Classic Rewind: Rosanne Cash and Rodney Crowell – ‘No Memories Hangin’ Round’

A 1988 concert version of Rosanne’s first hit, with Rodney Crowell taking Bobby Bare’s place as her duet partner:

Single Review: Scotty McCreery – ‘The Trouble With Girls’

The 17 year old won American Idol earlier this year and seems set fair for a big career. His debut single was a rather bad song which nonetheless won him some early radio play in an encouraging sign for his career. I ended the Idol run as unsure about Scotty’s true quality as an artist, and readiness for success, as I began it, but this new, and much better, single heralds a debut album which has been rush-recorded over the summer and is out next month.

Scotty’s voice impresses me more than ever before especially on the verses, displaying some classic country inflections. The song itself, a gentle ballad with an attractive melody about the distracting prettiness of girls (entirely age-appropriate for a teenage boy’s preoccupation) written by Philip White and Chris Tompkins, is harmlessly insubstantial, and will play inoffensively in the background making it a perfect radio song to be forgotten within minutes. But the vocal, especially in the early part of the record, is worth hearing and demands better material.

The production starts out attractively low-key, but builds unnecessarily to a massed set of strings which overwhelm a modest song, perhaps with the intent that what is obviously a genuine country voice does not sound too traditional for radio. However, I think they went too far in that direction, considering the recent success that Easton Corbin has managed with a more traditional based production.

With the votes Scotty gained on Idol signalling a significant fanbase, he should have no difficulty selling his album in high numbers, regardless of its quality. This single has a few too many compromises with radio tastes for me to truly like it, but it definitely shows that he really does have a voice, and great potential for the future once he has matured a little and found more substantial material and sympathetic production.

Grade: B

Listen here.