Concert Review: THE VAMPS, The O2, London

Sometimes life gifts you with unique opportunities, like a ticket to see The Vamps at The O2 the morning of the concert. Well, why not? I’d seen the band a number of times before, but admittedly always ‘by accident’, in that I’d be going to see a different artist and they had been the opening act or special guest, or part of a festival line up. Finally, I had the opportunity to see the band as headliners, so off I went.

One thing I can certainly say, being someone who has spent far more money than I’d care to admit on concert tickets, is that you certainly got value for money with this gig with not one, but three opening acts, plus the headliners themselves. This was practically a mini festival! First of these was boyband :PM, who reminded me somewhat of Oasis with their talk singing style in which their Yorkshire accents could clearly be heard.

They played three rather rocky songs – Grown Ups, Feel Like A Fool, and Driving Me Crazy which I imagined to be the perfect anthems for some of the angstier teens in the audience. I’ve never been in a band, but I can imagine the thrill of getting to play somewhere spectacular like The O2, and so one thing that really shone through for me with this band was their genuine happiness at being there to play for us.

Next up was HRVY, and my goodness, the screams as he came on stage! Admittedly, I could soon see why with his near perfect vocals on a cover of Ed Sheeran’s Perfect. Man, that boy can sing. It turned out he could dance too, and whilst I’m pretty sure some of the songs were lipsynced too (which I don’t have much of a problem with, provided the artist puts on a good show and has proven that they can actually sing – dancing is tough work!), the performance was very enjoyable to watch.

He mentioned that one of his tracks, Personal, had just hit 1 billion views on YouTube, a pretty impressive feat for someone relatively new to the music scene, but it was clear why with the catchy lyrics on this and new track Hasta Luego. The Spanish influence of the latter picked up on the popular trend we see in songs like Camila Cabello’s Havana or Justin Bieber’s Despacito, so no doubt will get stuck in your head the moment you listen to it. If the stars align, HRVY is going to be big. Justin Bieber, and indeed The Vamps, you’d better watch out!

He was followed by New Hope Club, a British three piece that brought home the fact that the tour organisers had done a good job of highlighting homegrown talent, as three of the four acts on the bill were British. I enjoyed their set – they have catchy (albeit repetitive) pop songs that are easy to sing along to, as the crowd happily did; and capture, as young popstars do, the experiences of teenagers and young people today, and no doubt what they listen to. The set was only five songs – Fixed, the ‘Grease’ inspired Tiger Feet, and three new songs Let Me Down Slow, Crazy and Why Oh Why, but it left us all wanting more. Again, another act I see going far.

The next act was the first that I had heard of, and if the screams for HRVY were loud, those for Jacob Sartorius were equally, if not even more, loud. Again, I think he prioritised the performance over the singing as there seemed to be instances of lipsyncing on the more dance-heavy songs (although I cannot say for certain), but we did get to hear him sing on songs like his cover of Lauv’s Like Me Better.

His original songs were certainly for the millennial age with tracks like Hit Me Back, Hang Me Out To Dry and Hit Or Miss about people not replying to your texts or how short the summer holidays are. However, the boy is only 15 and I’m not sure lyrics I would have written at that age would have been much better… Regardless, he got the crowd engaged and hyped up, as any good opening act should do!

We then moved onto the main act, and the screaming continued. Admittedly, I’m more used to more reserved concerts but it was clear that the audience could not wait to see the band, and the energy in the arena was high. As the drums beat for the countdown, I took in the cool staging with a huge screen at the back in front of a marginally slanted stage on which the drum kit sat, and then three microphones on the flat section of the stage. The boys rose from the floor of the stage, and the arena erupted.

We jumped straight into the bands catchy pop anthems like Can’t Get Enough, Last Night and Shades On. With three studio albums already out and another one soon on the way, they certainly had enough songs to choose from. It was clear the ‘oldies but goodies’ were some of the favourites, as their debut single Can We Dance got the whole arena jumping, a trend which continued for most of the night.

