Country music from a fan's point of view since 2008
It looks as if Trace Adkins’ mainstream career is over, with his recent move from Show Dog Universal to Wheelhouse Records (a Broken Bow imprint). One never knows quite what to expect from Trace, and the music here covers the spectrum.
The first couple of singles for the label flopped, and deservedly so, as they are not very good. The first of these, ‘Jesus And Jones’, was almost a hit, peaking at #41. The song itself is actually solid, with its acceptance of maturity as a hellraiser torn between drinking and church realizes he needs to find a balance, but the production throws in too many bells and whistles aimed at contemporary “country” radio, and ends up muffling the song’s strengths.
‘Lit’, which failed to chart, is plain terrible, with cliché’d lyrics typical of Trace’s worst work, non-existent melody and loud, loud production with intrusive elements. It was cowritten by the album’s producer Mickey Jack Cones, perhaps no coincidence. ‘Country Boy Problems’ is awful in all the same ways lyrically and melodically, with a bit of cynical banjo thrown in. Opener ‘Ain’t Just The Whiskey Talkin’’ isn’t quite as bad, but is still cliché’d and too loud/cluttered.
Thankfully, his latest single (reviewed here by Razor X) is infinitely better. The song, written by Matt Jenkins, Trevor Rosen and Shane McAnally, is set to a gentle, attractive melody. Trace’s deep, warm voice is perfect for the song’s quiet reflection, and is well served by the understated production – the only song on the album for which this holds true. This is Trace Adkins at his best.
There are some other good songs here, despite the bombastic production. ‘Still A Soldier’, written by Phil O’Donnell and Wade Kirby, is a sympathetic portrait of a veteran who still bleeds red, white and blue despite his retirement to suburban civilian life; this is only a little over-produced. ‘Whippoorwills And Freight Trains’, another O’Donnell co-write, is a good mid-paced song about getting past a spell of loneliness. Trace gets to exercise the very lowest parts of his deep bass-baritone voice at the end of the song; but the production is too busy, and the song would be more effective with a more stripped down or traditional country production.
Two themes dominate the album, both adult in different ways. One is that of maturity; the other is a leaning to rather sexy songs. The best of the latter is the title track, which has a seductive melody and vocal, although it isn’t all that country. ‘I’m Gone’, written by Craig Campbell and Max T Barnes , isn’t too bad. ‘If Only You Were Lonely’ is muffled by the production. ‘Gonna Make You Miss Me’ is far too busy with irritating electronic intrusions. Both would be much better with different production choices.
The album closes with ‘Hang’, a pleasant if not ground-breaking tune about quiet downtime in the countryside which Trace’s vocal renders likeable despite busy production.
Next time around, Trace needs to ditch this producer and play to his strengths. This project is disappointing, especially given the long wait.
Grade: C+
I never know what to expect from Trace Adkins these days. I’m hard pressed to think of another example of such a talented vocalist whose musical output is so wildly inconsistent. Love Will, his latest effort, while not quite a return to his traditional roots, at least avoids obnoxious songs in the vein of “Chrome”, “Hillbilly Bone” and the infamous “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk”.
He teams up with a variety of producers this time around: Frank Rogers, Mark Wright, Tony Brown, Mickey Jack Cones and Kenny Beard, most of whom he has worked with in the past, and for the most part the results are quite good. The opening track “When I Stop Loving You”, is a catchy number that would be a good choice for a late summer single. It was written by Even Stevens and Marty Brown, who had a brief recording stint with MCA in the early 90s.
Things move in a decidedly more pop direction beginning with the second track “So What If I Do”, which may very well be the first Trace Adkins recording to ever feature a saxophone. “Come See Me”, written by Kenny Beard and Exile members J.P. Pennington and Sonny LaMaire. This song sets the stage for a cover of an Exile song, on which some of the band members appear as guest artists (more on this a little later). I actually didn’t mind the pop leaning songs up to this point, but by the time we get to the overproduced “Altar of Your Love”, the only Adkins co-write on the album, it begins to wear a little thin. And then there’s the cover of “Kiss You All Over”, which was a #1 pop hit for Exile in 1978, which sounds very much like a product of the era in which it originated. Its inclusion on the album seems pointless: Exile spends as much (or perhaps more) time singing as Adkins, and if he had to cover an Exile song, there are much better ones to choose from than this.
