Here & Now

“I Could Dance With You,” the anthemic opening track from country artist Aleyce Simmonds’ fourth album, has an uplifting message of love and loyalty, but there’s a sad story behind the words of inspiration. On her first date with her now-partner, Simmonds’ prospective paramour told her his dad was battling a particularly aggressive variant of leukemia, and she wrote the song as her way of telling him she’d stick by his side. As well as “I Could Dance With You,” Here & Now has its share of big, stadium-ready songs, all helmed by Simmonds’ attention-grabbing voice, which has been her calling card since she began performing in her hometown of Tamworth—the country music capital of Australia—in her teens. It’s testament to the regard in which Simmonds is held that she’s able to call on two stalwarts of Australian country to duet with her—homegrown legend John Williamson on “Three Sons” and Geelong’s Adam Harvey on “Bottle Set Me Free,” a bluesy honky-tonk paean to alcohol.