No. 175 · Jul 8New York · London · Berlin
Original
Music Review
Honest reviews · since 2019
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Byline · Country, Americana, alt-country, bluegrass

Hank Cobb.

Hank Cobb writes from Nashville about country, Americana, and the alt-country fringe. He has an unforgiving ear for clichés and a soft spot for songwriters who can earn the small images.

Reviews
11
Editor's picks
0
Avg. score
8.5
Three chords and the truth — but the truth is the hard part.

Reviews by Hank Cobb

11 reviews

HuneyFire Big Girl Money

“Big Girl Money” is a polished contemporary country-pop single from HuneyFire, the mother-daughter Afro-Latina duo, built on a loaded idea: financial independence as the surest kind of self-respect. The empowerment theme is well-traveled country-pop ground, but what carries this one isn’t the message — it’s the harmony. When the second and third female voices fold in on the title hook, the song stops being a statement and becomes a family agreeing on the figure, two generations landing on the same number at the same instant.

By Hank Cobb8.0

Neko Case Destination

The opener to Neon Grey Midnight Green is a chamber-scaled alt-country ballad that grieves a string of lost friends by reframing a person as the place you were always heading — vivid, mythic, and unmistakably hers.

By Hank Cobb8.6
Single · Country

Hailey Whitters Casseroles

A quietly devastating country ballad that skips the funeral for the worse part — the silence after the dishes are returned and the world expects you to be fine. Whitters earns its small image instead of leaning on it.

By Hank Cobb8.7

Jamie O’Neal There Is No Arizona

Jamie O’Neal’s “There Is No Arizona” remains a masterclass in country-pop storytelling: a breakup song built not around a fight, but around the slow death of belief. With its desert imagery, aching vocal restraint, and devastating central metaphor, the track turns Arizona into something bigger than a place. It becomes a promise, a fantasy, and eventually, the proof that the person she was waiting for was never really coming back.

By Hank Cobb9.0