It was nice to just have the four band members onstage without an extra backing band, and this gave them the opportunity to really show of their musical skills, slowing this down for a more acoustic version of Middle Of The Night and bringing things up a notch for new track Just My Type. It transpired that they were filming a concert DVD of the night, and so we were treated to a few special guests including Maggie Lindemann for Personal who lead singer Brad invited to the stage for a little ‘dancey-dance’ as he said. We had a quick interlude as Maggie sang her very catchy hit Pretty Girl before the band took a moment to remind everyone of the recent four year anniversary of their debut album.

Indeed, from the opening/guest act I’d seen a number of times, it was nice to see The Vamps had made it to headline tours at The O2, and I enjoyed reminiscing about hearing songs like Wild Heart which they’d played all those years ago and played again at this gig. Their newer music is equally catchy if not a bit more mature like Hair Too Long which had a huge image of Brad in a tuxedo projected on the screen as he sang.

Another special guest came onstage to rapturous applause – Conor Maynard – who fans no doubt recognised from YouTube and covers with The Vamps themselves. Together, they sang a mashup of songs to the tune of Ed Sheeran’s ranging from No Scrubs, Rockabye and Cheap Thrills.

As Brad ran off stage for a quick rest, guitarist James and bassist Connor made their way to the front to play a song chosen by an earlier poll which turned out to be their ballad Risk It All. This was a great moment as concert goers raised their phone lights to the sky, a scene I’m sure made for a great moment in the DVD footage.

Brad returned to the stage to take a moment to hug some contest winners, although they didn’t stay too long and we moved on to some more throwback tracks like Somebody To You and Cecilia to finish up the night. I took my attention away from the stage for a moment to revel in how much other concert goers were enjoying themselves. All around me, people were dancing (even in the steep seats!) and down in the pit, a huge group of people had started a conga line. Music doesn’t really get much better than that.

We finished with a three song encore of Wake Up, Same To You and All Night, all of which were accompanied by impressive pyrotechnics. It had been a great night, and even though here The Vamps were playing The O2, something in the back of my mind said that they were still underrated in some respects. Their music is equally catchy as those by the likes of One Direction and yet they certainly haven’t achieved the same success. Let’s hope that they’ll continue to shoot for the stars, produce great music, and who knows, maybe become a global phenomenon.

I hope you enjoyed today’s review! Make sure to stay up to date with all of my concert reviews and interviews by following me on Twitter @CiarasCountry. Are you a Vamps fan? Which of their songs is your favourite, and was there one you would have loved for them to have played on tour? Let me know in the comments below. Thanks for reading!

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TRAVEL: Riga, Latvia - cathedrals, classic cars and cold weather

It seems that Riga didn’t quite get the message that Spring has arrived, as we stepped off the plane to freezing weather and blustery snow. I’d known that it was due to snow whilst I visited the city, I just hadn’t quite realised that there would already be plenty of snow on the ground when we got there… Normally I’m pretty organised when it comes to packing, but I already knew that I was going to regret not having brought extra layers and a winter coat with me!

We headed down to the bus station where a small minibus heading into town was conveniently waiting for a minimal €2 fare, much much cheaper than anything you’d find taking you from a London airport into town. Once the bus was full (with the driver seeming to play ‘how many people can I fit in the minibus') we headed on our way into Central Riga.

We were dropped close to the Central Station, a very convenient location which was only a short walk to the Old Town where I aimed to pick up a Free Walking Tour (which anyone who reads my blog will know is a must for any city visit for me) in front of St Peter’s Church. We were slightly early for the noon start, so rather than hanging around in the freezing cold, took a quick jaunt around the town before returning back to find someone with a yellow suitcase as the internet instructions had told us.

Our guide for the afternoon was Kasperz, who explained that this was actually an ‘alternative Riga walking tour’ and we wouldn’t be shown around the Old Town, which I hadn’t realised, but didn’t mind as I was sure we would get our fair share of Old Town during the long weekend there. Instead, we headed off first to the Central Market, a group of large disused military warehouses which had been converted into various parts of the market, with each hall holding a different type of market, ranging from dairy, fish, meat and vegetables.

We headed further into the suburbs of Riga, with Kasperz stopping to explain at each stop various parts of Latvian life, including the livelihoods of Rigans, their eating habits and customs, and the influences of various occupations throughout history which had shaped Riga to the city it is today. Kasperz was both humourous and knowledgeable and we were able to see plenty of sights during the 3 hour tour, finishing at the Freedom Monument just in time to see the changing of the guards and tip Kasperz for his insights.

