Watch New Music Videos From Cole Swindell, American Aquarium and More
From the folky to the rock-and-roll-flavored, there's something for everyone in this week's roundup of new country music videos. Which one is your favorite?
Cole Swindell, "Break Up in the End"
To accompany his quietly emotional heartbreak ballad "Break Up in the End," Cole Swindell has released a music video that is just as minimalist, and just as intimate. The camera follows a relationship in reverse, beginning with a woman driving away from a house and following her backwards through fights into better times, the happier moments of a relationship, and finally, to the night the couple first meets at a bar. "I'd do it over and over and over again / Even though we break up in the end," Swindell sings in the closing shot, which shows him standing in front of the bar, about to walk in. The video reflects a relationship that continues to have been worth it, even in hindsight, with the knowledge that it ultimately won't work. -- CL
American Aquarium, "Tough Folks"
American Aquarium rocks it in hard in a new music video for their song, "Tough Folks." With a Green-Day-meets-Bruce-Springsteen sound, the new iteration of the five piece band plays the bootstrap anthem against the post-apocalyptic setting of an abandoned racetrack in North Carolina. "Tough Folks" is the first single that BJ Barham and his new entourage have released off their upcoming album Things Change. The empty chairs and deserted concessions stands strewn across the racetrack provide a fitting backdrop for the song's message: The music preservers, even after the good times have faded. "Tough times don't last, but tough folks do," Barham sings, as proof that after the amicable breakup of his original band last year, he now has a new chance to start from scratch. -- LS
Josh Abbott Band, "Girl Down in Texas"
The Josh Abbott Band is well known for their Texas pride, and the new music video for "A Girl Down In Texas" is a showcase of everything they love about their home state. Starring Instagram personality and native Texan Emily Herren, the video follows her through some of the Lone Star State's best known spots. They hit San Antonio's Riverwalk, 6th Street in Austin, and a few more intimate places. The tune is off of JAB's latest album Until My Voice Goes Out. -- LS
Joan Baez, "The President Sang Amazing Grace"
Folk music legend Joan Baez has released a powerful music video for the song "The President Sang Amazing Grace," a poignant and moving tribute following the tragic church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015.
“I was driving when I heard ‘The President Sang Amazing Grace,’” Baez said in an interview with The Atlantic, “and I had to pull over to make sure I heard whose song it was because I knew I had to sing it.” Animated by Jeffery Scher, the video retells the story of Barack Obamas performance of "Amazing Grace" at the memorial service for the victims of the Charleston shooting, when people of all races and walks of life came together to mourn the senseless deaths.
“[When Barack] Obama sang ‘Amazing Grace’ at the service for the Charleston Church shooting victims, it was deeply moving,” Scher recounted to The Atlantic. “Somehow Obama, with his humble singing voice, turned grief into grace. With humility, compassion, and a two-hundred-year-old hymn, he made us feel that the evil deeds of a sick individual could not shake the bonds of our common humanity.” The song is included on 77-year-old Baez' latest album, released in March of this year, Whistle Down the Wind. -- LS