Clover County - “Glass & Gold”

SXSW 2024 - OEB Score: 8; Popularity Index: 2

Pairs Well With…The Weather Station, Jenny Lewis, Aldous Harding

An emerging artist from Athens, Georgia, Clover County deals in soft alt-country palettes, adding threads of rock and pop into a warm, moving sound. More traditionalist than progressive, her songs start with a voice and guitar, adding Americana accents to give her balladry extra depth. Clover County has a light voice to match, raw and understated while still finding hooks in her choruses. She has two proper singles out so far, “Outlaw” and “Glass & Gold”, both minimal overall, but this isn’t just coffeehouse fare given the strength of Clover County’s songwriting balancing personal and relatable, back-porch and bedroom folk. She goes for beauty over grit on these introductory tracks and it pays off, finding patience and space in what could otherwise be a throwback space. She’s a new joiner to the folk/country world, so SXSW is a chance to see the rest of her early catalog and pick up on an artist starting well from note one. (Kevin McStravick)