As check in for our Airbnb was at 3pm, and desperate to put our bags down somewhere, we headed back to St Peters Church which was literally right next to the apartment we would be staying in. Always being keen to be frugal on my weekends away (particularly when we were travelling over Easter, when the flights themselves were very expensive), I’d chosen what looked to be a pleasant room located very centrally, which is exactly what ours turned out to be. The room was perfectly pleasant with the only downside being the noise from clubs and bars outside at night, but a good pair of earplugs coupled with early mornings and late nights meant this wasn’t much of an issue during our stay. 

Having dropped our bags, we headed back out into the blizzard to check out the Old Town, admiring St Peters Church, the Cathedral, Riga Castle and its riverside location, the Old City Walls and Swedish Gate, and even the famous Cat House, whose story goes that the owner of the house held a grudge against the nearby house of the Great Guild, and so purposely positioned the cats with their backsides in that direction.

Having walked our socks off, and in need of warming up, we headed to dinner which I had booked earlier in the day (you can never be too careful around busy weekends!) at Zviedru varti, near the Old City Walls. I was glad to have booked as this tiny place looked like it could fill up fairly quickly and so we were whisked upstairs. I opted for traditional potato pancakes with sour cream followed by a yummy pasta and vegetable dish (unsurprisingly one of the few vegetarian options on the menu) whilst my travel buddy chose a sorrel soup followed by perch.

Always one to try local delicacies, I also had a glass of kvass, a rye bread based drink, which tasted exactly as it sounds. Perhaps not something I’d have again, but interesting to taste at least. It was a very pleasant meal, only marred by the fact that I got the feeling the staff wanted us in and out of there as soon as possible, as we were not offered bread as other guests were, and handed the bill even before my friend had finished his meal.

Having had an extremely long day, it was then back to bed before our early start the next morning in order to catch the 7:54 train from the station. Our destination was Sigulda, with a day trip certainly something I would recommend for a long weekend in Latvia (or any other city for that matter). I hear Jurmala is also a good destination if you have even more time!

The scenery changed dramatically as soon as we left Riga, and we rolled through almost endless forest – very pretty in the snow, particularly when one was camped up inside a warm train! This was punctuated with the occasional tiny town with a literal hut serving as the train station. After an hour, we arrived at our destination, which was even more snow-covered than the city we’d left.

We trekked through the snow (difficult to do when wearing Adidas sneakers and not hardy walking boots…) to the Luge and Bobsleigh track which has been the training ground for plenty of Eastern European athletes, including Latvian skeleton racer Martins Dukurs who narrowly missed out on a medal position at this years Winter Olympics, and the Bronze medal winning two-man bobsleigh team. For a small admission fee, we were permitted to head up to the start of the mens track, and even walk down the side of the turns (again not recommended in Adidas sneakers); as well as check out the womens track lower down. There was also a modern bobsleigh outside, which was great fun to take photos in.

We continued on our journey through the snow to two of the towns many castles, which sit next to one another. The modern castle I don’t think is accessible to the public, with its outer grounds now housing a Creative Quarter with a few hip shops. However, the ruined Krimulda Castle is open, and so we passed some time walking around the stone walls and taking photos across the gorgeous valley below us.

Our next stop was the Cable Car which transports passengers across the valley with Gauja National Park stretching out below us. Whilst not the cheapest 5 minute journey (€7 one way) the view is unparalleled and it’s certainly a unique way to get around.

A minutes walk away from the terminal is Krimulda Mansion, which now houses a rehab centre, but guests are allowed to walk around its grounds, admiring the Sun Balconies of what appeared to the guest rooms (ironic given the place was covered in snow). There’s also a conveniently located café called Milly where we stopped for some authentic goulash and a chance to warm up before setting off again.

We then began trekking through the National Park, heading down steps to the valley floor and Gutman’s Cave, the widest and highest cave in the Baltics with inscriptions from the 17^th century etched on the walls. What goes down must come up, and we then began to ascend some more slippy stairs to reach Turaida Castle, which was visible from the other side of the canyon and certainly seemed far away enough.  

