Strings, Moroney, Johnny Blue Skies top new releases

Megan Moroney released her sophomore disc, "Am I Okay?" today via Sony Music Nashville/Columbia Records. The release includes "No Caller ID" and "28th of June. Kristian Bush, one half of Sugarland, produced the disc.

"Passage Du Desir" is the debut album from Johnny Blue Skies, who actually is Sturgill Simpson. He had promised to put out five albums under his own name, so adopted a new moniker. High Top Mountain Records (stream/purchase). He produced the disc along with David Ferguson and recorded at Clement House Recording Studio in Nashville and Abbey Road Studios in London, England. The new release contains seven songs.

Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen are back once more with "Hold My Beer, Vol. 4." As they've done on the previous three EPs, Rogers and Bowen wrote and produced "Vol. 4" with the help of co-writers and longtime peers including Wyatt McCubbin, David Lee Murphy, Aaron Raitiere and Jim Beavers.

Steve Earle's live album, "Alone Again (Live)" is out and includes 15 live recordings of some of his greatest hits and hmore performed during his 2023 tour.

Luke Combs buddy Drew Parker, dropped his debut album, "Camouflage Cowboy," today on Warner Nashville. Parker previously released two EPs. The Covington, Ga. native, who wrote Combs' "Doin' This" and "Forever After All," grew up on '90s country titans like Ronnie Dunn, Randy Travis and Alan Jackson.

19 Recordings/BMG Nashville artist Colin Stough is out with the EP, "Lookin' For Home." Stough combines country and Southern rock on the six songs. After learning to play guitar at eight years old, Stough first pursued his artistic dreams at 10, trading childhood possessions for his first guitar at a local pawn shop – an instrument he still plays to this day. After graduating high school, Stough worked full-time as an HVAC technician, before his mother convinced him to audition for American Idol. Impressing judges Luke Bryan, Katy Perry, and Lionel Richie, Stough finished third on Season 21 of the show in 2023.

Dillon James put out his debut EP, "River Dreams," on Universal. He was a contestant on American Idol.

Bob Seger receives the tribute treatment with "Silver Bullet Bluegrass" on Lonesome Day Bluegrass Records. The release contains 13 songs from bluegrass like Larry Cordel ("Night Moves"), Tim Shelton ("Against the Wind" and Gary Nichols ("Turn the Page").

Tray Wellington, whose 2022 full-length debut, "Black Banjo," drew attention, returns with "Detour to the Moon," on Mountain Home Music. The seven-song release contains three banjo-led original instrumentals ("Moon in Motion 1," "Blue Collared Dog and His Green Eyed Friend") with covers of Kid Cudi's megahit, "Pursuit of Happiness," and John Hiatt's "Lift Up Every Stone."