Fortunately, things improve dramatically after this. “If The Sun Comes Up” is an excellent number that sounds like vintage Adkins. “Say No To A Woman” is a more respectful look at the fairer sex than some other songs in Trace’s catalog. The current single “Watch The World End”, a duet with pop-singer Colbie Caillat is enjoyable, although the string section is somewhat intrusive. Likewise, I could have done without the strings and choir on the Chris Stapleton and Tim James-penned title track, which closes out the album.
Love Will is more pop-leaning than most of Trace’s other albums, which may be an attempt to remain relevant at country radio. It is however, a more mature sound for him, and the absence of tasteless and sexist redneck anthems is a most welcome change.
Grade: B
Trace Adkins is one of the most frustrating artists in country music. He has a genuinely great voice, real interpretative ability and (when he chooses to exercise it), a sense of subtlety. When that natural talent is allied to great, or even good, songs, the result is close to sublime. Sadly, his musical taste is questionable, and he has recorded some of the worst songs released in the last ten years. His 2008 release, X, went a long way to restoring my faith in him as an artist, but regrettably, country radio was less enthused than it was for his worst efforts, like ‘Honky Tonk Badonkadonk’, an execrable song which managed to top the charts.
Everything I heard in advance of this project’s release led me to expect Trace would be back to his worst. Radio’s lack of support for the singles from X, the move from Capitol to Toby Keith’s label. It says a lot for my admiration of Trace at his best that I was prepared to buy this, despite my concerns about the project. The first single, the truly horrible shoutfest ‘Ala-Freakin-Bama’, was a particularly disturbing sign. When Trace announced his departure from Capitol soon after the release of that single, I had hoped it would never re-surface. Unfortunately, Trace secured the rights to the last recordings he made for Capitol, and chose to include it on his debut for Show Dog Universal. Luckily, there is only one other song as bad, aggressively tuneless closing track ‘Whoop A Man’s Ass’, whose title says it all.
The grunt in the preamble to opening track ‘Brown Chicken, Brown Cow’, which is the first we hear from Trace, was not a good start either, although the song itself is not that bad – mediocre rather than awful, albeit too loud, one-note, and repetitive as it tells ths story of a farm couple who abandon their duties for a literal roll in the hay. Mostly, this record leans to the average rather than the overtly bad, with some pretty good songs.
Current single ‘This Ain’t No Love Song’ is quite a nice ballad (if a little repetitive) which was one of the few promising signs before the record’s release. Another alarm signal was raised when I originally saw the tracklisting and saw Trailer Choir were guesting on one song, ‘Don’t Mind If I Don’t’, but this was unfair as the end result is only mildly irritating, with Trailer Choir themselves barely noticeable. The song is boring, but inoffensive.
There are a couple of attempts at humor. Much of ‘Hold My Beer’ is shouted rather than sung but the lyrics (about a drunken wedding party, courtesy of Casey Beathard, Monty Criswell and Ed Hill) are mildly amusing, although I think they will pall with repetition. I can see this as a single complete with over-the-top video. The ironic backseat driver ode ‘Hell I Can Do That’ is rather better in the lighthearted vein, written by Jim Collins, Tony Martin and Lee Miller, with an engaging everyman feel and playful use of instrumentation.
The title track is quite a pleasant midpaced story song about a city woman whose life improves whenever her cowboy boyfriend comes to visit. It is one of Trace’s rare compositions, alongside Jeff Bates and Kenny Beard. Also pretty good is the love song ‘A Little Bit Of Missing You’, written by Mickey Jack Cones (who co-produces this track), Jim McCormick and Tim Johnson. Although it feels a bit over produced, it provides one of the few really melodic moments on the album, and one of the few times Trace’s gravelly bass notes are used to good effect. Most of the songs here could literally be sung by anyone, and Trace’s great voice is simply under utilised.
The highlight is the string laden ‘Still Love You’, a tender ballad co-written by Jeff Bates, where again Trace shows us he really is a fine vocalist with sensitive interpretative ability. The song itself is still only average compared to some of the outstanding ballads Trace has given us in the past.
I also liked ‘Break Her Fall’, a story of a teenage romance between a “long haired country boy” and a rich man’s daughter, written by Monty Criswell and Tim Mensy, with a little too much electric guitar for my taste. It’s a familiar, even clichéd, story, but nicely done with some specific color which makes it convincing and a few memorable lines:
She used me like a razor blade
To cut the ties that bind
Freed herself from Daddy’s world
Got tangled up in mine
This isn’t quite as bad as I was fearing, or Trace’s worst album (a title I would award to Dangerous Man), but it is still a real waste of his talent.
Grade: C
My Kind of Country 