Its red brick walls provided an interesting contrast to the grey stone castle on the other side of the river, and the tall tower at the entrance offered stunning 360 views all around. Certainly worth the long walk, particularly given that there was no admission fee (although this may not be the case year round when the rest of the exhibitions are open).

Given that the trains back to Riga were only every 2 hours, I was keen to try and catch the 3:30 back than be stranded at the station for longer than I wanted. With this in mind, we’d heard rumour that there was a bus that would take us back to the first castle we’d visited, and managed to catch it just as it arrived at Krimulda. For a measly 50c, I couldn’t have been happier with the trip back, and even better, it took us directly to the train station, saving us from more traipsing through the cold and snow.

Our train back was older than the one we’d taken on the way there, with a more Soviet style look (and unfortunately not as good heating!) but I enjoyed cruising back through the villages and imagining the lives of their residents. Arriving back in Riga in good time, we made the decision to head up the Panorama Observation Deck housed within the Latvian Academy of Sciences building, which is itself a building building to admire.

A €5 admission got us up to the 16^th floor and its spectacular views of the city and river. From up here, we could see all of the places we’d walked around, from the bridges and market, to the various churches across the city. Plenty to see in a city where there is plenty to do! We headed back to the apartment via the Laima chocolate shop, where I picked up a couple of bars of the brands most recognisable chocolates including the delicious Serenade bar and Sarkana Magone. A must for any visitor to the country!

Dinner was at Riits, a hip joint which served only locally sourced food. My friend opted for a ‘Latvian snacks’ starter with sprats, potato and of course, sour cream, followed by a lamb shank; whilst I chose a lentil based dish for my main and a berry crumble with a heap of whipped cream for dessert.

Whilst a lie-in would have been pleasant, there was yet more to see in Riga on Day 3, and so it was another relatively early start to head back to the train station, but this time to catch a bus. We were headed out of the city to visit Riga’s #1 attraction (according to TripAdvisor) – the Motor Museum. Whilst not a particularly big car enthusiast, I thought why not see what all the hype was about.

Regardless of my indifference towards cars, the bus ride there was in itself interesting as we passed stacks upon stacks of Soviet style apartments, giving a better insight into what lies beyond the city limits. We arrived as the museum was opening (I don’t think I’ve ever been the first person in a museum before) and spent the next two hours walking around.

I have to say, the museum was very interesting and well put together, with 3 floors charting the evolution of the car as a whole, as well as Latvia’s involvement in the motor industry. There were plenty of pretty cars to keep me occupied (I’m sure their mechanics were also noteworthy) as well as interactive sections such as the opportunity to have your photo taken as if part of an army parade and using projections to ‘paint’ a van. Definitely a fun way to spend the morning.

As we were flying out in the evening, I’d booked lunch instead of dinner for us, and so we caught the bus back to the centre. Arriving a bit ahead of schedule, we returned to the Central Market to get a better look at the stalls (although I rushed through the fish market due to the strong smell!) before heading to Milda for lunch. The restaurant had a traditional menu, and we both ended up choosing potato based dishes, him meat filled potatoe skins, and myself cottage cheese filled potato dumplings in a buttery sauce. Given this was to be my last meal in Latvia, I splurged on dessert, a tasty cold bread pudding punctuated with fruit.

With a few hours to kill, we decided to head further afield for the afternoon, first visiting the stunningly beautiful Latvian Orthodox church, with an interior covered in glorious paintings and gold accents, as well as a small shop selling icons and Faberge like eggs with delicate glass churches inside – something I definitely would have considered buying had it not been for the price!

We continued on to the district famous for Art Nouveau buildings, winding our way along streets with pleasant facades before jumping inside the Art Nouveau Museum as the rain began to fall. The museum was unique, with a video downstairs demonstrating the influence of Art Nouveau in the city, and the upstairs kept in its original form as an early 1900s style apartment. In many ways, it was quite like the Stately Homes you can visit through the National Trust or English Heritage back home, and offered an insight into life in the last century.

