Eric Church

Eric Church pours the wordplay on thick right out of the gate with his 2015 LP, Mr. Misunderstood — a great collection of songs that pay homage to classic country (the title track), soul (“Mistress Names Music”) and hook-laden pop-rock (“Knives of New Orleans”). Most notable is the album’s centerpiece and lead single “Record Year,” a dizzyingly self-referential slab of perfect pop-country: “Keeping this turntable spinning / Everything from Jones to Jennings / Slowly planning my survival / In a three foot stack of vinyl.” It’s a moving ode to the perennial cure for heartache: good music.

Maren Morris

Like Taylor Swift before her, Maren Morris has managed to synthesize the best aspects of modern pop with a deep-seated country sensibility. The budding star burst onto the scene with last year’s Hero, a precocious and relentlessly catchy debut that alludes to a staggering — if still slightly undeveloped — talent. Hero’s lead single “My Church” is a thundering tribute to country’s most storied forebears: “When Hank brings the sermon / And Cash leads the choir / It gets my cold, cold heart burning / Hotter than a ring of fire.”