8 New Country Songs You Must Hear: Charlie Worsham, Jordyn Shellhart, Conner Smith, Hailey Whitters and More

Collaborations dominate this week's Must-Hear Songs column, as triple-threat singer-songwriter-musician Charlie Worsham teams up with newcomer Jordyn Shellhart, Grammy-nominated The War and Treaty pairing with Wilder Woods, while Kameron Marlowe and Ella Langley exchange vocal harmonies. Conner Smith, who just released his top shelf debut, also teams up with Hailey Whitters on a new track.

Jordyn Shellhart feat. Charlie Worsham, “A Nice Thing to Do”

Labelmates Worsham and Shellhart team up for an important and timely message of civility and civility on this track, setting the scene of a high-powered businessman kicking out an industry fan at a party. “What if your castle ever collapses from under you?” they sing, warning that it is not worth adopting a mode of rudeness, and noting that whether or not the dismissed person ends up being powerful at some point, politeness is still optimal.

Shellhart and Worsham both have friendly, laid-back vocal styles that bubble over the clean, cute pop-country production. Shellhart wrote the song with Cameron Jaymes, with Jaymes producing.

Wyatt Flores, “Milwaukee”

Even before his EP was released life lessons“West of Tulsa” singer Wyatt Flores has demonstrated his ability to handle musical prose and blend it with a graceful country-rock style that frames a charismatic voice.

In his latest, which Flores wrote with Graham Barham, Gavin Lucas and Cole Miracle, violin and guitar drive this piece that depicts a terrifying moment of breaking into the realization that he should try to get a lover to come back, but it doesn't. “You can hate my eyes for watching you go/ Hate my feet for having to chase you,” he sings. Along with his new project, he also recently made his Grand Ole Opry debut and is opening shows for Charles Wesley Godwin at the Ryman Auditorium as he steadily continues his impressive rise to stardom.

Cameron Marlowe and Ella Langley, “Strangers”

Langley and Marlowe provide a powerful vocal pairing here, with each singer's octave-jumping talents pushing the other into ever-increasing moments of tension. A moody, waltz-like rhythm heightens the tensions here, as the song depicts two lovers caught in the gray area between friends, lovers, or strangers—knowing that their emotions are too high for either of those categories to adequately encompass the emotions and their story. As they put it, “There's too much love, there's too much anger.” Langley and Marlowe wrote “Strangers” with Will Bundy and Chase McGill.

Conner Smith feat. Hailey Whitters, “Roulette in the Heart”

Nashville native Conner Smith has a top 15 Country Airplay hit with “Creek Will Rise” and just released his stellar body of work Smoky Mountains. The album features this collaboration with “Everything She Ain't” creator Hailey Whitters — a collaboration that further cements his place as one of country music's most promising newcomers. Written by Smith with Jessi Alexander, Chase McGill and Mark Trussell, this stirring mid-tempo piece tells the story of a couple caught in a hot-and-cold relationship. “You're trying to love me, you're trying to kill me/ every night's a shot in the dark,” they sing, though it's clear no resolution is coming quickly. His crackling woodcuts match her airy, bright twang.

Corey Kent, “This Heart”

Breakdown, crunchy guitars and slick production collide as he blames his latest emotional pain on his heart, wishing he could stop the pain from leaking out. “I'd tear it up, girl, if I didn't need it,” he sings, his pleading tenor both cursed and sonorous. A team of radio hit singers is behind it, written by Thomas Archer, Blake Bollinger, Jacob Hackworth and Michael Tyler.

Kylie Frey, “Miss Thang”

Frey was recently honored as one of CMT's Next Women of Country, and the Louisiana native offers plenty of reason for the distinction with her latest release. This rolling barn of a track is a lyrical concoction, but it rocks with street percussion and searing violin. Frey, a third-generation rodeo gal, sings with a strong dose of charismatic twang.

Wilder Woods Feat. The War and the Treaty, “Be Yourself”

Singer-songwriter Bear Rinehart, aka Wilder Woods, teams up with Grammy-nominated duo The War and Treaty for a new version of this song from Woods' 2023 album Fever/Heaven, resulting in this wonderful soul-Americana collaboration. The affirming, inspirational anthem of acceptance embodied in this song begs to be sung by top-caliber talent – the kind that Woods and The War and Treaty bring to the table – and they don't disappoint.

Sammy Arriaga, “The Boat“

Miami native Arriaga confronts a difficult but necessary conversation head-on in this ballad, which details the back-and-forth between father and son, determining which siblings will inherit certain possessions after the father's death. Written by Arriaga with Devin Barker and Emma Lynn White, the song quickly dispels any notion that mere natural objects are the focus of conversation, as the son makes it clear that all those days spent with his father fishing on their boat it was never really about casting lines and reeling in a good catch. A sensational, solid release here from Arriaga.