September 28th, 2015

These songs have been on repeat for me lately, and I would like to introduce you guys to some of my favorite songs that aren’t on the radio… yet!

Kip Moore, “Running For You”

“If the light starts fading / Baby don’t move / Just say my name, stay right there / I’ll come running for you.” 

If you haven’t gotten Kip’s sophomore album, Wild Ones, yet… you are seriously missing out on some quality music. This album is so raw and full of so much passion that nearly every song gives me goosebumps. I’ve been a fan of Kip since 2011, before most people had any idea of who he was. Albeit the entire CD is on point, the song that I have to play twice every time that the album cycles through is track #12, Running For You. Written with Blair Daly and Troy Verges, Kip explains, “The melody came to me I was with Troy Verges and Blair Daly, and I said, ‘I got this thing.’ We just kinda wrote a song about when you really care about somebody, you wanna see ’em shine and you wanna see ’em go grab what they’re after.”  Kip… I hope one day some man sings (or plays) me this song when I pack up and head to Nashville after my own dreams…

Old Dominion, “Snapback”

“Those stars need to be wished on / Your skin needs to be kissed on”

I was literally hooked on this song from the first verse… it’s not your ordinary “Top 40” country song… and that freshness and new sound is what is going to take it to the top. No doubt this song from their upcoming Meat and Candy album is going to reach #1. The upbeat and fun tempo and killer lyrics drew me in right away! My favorite line from the song? “We got the beat, let’s drop it.”… just the way Matt sings it! This song makes me SMILE SO BIG! I just love a song that makes me break out in a huge grin! Snapback was written by Matthew Ramsey, Trevor Rosen and Brad Tursi, who are actually 3 of the 5 members of the band.

Kelsea Ballerini, “Secondhand Smoke”

“Am I the product of a problem that I couldn’t change?/Got his eyes, got her hair, so do I get their mistakes?”

This is the most powerful song on Kelsea’s debut album, The First Time. I have been passionate about this song since I first got the CD in June. Secondhand Smoke is a deeply personal song for Kelsea, as it tells the story of her parents divorce. You can hear the raw emotion in every verse. She penned this tune with Josh Kerr and Jordyn Shellhart and they actually came up with the title for the song before the lyrics were written! “Immediately, I thought it could be a story of being in a household that’s broken and that’s all you know, but you decide that you’re not going to feel like that,” Kelsea tells Rolling Stone. Kelsea hopes she can be a voice of comfort for kids who are going through a similar divorce situation like she did as a preteen.