The rain had only increased in frequency by the time we exited the museum, and not wishing to saturate my backpack and its important contents, I made the executive decision to head to the airport slightly early, conveniently catching one of the city’s airport bound minibuses (again, €2 per trip! Not a chance you’d get that in the UK!) which brought me a different route, this time through the Soviet style and wonderfully named town Zolitudes.

Even better, we drove right past the Riga Aviation Museum, where you could easily see the impressive aircraft through the chainlink fence, ranging from rusty fighter jets to what I have been told is the largest helicopter in the world. Quite the sight, and a nice ending to another pleasant city break!

Tips for visiting Riga: Check the weather forecast! Clearly the city has no qualms about not abiding by seasons, so make sure you know what to expect when you arrive, as we were told that just the weekend before temperatures had been as low as -20’C. Secondly, plan a day trip – there’s plenty to see and do in Riga, but if you want to ‘do Latvia’ it’s worth heading outside. I loved visiting Sigulda and its stunning National Parks, something you wouldn’t discover in the city limits itself. Finally, bring walking boots, both for the weather and the amount of walking you’ll no doubt do. The city is extremely walkable (isn’t that great!) and we definitely cranked up tens of thousands of steps throughout the weekend.

I hope you enjoyed today’s travel blog to Riga! I’d love to know where you recommend visiting if you’ve been to Riga, and what other cities I should visit next – I’m open to anywhere! Make sure to stay tuned for further travel blog excursions either on the blog or via my Twitter @CiarasCountry, and let me know what your 2018 travel plans are too!

Concert Review: NASHVILLE IN CONCERT: THE FAREWELL TOUR, The O2, London

Nashville certainly has a dedicated fanbase. Having ran for many years on the ABC Network, it was announced that the show would be cancelled after 4 seasons. However, the fans wouldn’t let this happen, with the #BringBackNashville petition receiving over 174,000 and encouraging showrunners to find a new home for the series on CMT, where it has run ever since. With a response like this, it’s no surprise that UK fans relished the opportunity to welcome back the cast for farewell shows.

The show began with a video montage lighting up the screens and showing images of last years Nashville In Concert gig at The Royal Albert Hall, which I’m sure many of that night’s attendees had been to. The montage finished with cast members saying “London, let’s get ready to party!” The tone for the night was set and the performers for the tour – Clare Bowen, Chris Carmack, Charles Esten, Jonathan Jackson and Sam Palladio – rushed to the stage for the first song we ever heard on Nashville, Even If It Breaks Your Heart.

The format of the evening involved a rota of each performer taking to the stage to play one or two of their characters (or their own) songs. We started with Jonathan Jackson, who stars as bad boy gone good Avery Barkley who kicked off with the rocky Keep Asking Why. He handed over to Chris Carmack, who plays rising country star Will Lexington, for the sultry I’m On It and What If I Was Willing. I was a big fan of Chris’ style and thought he’d be a great headliner himself, but as the night transpired it became clear that each of these artists could easily hold an entire show on their own.

Chris was joined by Englishman Sam Palladio, aka Gunnar Scott, who received a great welcome home from the crowd. He offered us a behind the scenes insight to life on the show, saying that hands down the best part of being a cast member was the great friendships he’d built over the shows 6 years, such as that with Chris. The duo treated us with a new song from the shows latest and final season, Right Where You Want Me.

This being the farewell tour, Sam took the opportunity to say goodbye to the character he’d dedicated the majority of his career to (and which the crowd seemed to have difficulty distinguishing him, with shouts of ‘Love you Gunnar!’ emanating every so often from the audience) with the touching Adios Old Friend which research tells me was co-written by Brett Eldredge – they certainly had fantastic songwriters throughout the shows history!

The Hell Of It showed off Gunnar’s rockier side, as well as Sam’s musical prowess, as he took a seat at the drum kit for an awesome solo. Again, I was struck by how multitalented these performers were, being actors, singers and musicians who could easily switch from one talk to another. Jonathan returned to the stage for This Old Town and a cover of Simple Minds Belfast Child, the Celtic tones of which I’m sure have gone down very well on the other tour dates this side of the pond.

