastic chorus. Could be a great opener, just like it is on the album.
Madeline Edwards – ‘Mama, Dolly, Jesus’
There are lots of cool spotlight stage artists getting to showcase their talents inside the arena this year. Elvie Shane, Amanda Shires, Ashley Cooke and Kameron Marlowe (amongst others) will all impress and make new friends but it is Madeline Edwards’ ‘Mama, Dolly, Jesus’ that make make the biggest impression. We think this could be a future number one if and when it gets sent to Country radio. Watch out awards season too.
Jordan Davis – ‘Buy Dirt’
Last year’s CMA ‘Song of the Year’ played across three capital cities? Yes please!!! Davis has some cracking songs on his new album (check out our review of ‘Bluebird Days’ here) like ‘Next Thing You Know’ and the title track too but it’s ‘Buy Dirt’ that everyone will be singing along to.
Morgan Evans – ‘Over For You’
With Kelsea in the UK the week before the festival, she will be playing songs from her new EP which is a direct reply to Morgan’s heartfelt piano ballad so the UK will be right in the middle of the zeitgeist thing that’s going on between them right now. Differences aside, ‘Over For You’ is an amazing song, full of passion and power and will go down a storm on a big arena stage.
Matt Stell – ‘Shut the Truck Up’
We know it’ll be ‘Prayed for You’ that gets a guaranteed play, alongside ‘Everywhere But On’ but we’ve got our fingers crossed that Stell will also air future number one ‘Shut the Truck Up’. Taken from his recent ‘One of Us’ release (our review here) this song is a belter. Anthemic and melodic, ‘Shut the Truck Up’ is our favourite song from that EP and a song destined to dominate the charts if it ever gets sent to radio.
Zac Brown Band – ‘Any Day Now’
Famous for their cover songs and mash ups it will be fascinating to see what the ZBB pull out of their hats for C2C. Alongside classics like ‘Chicken Fried’ and ‘Colder Weather’, we want to hear some songs from their last album, ‘The Comeback’. ‘Slow Burn’ would be cool, ‘Out in the Middle’ will be great in the arena but the song we’d really like to hear is ‘Any Day Now’, which gives us slight ‘Colder Weather’ emotional vibes!
You can grab the last remaining tickets to see the C2C festival right here.
