OOPS! Top 50 of 2025: #40-36: Old School Country Revival, Civil Rights Icon and Drinks

The OOPS! list never sleeps…we keep pushing forward. There are some big names in this block and some artists who have been on top 50 and OOPS! lists in the past. There are also a number of genres represented with some great country. So, let’s get into it.

40. Barker: Reframing

Barker’s new track comes off as a electronic construction inspired by Philip Glass. Not a bad inspiration for an instrumental. What Barker’s track does so well is take disparate electronic sounds, synth lines and percussion and weave them together to create a lush landscape. Much like how Glass can take two notes and construct an entire movement, Barker is able to bring these fragments of music into a beautiful whole…much like a stained glass window, these glittering shards of music combine to form a wonderful picture.

39. Colter Wall: Memories and Empties

Country music is in a really cool place. There are artists reinventing the genre and pushing it forward, which we will look at later in the OOPS! list, and artists harkening back to the romantic country of the 50s and 60s. Orville Peck is one of those romantic throwbacks and Colter Wall is the other. He sounds like he’s 104 and lives out of a sleeping bag in Montana, but this modern artist is going back to traditional country, which was based on the blues and soul. Memories and Empties leans into the blues as Colter sings about drinking yourself into oblivion in order to forget painful memories of the past…ahhh…it’s great to have a classic country track.

38. Cleo Reed: Salt n’ Lime

Remember when I talked about artists pushing country music in the previous entry? Well, Cleo Reed is here for you. A country twang mixed with soulful R&B, but with a bit of slide guitar and taking head on a variety of social ills. Cleo sings about looking for the American dream in the haze of riots and racism. She asks where is the grass greener and if the American dream is doomed? But, before we tackle that, let’s get some limes and have some drinks. This is a complex song about media, America, racism and finding your way (your “black queer ass”) in a nation defined by white cis men. I love the different levels of this track.

37. Castle Rat: Wizard

Nothing is more OOPS! list than a band named Castle Rat with a woman in a bikini with a crown and a sword riding a unicorn. This has everything. Castle Rat’s sound lives in that period in the mid to late 70s where metal and prog kind of crossed over into this land of high concept fantasy inspired metal. Blazing guitar riffs, fuzzy bass and high octane vocals from front woman Riley Pinkerton (a.k.a. the Rat Queen) are mixed with fantasy tropes. This is some excellent musicality and I love the theatrical nature of Castle Rat…so get your D20s ready and crank it up to 11.

36. Mavis Staples: Chicago

Mavis Staples is an icon of music and has her roots firmly in gospel and blues. Chicago leans on both of these genres as Mavins sings about moving to Chicago for a better life. This also harkens back to her civil rights music about society and the bravery to stnad up and make a new life for yourself. Her powerful and soulful voice is something to behold and this track is an excellent example of how she can bring it singing the blues. I love that Mavis Staples is still making music and we can all continue to learn from her.

We are marching on and the OOPS! list keeps going. Next we will look at a previous producer for Mavis Staples, some new hip hop artists and some hip hop royalty.