This was followed by Clare Bowen, the shows Scarlett O’Connor, who burst on to the stage like an ethereal fairy, barefoot in a flowing white dress with feathers in her hair. I liked the fact that we got to see the performers as themselves rather than just their character, with Clare’s stage presence reminding me of Jennifer Nettles, albeit a more introverted version, as she spoke very softly into the microphone. The artists were offered the opportunity to play their own songs, with Clare choosing one from her upcoming album, the joyous Let It Rain, complete with multicoloured tambourine dancing.

Her announcement that she would next sing the haunting Black Roses received tumultuous applause, which only continued throughout her raw performance. She finished with a powerful vibrato, leading to a standing ovation which went on and on, leaving Clare shellshocked on the stage. Before we all start crying, she invited Charles Esten, perhaps Nashville’s most famous character Deacon Claybourne, on for the happy Hand To Hold.

He continues with the first song Deacon ever sang about long time love interest Rayna James, and one of my favourites from the show, Sideshow. It is songs like this that I think show that Nashville did country music proud, representing the genre as one full of meaningful lyrics like this, and so I was pleased to hear this performed live. It is evident as well juts how much these characters mean to their actors, who spoke very fondly of them, treating their stories as their own, as Charles did sitting down at the piano for Good Rain or Jesus.

I enjoyed the sections where the performers came together, with Chris and Sam following this with Don’t Come Easy and the bluesy Moving On Never Felt So Good. Sam continued with one of his own tracks written about his grandfather, who coincidentally met a girl from Nashville whilst in training for the war. The story goes he told her to meet him on the platform of Nashville station as his train rolled through from Pensacola to Edward Island in Canada. Tipping the train conductor to wake him up on time, it transpires that this promise was forgotten as he was woken up at 4am to be told it was too late, a scenario which later inspired Sam to write Wake Me Up In Nashville. Whilst a touching story, Sam put a positive spin on the tearjerker by reminding us that had such a mistake not occurred, he would not be standing there today!

As well as writing songs for their own records, some of their self-penned tracks even made it on to the show, with Sam writing Gunnar’s final song of the series Going Electric highlighting a different version of the character from the one we first met playing slow songs at The Bluebird Café. However, it’s clear that plenty has changed over the course of the series as the next song Go With It comes from Gunnar, Will and Avery’s newly formed band ‘The Lost Highways’ – a trio I doubt any of us would have predicted when we first met their characters.

Jonathan then took the opportunity to surprise us with the good news that he would be returned to London to play Omeara with his band on May 19^th, and I for one would certainly recommend attending, as he offered sneak peeks of songs we might expect like the rocky A Shock To The System, and an absolutely earth shattering rendition of Unchain Melody with such a vocal range as I’d never heard before. In spite of not actually being a song from Nashville, this was a true highlight of the show for me, and many others if the standing ovation is anything to go by.

He was joined again by Clare and Sam for the fun Borrow My Heart before the latter two treated us to perhaps their characters most famous song Fade Into You. There are songs from this show that I know for certain will be listened to again and again for years to come, and this is certainly one of them.

Clare jumped in with another of her own songs Tide Rolls In before declaring she ought to play a pretty song, this time another crowd favourite When The Right One Comes Along, which ended up being another of my highlights from the show.

There was no one better to finish up the show than Charles, who played some of his own songs inspired by Deacon’s relationship with Rayna, including Whisky Lips and the awfully fun He Ain’t Me, as well as the thought-provoking Sanctuary from the show, reminding us of the terrible atrocities that occurred at music events last year and that music itself can provide sanctuary.

The ensemble returned to the stage for their final song, and a more apt song could not have been picked than A Life That’s Good. All in all, I doubt any Nashville fans would have gone away disappointed after such a fun night. Sure, you could argue that there were some notable exceptions to the cast in the forms of Hayden Panettiere, Connie Britton and Lennon & Maisy Stella who would have been welcome additions to the tour, but the variety of voices and characters we heard throughout the night was enough to make any Nashville fan, and indeed any country music fan, proud.

Luckily for us, whilst the live show may be over, there’s still a few more episodes of the series left as well as plenty of soundtracks to keep us occupied. Just listening to the Season 6 Volume 1 soundtrack has me excited for what’s to come from the show, and indeed what we might expect at the Nashville In Concert Revival Tour. I’m ever hopeful!

