Nashville Notes: Dwight Yoakam’s ‘Brighter Days’ + new tunes from Restless Road and Payton Smith

Dwight Yoakam has returned with his first album in nine years, Brighter Days. The 14-track project features three covers, including The Carter Family‘s “Keeping On the Sunny Side.”

Rising singer/songwriter Payton Smith has released a new track, “Camouflage Town.” Though he didn’t write it, Payton says its storyline is very much autobiographical. “When I listened to the lyrics of this song, I knew without a doubt this song represented the way I grew up as well as so many others. Lines like ‘might be what you wear to work or church’ or ‘hunting boots ‘tween the cab and the toolbox’ and so many other images painted a small town in the coolest way and I knew I had found that song,” the Louisiana native says.

Country trio Restless Road has dropped “Done It By Now,” their first new release since their 2023 debut album, Last Rodeo. “This song was something we knew we had to record from the moment we heard it. Everyone has had an experience of wishing to find a way to move on from an old love and get rid of the hard memories that come with goodbyes,” the group shares. “We hope our listeners resonate with the idea that if it was easy, ‘we would have done it by now.'”

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