Happy New Year!! We trust you had a great holiday season and, like us, are raring to go to see what the world of Country music, the artists and the industry, has in store for us all in 2024? With that in mind we gazed into our crystal balls over the holidays and are now ready to make our predictions for the Country music genre for the coming year.
Obsessional Fans
Reddit gatekeepers will continue to be obsessed with which male singers between Zach Bryan, Koe Wetzel, Warren Zeiders, Cody Jinks and Oliver Anthony are the most real, honest and authentic. The continual arguing and snobbery will mean each one of those artists gets held at arms length by huge swathes of the industry and potential fans alike as they fear to dip their toes into the choppy waters of their music.
Noah Kahan will continue to just do his thing at the intersection of where Pop/Emo/Country and Folk combine and be the easiest of all the new male Gen Z / late millennial artists to get into.
Story Songs
Inspired by the success of songs like ‘Sand in my Boots’ and ‘Wait in the Truck’ there will be a swing back towards story songs in Country music and less meta-referencing of Southern tropes and imagery. It’s time we put the trucks, fishing, beers and smalltowns back in their boxes for a little bit, surely?
Older Artist Success
Both Kenny Chesney and Geroge Strait will release albums this year that will be held up as being as good as anything they’ve ever done, continuing the renaissance begun by Tim McGraw last year.
Who’s the Next Jelly Roll?
Jelly Roll will continue his march towards industry dominace but just like they did when they tried to find another Luke Combs, the record labels will be scouring TikTok in an attempt to cash in on Broken Bow’s success in launching Jelly into the public consciousness.
Are Big Loud the new Big Machine?
Just like Big Machine built their success on the shoulders of Taylor Swift, Big Loud have a huge pile of ‘Wallen money’ to spend and are putting it to good use already, diversifying off into Americana with artists like Charles Wesley Godwin and into the Texan scene by partnering with Miranda Lambert and Jon Randall on the Big Loud Texas imprint. They are opening an office in London at the same time and very much feel like a label going places.
Texan Music in the Ascendency.
Texan music will continue to flourish in its home state but, propelled by the likes of Big Loud and superb artists like Randall King, the Josh Abbott Band and Drake Milligan all releasing new music and touring Europe, the scene will go from strength to strength this year as Country fans look beyond Music Row for a hit of what they like the most. 2024 will be a great year for Texan Country musicians.
The Ebb & Flow
Maren Morris will face a hard year this year after declaring her intention to move away from the Country genre. We can see a ‘The Band Perry scenario’ for her whilst we suspect Kacey Musgraves might make a return with the strongest album of her career and an album more Country sounding than anything she’s done since ‘Pageant Material.’ Her recent appearance with Noah Kahan on ‘She Calls Me Back’ is pure 60s leaning Pop/Folk majesty whilst ‘Don’t Do Me Good’ with Madi Diaz is a haunting Pop track. Both suggest a great year ahead for Musgraves.
Carrie Underwood will continue her gradual falling out of love with the Country genre and the industry around it and will release a Rock album, which will be a thousand times better than Dolly’s recent effort.
Both Jordan Davis and Bailey Zimmerman will continue to evolve and escalate their careers this year. We wouldn’t be surprised if both attracted some attention from fans and platforms outside of the Country world in 2024.
Megan Moroney will follow a ‘Lainey-esque’ path to prominence whilst Lainey herself will release a new album in the fourth quarter of 2024 that outperforms ‘Bell Bottom Country’ in 2025 and is chock-full of chart smashes and Stones-adjacent bangers.
Break Out Artists
Shane Smith and the Saints will build on a very healthy 2023. Expect them to have commercial success and greater name recognition in 2024 as they release a new album and tour the world.
Jackson Dean will release the follow up to his excellent ‘Greenbroke’ debut album in the third or fourth quarter of the year. It will be a a tremendously powerful album that will establish him as a real force to be reckoned with as an artist even if it doesn’t have a great deal of chart / radio heft.
Eric Church, baby!
After years of pushing boundaries and experimenting with his own creativity, Eric Church will come back with a straight-down-the-line Country Rock album a la ‘Chief’ or ‘The Outsiders’. He’ll also pair down his live shows to be a little less experimental and he may even tour by playing albums in their entirety.
Artists to Keep An Eye On
One of these artists will be the next break out artist that the industry adopts in the same way it has Ashley McBryde, Carly Pearce and Megan Moroney in recent years:
Ashley Cooke, Kameron Marlowe, Naomi Cooke Johnson, Tigirlily Gold, Lauren Watkins, Chase Matthew, Chayce Beckham, Conner Smith, Greylan James, Meghan Patrick, Chapel Hart, Wyatt Flores and Carter Faith.