I hope you enjoyed today's concert review! Are you a Nashville fan? If so, what's been your favourite song of the series? I'll always have a special place in my heart for 'A Life That's Good'! Stay tuned for more concert reviews coming soon, and drop me a follow on Twitter @CiarasCountry to ensure you don't miss any of the latest country music news!

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Top Albums of 2018 (So Far!): Part 1

It feels like it’s been a relatively slow start to the year in terms of album releases, with a few of my picks for my Top Albums of 2018 just released. However, there have been some fantastic albums released over the past few months and I have a hunch that some of the records I’ve listed below will be more than a passing fad… Read on!

Kacey Musgraves – Golden Hour

Why it made the list: If there was one album I’ve been looking forward to for months (although it feels like years), it was undoubtedly Kacey Musgraves Golden Hour. Over the past few months we’ve been treated to single releases in the form of the pleasant Butterflies and ballad-y Space Cowboy which suggested that we had a lot to look forward to. The album certainly didn’t disappoint, and judging by the amount of times I listened to Pageant Material on repeat a few years ago, I think the same will happen with this album. We’re treated to a variety of vibey masterpieces like High Horse and Velvet Elvis with plenty of lyrically beautiful tracks like Oh, What a World and Love Is A Wild Thing. This is the kind of country music I want everyone to hear - certainly one to go down in the books.  

Top Tracks: High Horse, Slow Burn, Wonder Woman 

Ashley McBryde – Girl Going Nowhere

Why it made the list: I was pleased to log on to iTunes this morning and see Ashley McBryde’s new album up in the country charts, right where it belongs. I couldn’t have asked for a better time for this album release, having come across Ashley a few weeks ago at C2C Country 2 Country where she performed a funny and story-filled set with beautiful vocals and catchy songs. Girl Going Nowhere is packed with slow hits like A Little Dive Bar in Dahlonega and Home Sweet Highway to rock tracks like Livin’ Next To Leroy and El Dorado. The album is undoubtedly exemplified in the title track in which she states “I hear the crowd / I look around / And I can’t find an empty chair / Not bad for a girl going nowhere” No doubt that will be truer than ever after this brilliant release.

Top Tracks: American Scandal, Girl Going Nowhere, A Little Dive Bar in Dahlonega  

Danielle Bradbery – I Don’t Believe We’ve Met

Why it made the list: Sure, it’s only four songs long, but Mabelle gives a good indication of what we can expect from country newcomer Seth Ennis over the next few years. Having thoroughly enjoyed Seth’s debut single Woke Up In Nashville, I was interested to see what else he’d come up with. Mabelle is truly a feel-good EP filled with songs about young love (Play It Cool) and losing it (Fast Girl), each of which will have you tapping your toes along to the beat. What’s even more impressive is that Seth co-produced and played all musical parts on the album, so I’ll be interested to see how he uses this on a full-length album. Judging by Sam Hunt’s trajectory to stardom, I wouldn’t be surprised if Seth follows in his footsteps, so make sure you make yourself aware of him before he’s selling out stadiums.

Top Tracks: Woke Up In Nashville, Fast Girl, Think & Drive

Devin Dawson – Dark Horse

Why it made the list: If you haven’t yet heard Devin Dawson’s All On Me, what rock have you been living under? As an avid listener of internet country radio (sadly we don’t have a proper country radio station in the UK yet), I’d been hearing this song everywhere I turned, and my gosh, is it catchy. dDevin’s album doesn’t disappoint with other equally catchy songs like Second to Last and the poppy I Don’t Care Who Sees. There are a few more laidback and reasonably deep tracks like Symptoms and Secondhand Hurt which suggest that Devin is not just a party-anthem singer but with plenty to say about heartbreak, love, and yes, having a good time!

Top Tracks: All On Me, Asking For A Friend, Second To Last

What do you think are the top albums of 2018 so far? Would you agree with my list? Let me know by leaving a comment down below or dropping me a message on Twitter @CiarasCountry – stay tuned for further additions to this series (and check out my suggestions from previous years, also on this blog!) as well as plenty of concert reviews and interviews with your favourite artists!