#3 off 366: I Remember Everything, Zach Bryan feat. Kacey Musgraves

Guys, gals, and non-binary pals, we have the first non-Angie McMahon song on the list!

My relationship with country music started with my parents. They were big into Alabama, Garth Brooks, Tracy Lawrence, George Strait, but also Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Charley Pride, and many other legends. Dad will still bust out into some gospel too from time to time. 

I remember really enjoying “Ghostriders in the Sky” which was the ultimate collaboration of Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson. A country super-group. There’s so much character in those artists, their art, and the stories they tell. 

There’s a popular sect of country music now that does not hold to those tenets, and I am not here for it. 

This song though…there’s something about it that harkens back to that time for me…even though it’s two contemporary artists.

I first stumbled upon Zach Bryan on the track Something in the Orange (also appears on this list!). Zach just sounds AUTHENTIC to me…which harkens back to those country artists above. He seems like he’s cut from the same cloth with what I’ve heard of his catalog. 

“Do you remember that beat down basement couch? I’d sing you my love songs and you’d tell me about, how your Mama ran off and pawned her ring, I remember, I remember everything…”

Bryan is great and a lot of the names I mention above would give him a respectful nod because he has The Sound. We’ll run into him a couple more times in the future.

Musgraves, though, is the star of the song.

This year’s list will have at least this song and her collaboration with Noah Kahan on it. Her voice turned my head when I heard it in this song. Stopped me in my tracks. 

“You’re drinkin’ everything to ease your mind, but when the Hell are you gonna ease mine? You’re like concrete feet in the summer heat, that burns like hell when two soles meet, no you’ll never be the man that you always swore, but I’ll remember you singing in that ’88 Ford…”

For me it’s that beautiful purring coo you can hear in her voice when she sings her version of this upcoming lyric that makes me fall in love with her. Mourning dove vibes.

“Pictures and passin’ time, you only smile like that when you’re drinkin’, I wish I didn’t but I do, remember every moment on the nights with you…”

When they come together and harmonize it is audio magic. So smooth and nice. That’s as simple as I can describe it. Take his rough hewn timber voice and pour her honeyed one over it and they become one. I don’t know what that makes but bees would fucking love it.

Obviously, a song is not just its lyrics. The weaving of the rhythm guitar, strings, and that steady, subdued drum here are so beautifully done that it really makes for an amazing 3 minute, 47 second snapshot into someone’s past relationship complete with nostalgic longing!

This song cannot be the standard that I judge the rest of current country music right? It can’t all be like this. This feels special.

Enjoy, and thanks for reading! Let me know what you think of the song!