All Jessica Lynn changed across the four songs of her new Reimagined EP is everything. There's nowhere for the powerhouse vocalist to hide on each piano-led version of cuts her fans may recognize from previous EPs and full-length albums.

Be the first to listen to Reimagined in full during this exclusive Taste of Country premiere. The set begins with "Not Your Woman," a once-grinning blues shuffle about a no-good cheater. The fully produced version released in 2016 is the kind of song you'd want to hear at the honky-tonk, but this new, nearly five-minute-long recreation is the kind you cry to alone. Lynn shows tremendous patience and range throughout the verses and chorus of the song. It's heartbreaking.

From there comes "Now or Never," once a peppy, Shania-esque pop-rocker that an '80s child would appreciate. Lynn's voice is still sweet, but the words come with a lilt that cradles you to the end. "Pretty" comes next. It's the song most similar to the original recording, but once again, it's only singer and piano on this song. Aside from producer Peter Calamera, she's the only musician listed on the EP's credits.

"Run To" closes the four-song set, and while the pace and emotion are similar to the New Yorker's 2020 original, it's far less cinematic and much more real. The distance between singer and fan is erased by her delicate piano touches and mature vocal performance.

To date, Lynn has found a workmanlike success on American and international stages and created several EPs and a live full-length. The pandemic inspired a slow down and her best, most honest work yet.

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Best Country Albums of 2021 - Critic's Pick

There have been many creative country albums in 2021, but not all have hit the mark. Artists are more than ever toying with distribution methods and packaging as much as they are new sounds, so you get double and triple albums, Part 1 and Part 2, and digital EPs in lieu of a traditional 10 or 11-song release.

The bar for an EP on this list of the best country albums of 2021 is higher than an LP, but one project did crack the Top 10. Too much music proved to dampen other artist's efforts, although Alan Jackson's first album in years was filled with country music we couldn't turn away from. Where Have You Gone has 21 songs, but somehow no filler.

More than ever, this relied on staff opinion and artistic merit to allow for some parity among major label artists and independents. The 10 albums listed below are not ranked, although the year-end list published in the fall will crown a true best album of 2021.

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