Editor’s Note: Each issue of Good Country, our co-founder Ed Helms will share a handful of good country artists, albums, and songs direct from his own earphones in Ed’s Picks.

When country singer-songwriter and community-builder Luke Bell passed away in 2022, he left an enormous vacuum in the scenes that made him and adored him. But, he left an even larger legacy. His only posthumous album, The King Is Back, was released last week after being lovingly compiled by his mother Carol, sister Jane, and his team, friends, and collaborators – many of whom perform the LP’s 28 Bell-penned songs. It’s a devastating and heartfelt collection that benefits the Luke Bell Memorial Affordable Counseling Program. Learn more and donate here.

Suzy Bogguss is a country artist and singer-songwriter who’s won GRAMMY Awards, CMA Awards, an ACM Award, and has had eight original songs become top 10 hits on the country charts across her career. Now, she’s adding another impressive title to her resumé: Grand Ole Opry Member! Last month, while her longtime friend Kathy Mattea celebrated her own induction into the Opry, Mattea interrupted her performance of “Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses” with Bogguss, Trisha Yearwood, and Terri Clark singing along to surprise Suzy with her own invitation. Congratulations, Suzy! (She’ll be inducted in early 2026.)

We’re celebrating 100 Years of the Grand Ole Opry for our Artist of the Month. Dive into our Opry 100 coverage here.

It would be hard to find a more prolific artist-producer-actor in country these days. Shooter Jennings is everywhere, producing albums for Jake Owen, Charley Crockett, Jeremy Pinnell, and the Turnpike Troubadours this year alone. In addition, he’s reached back into the archive of his outlaw father, Waylon Jennings, to release Songbird, the first in a three-album series of posthumous Waylon releases curated by Shooter. His influence is everywhere in modern country – and we’re glad about that.

Read our brand new feature on Shooter Jennings and the new Waylon project, Songbird, here.

We first heard about Memphian modern blues-Americana family band Southern Avenue way back in 2017 and now, more than eight years later, they’re nominated for a GRAMMY! Their most recent album, Family, dropped in April before gaining the group their second GRAMMY nomination last week for Best Contemporary Blues Album. The band showcases how Memphis, though it’s often overlooked in favor of its nearby music city sisters, produces fascinating, genre-blending roots music dripping with personality.

Read our GC 5+5 interview with Southern Avenue from earlier this year here.

Everyone’s favorite Canadian cowboy recluse is back with more of his signature raw, down-to-earth, and grizzled country & western sound. Memories and Empties, Wall’s first studio release in two years, is out today. Tracked in Nashville at the legendary RCA Studio A with his touring band, Scary Prairie Boys, and production by bandmate Pat Lyons, it’s a stellar collection of traditional, working class, flatland-steeped country that wouldn’t even dare to try getting above its raising. Plus, it celebrates the communities and relationships often obscured or overlooked in songs and recordings that sound like this. Good Country? That’s for damn sure.

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Photo Credits: Luke Bell by Mike Vanata; Suzy Bogguss, Kathy Mattea, and Trisha Yearwood at the Grand Ole Opry by Chris Hollo; Shooter Jennings by Jared Christopher; Southern Avenue by Rory Doyle; Colter Wall by Jake Zielke.