Sturgill Simpson, Beyonce Highlight 2016’s Best Country Songs: Ram Report
Rolling Stone Country has released its annual list of the year’s best songs and the 2016 installment includes a number of collaborations. Dierks Bentley and Elle King’s “Different for Girls,” a Number One country single and a CMA Award winner, ranked high on the list, along with Chris Young and Cassadee Pope’s multi-week Number One “Think of You.”
The most head-turning entry, however, is Beyoncé and the Dixie Chicks‘ “Daddy Lessons,” a rootsy take on the track off Beyoncé’s heralded Lemonade album. The version highlighted on the Best Country Songs list was recorded around the time of the artists’ polarizing performance on the CMA Awards.
Other entries came from outside the mainstream country world: Americana singer-songwriter Jamie Kent’s nod to the U.S. melting pot “All American Mutt”; Parker Millsap’s poignant coming-out tale “Heaven Sent”; and Drive-By Truckers’ blunt look at racial injustice, “What It Means.”
Sturgill Simpson also crossed both genres, landing at Number 13 on the list, with “Call to Arms,” the raucous battle cry that closes out his Grammy-nominated album A Sailor’s Guide to Earth.
See the full list of the year’s 25 best country songs here.