Music Reviews

Shaboozey continues to capture that good ol’ country-tinged lightning in a bottle with his latest single, “Good News,” which was released by American Dogwood/Empire in multiple formats on November 15, 2024. Chances are, you just might see and hear Shaboozey perform this hopeful new track as part of his headlining performance during halftime at this Thursday’s Thanksgiving NFL game between the Detroit Lions and the Chicago Bears. The good news is, “Good News” maintains the artist’s winning streak.

During that halftime show, you’ll for sure hear Shaboozey sing his ginormously popular single, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”—929 million spins on Spotify, and counting—which keeps inebriating listeners far and wide, proving that any alleged genre barriers need not apply when a good song is, in fact, actually a great song. The chorus to the multiple-Grammy-nominated “A Bar Song” is beyond infectious, and all the whistling, handclaps, stomps, and fiddle playing surrounding Shaboozey’s resigned yet impassioned lead vocals all come across with even more force and immersive presence in its uplifting Dolby Atmos mix, which can be poured aplenty on Apple Music and other digital outlets.

Speaking of Atmos, the aforementioned “Good News” is best heard in its 360-degree incarnation, which can also be accessed via Apple Music (and elsewhere). I started checking out “Good News” in Atmos using my AirPod Pros before switching to my friendly pair of House of Marley Liberate XLBT headphones, but I then settled into my ever-trusty Eames listening chair for the best listening option of the three—i.e., open-air playback via my floorstanding GoldenEar Technology Triton One loudspeakers.

“Good News” opens with a plaintive acoustic guitar figure being strummed up the middle, albeit slightly back in the mix once Shaboozey’s louder lead vocal enters at the center left before nestling in the direct center quadrant to set the tone. “Man, what a helluva year it’s been,” he reflects, with the guitar accompaniment now directly behind him. Each line of the first verse Shaboozey sings rolls slightly between its center left entry, dead center shift, and center left (slight return). You’ll hear a touch of echo at the end of each line along with some wailing pedal-steel riffs punctuating lines three and four, now with the acoustic guitar spread wider across the soundstage. Percussive snaps ’n’ slaps—likely a pair of drumsticks and/or woodblocks being clapped together—now enter the fray, as does a fiddle line off to the right. None of that takes away from the vocal focus, especially when Shaboozey goes to his lower register for the line, “For the man at the bar confessin’ his sins.” (“Sins” gets his lowest, almost purely guttural tone.)

As soon as Shaboozey starts the “I need some good news” chorus, you feel his vocals soar right into the height channels along with the multilayered background singers, while the multitracked handclaps now get spread wide. The rhyming, extended vowel runs on “shoe-oo-oo-oos” and “blue-oo-oo-oos” are well-chosen for the proper emphasis.

Shaboozey’s leads come back to literal earth for the shorter next verse before heading back into the clouds for the ensuing chorus that, by now, you’re already singing along with, word for word. (Great, infectious songwriters have a knack for getting us to do that, don’t they?) His throaty read on the word “need” leads into a brief wide-pan of the start of the guitar solo before it pulls back to the middle and then goes over to the center right and back again, while those steady handclaps step up to carry the beat across the stage. (And, if you listen really closely, in the background, you just might hear a vocal nod or two to the title of The Lumineers’ best-known song.) Everything drops out for the final line reading—a cool, thoughtful callback to the opening with Shaboozey’s reflective voice (albeit lower in volume this time) and that acoustic guitar, of which you can now hear the fingers sliding on the strings.

Sitting here sippin’ on cold truth, Shaboozey continues to impress. He’s clearly one of 2024’s leading breakout stars who has a long future ahead of him—something that’s echoed/foreshadowed in the title of the album he released back in May 2024, Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going. And, given the ever-unsettling nature of the world around us these days, Shaboozey’s “Good News” is exactly the kind of news we need right now.

“Good News” can be listened to in Dolby Atmos here on Apple Music.