Consumer Guide Album

Carly Pearce: Hummingbird [Big Machine, 2024]
No matter who wrote 'em, and this Nashville up-and-comer has her name on all but one of these 14 acerbic tales of romantic shortfall, it's my working assumption that a gal whose love affairs fall apart all the time has been dumped or at least dismayed by a po'-faced parade of cads, dogs, and bores. So I was surprised to learn that when her 2019 marriage to newer up-and-comer Michael Ray dissolved, it was Ray who regaled the gossip sheets with plaints claiming his heart got more broke than hers did. Then I listened to his breakthrough Dive Bars and Broken Hearts EP and was struck by how dull not to say corny the songs were compared to his ex's, so maybe it was his ego hurting. If you want to start with what sounds to me like Pearce's sure shots here, try "Truck on Fire" ("So I found a little gas in a small red can/Last strike match flying out of my hand"), or "Woman to Woman" ("Woman to woman take it from me/From Texarkana to Tennessee/Ain't a roadside motel he ain't seen"). Then just play the whole thing. A