The hold that Taylor Swift holds on popular culture is obvious. There hasn’t been a moment this year where her name has been off the front page of every news source across the world. A shame, really, because a new generation of songwriters is slowly taking and innovating on Swift’s music, and if anyone’s ahead of the rest when it comes to shaping these innovations, it’s Baliey Tomkinson. Dubbed the British answer to the country and pop singer by the Daily Mail, Tomkinson’s latest single, “Christmas for Cowboys,” is a slow burning country ballad longing for holidays filled with snow, open spaces and a defiance against the quickened pace of the holidays in cities.
Although Swift is an obvious influence, Tomkinson reveals that the song is actually an old John Denver tune. She called the recording of it “a trip down memory lane,” taking her back to the days when she would listen to old records with her grandfather. The familial atmosphere of the holidays is present on the cut, as it feels like a letter written to a family member or a close friend, honest and real like very little in the world of music today. With more original material coming on the way, expect Bailey Tomkinson’s rendition of “Christmas for Cowboys” to become a new holiday standard.
