Freshly Squeezed, Vol. 40: Leann Rimes, Simon XO, OMYO & more

Welcome to Freshly Squeezed, a weekly new music playlist: spanning country, pop, EDM and urban, mainstream and other.

We’ve all taken Leann Rimes for granted. She’s always been ahead of the curve. She was 13 at the time of her debut single “Blue,” cut from a Patsy Cline-worn cloth, and she could sing her face off then. But now, she is downright flourishing. I saw her play le poisson rouge in New York City last February, and it was an overwhelming and altogether magical showcase of intense triumph, needled with hard-boiled vulnerability. She curls around her melodies in ways she never has before; her voice has ripened like a fine cabernet. Even songs like “One Way Ticket” has a deeper and richer meaning in her capable hands. She returns today with a scalding reinvention of “How Do I Live,” one of her best enduring hits. Trust us, you’re gonna be knocked off your feet.

Kacey Musgraves has always been another outstanding storyteller, founded on pointed songwriting and observances of small-town living, the music industry and learning to accept her true self. With her third studio record, Golden Hour, she swerves into heavier pop-bent production, but even under the glossy filters of disco (“High Horses”), EDM-like vocoder tricks (“Oh, What a World”) and scratchy but oh-so smooth dream-pop (“Velvet Elvis”), she is rooted in earthy, authentic stories. Her crowning achievement on the new album is “Rainbow,” which was actually written way back in 2013. We are so blessed she held on to this gem. It feels empowering, inspiring and imperative in 2018. “When it rains it pours, but you didn’t even notice / It ain’t raining anymore; it’s hard to breathe when all you know is / The struggle of staying above, the rising water line,” she swoons, wrapping her arms around you. It’s soothing and somehow haunting, acting as a cloak to weather the raging storm; piano comes to her aid, and it might very well be the best song of the year. Don’t @ us.

Of course, our new music playlist is stacked with talent. You’ll find such noise-makers as OMYO, Simon XO, Caitlin Canty, Riley, Erin Rae, Kate Nash, Lindi Ortega, Sigrid, Ashley Mcbryde, SUMif, Great Peacock, Mary Chapin Carpenter, The Shacks, Hayley Kiyoko, Weathers, Handsome Ghost, Jocelyn Alice, Doja Cat, Bohnes and countless others.

In all, we’ve got 50 tunes, from desert-scorched ballads to dirty club jams to frenetic rock numbers, for you to try on for size.

Each playlist will be refreshed every Friday morning. We reserve the right to update anytime during the week, so make sure you bookmark this page.

Take a spin:

Photo Credit: Steven Sebring

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