Lilly Hiatt – “Get This Right” (Stereogum Premiere)

Lilly Hiatt – “Get This Right” (Stereogum Premiere)

East Nashville has become synonymous with artists who are making country music that doesn’t conform to the vending-machine-quality material churned out on the radio, and Lilly Hiatt is the latest desert rose to flourish in that corner of town. Up front let’s get it out of the way that she’s the daughter of the legendary John Hiatt — a musician who, as our Editor-in-Chief Scott says, everyone should be a fan of — but Lilly is fully her own artist. On her second record, Royal Blue, Hiatt tries to wrestle down melancholy, and she loses; the album plays out like a missive from someone who knows she’s pinned to the mat. “Get This Right” finds her meandering through a dead-end relationship, decrying the same old roadblocks and speed bumps in her faintly filtered, chirping twang. “For some reason the beer tastes better in here than at home,” she sings, and anyone who has dreaded returning to reminders of the past will nod their head in agreement and take another sip. This is the soundtrack for when you’re driving nowhere fast, but feeling very zen about it. Listen below.

Royal Blue is out 3/3 via Normaltown Records.

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