Country music from a fan's point of view since 2008
After half a dozen self released albums since 2006, and building his career in his native Texas, 31 year old Cody Johnson makes his major label debut with this Warner Brothers record. It is an excellent album, showcasing a fine voice, great songs and perhaps offering mainstream country a way forward by mixing traditional country with some contemporary vibes. Cody’s long term producer Trent Willmon helms the project.
The lead single, ‘On My Way To You’ is a warm romantic ballad reflecting on, and not regretting, all the mistakes of the past. It is a very nice song, written by Brett James and Tony Lane, and is sung beautifully.
The title track, written by Leslie Satcher and David Lee, is a slow meditation on life and how to live, with some lovely fiddle.
‘Fenceposts’ is a lovely song about a young man inviting his sweetheart to settle down and make a life with him on their own farm. In ‘Understand Why’, written by Neil Medley and Randy Montana, a jaded Johnson seeks solitude after romantic failure.
A gorgeous low-key cover of Roger Miller’s ‘Husbands And Wives’ (familiar to younger fans from the Brooks & Dunn version) was recorded live. Radney Foster’s ‘Noise’ is a bit busy for my taste, but an enthusiastic take on Charlie Daniels’ ‘Long Haired Country Boy’ is great, with Johnson coming across like a young Travis Tritt. The sultry ‘Nothin’ On You’ (written by producer Willmon with Barrett Baber) channels Gary Allan. The energetic ‘Honky Tonk Mood’ is written by Chris Stapleton and Al Anderson, and is also very good.
‘Monday Morning Merle’, written by Lance Miller, Bart Butler and Brad and Brett Warren. It is a sad song about a man hiding a broken heart during his working week with the help of music:.
Wednesday spins the Beatles
Thursday is the Eagles
“Take It Easy” ’til that Friday rocks his world
After Saturday ol’ Jackson Browne
Is Sunday morning coming down
Then he’s right back to missing that girl
Turns up ‘Misery and Gin’
Here we are again
Monday morning MerleMonday morning Merle
Lets that ol’ broken heart get back to work
He hides all the holes and the hurt
Under the dirt on his shirt
And the only way that he can get
Through the days and the regret
Is a song full of truth
With some words he never said
With those whiskey remedies
And those old school melodies you can’t forget
Brice Long, Carlton Anderson and Wynn Varble wrote ‘Where Cowboys Are King’, a fond tribute to Texas. ‘Y’all People’, about good-hearted country people, is dedicated to Cody’s fans, and could play well on country radio.
‘Doubt Me Now’, written by Casey Beathard and Mitch Oglesby, is a country rock defiance of those who have doubted the protagonist’s chances:
People like you got nothin’ better to do
Than throw rocks at things that shine
Well, you oughta be chasin’ your own dreams
‘Stead of shootin’ holes in mine
It annoyingly finishes with an electronic fadeout, but is a pretty good song until that point.
Johnson wrote two songs himself. ‘Dear Rodeo’ is a thoughtful retrospective on his first-love former career as a rodeo rider:
Dear rodeo
I’d be lyin’ if I tried to tell you I don’t think about you
After all the miles and the wild nights that we’ve been through
The Lord knows we had a fewDear rodeo
I’d like to say that I took the reins and rode away
No regrets, no left-unsaids, just turned the page
Oh, but you know better, babeBetween them almost-had-’ems and the broken bones
The dream of a buckle I’ll never put on
I’m jaded
Whoa how I hate it
But somehow the highs outweigh the lows
And I’d do it all again
Even though
We both know
I’d still have to let you goSo dear rodeo
I tried like hell to tell myself it was all your fault
I held on tight with all my might
I just couldn’t hang on
And that’s hard to hang your hat on…I’d like to think you miss me too
But I know you don’t
Oh, but that don’t change the past
And that don’t change the truth
I’m still in love with you
This is a definite highlight.
The album closes with Johnson’s other writing credit, ‘His Name Is Jesus’, a simple statement of faith.
This is a strong entry onto the mainstream scene, which I hope does well. Do check it out.
Grade: A-
Jim Lauderdale was already a successful songwriter when he secured his first album deal with Reprise Records, a subsidiary of Warner Brothers. His debut album in 1991 was produced by Rodney Crowell and John Leventhal, and Lauderdale wrote every song, mostly with Leventhal.
The label tried three singles, none of which saw any chart action. ‘Maybe’, co-written by Lauderdale and Leventhal with Crowell, may not have been the best choice to launch Lauderdale as a solo artist. It is a decent mid-tempo song with an optimistic message about taking a chance in love, but it is not very interesting musically.
‘I Wasn’t Fooling Around’ is much more on the mark, and it is a shame it didn’t get airplay. A great traditional country shuffle, it was picked up by George Strait a couple of years later. The third single, ‘Wake Up Screaming’, is a minor keyed country rock number later recorded by Gary Allan on his debut album, but I don’t’ particularly like it.
Other artists also saw potential hits from this album’s set list. My favorite is ‘The King Of Broken Hearts’, later covered by George Strait, and still later by Lee Ann Womack. This is a loving tribute to George Jones and Gram Parsons, ornamented by tasteful steel guitar from Glen D. Hardin. Emmylou Harris adds harmonies. ‘Where The Sidewalk Ends’ was another Strait pick, and was also recorded by Jann Browne. It’s a very good song about a breakup, but I prefer both the covers to Lauderdale’s own version.
The jazzy and sophisticated title track was covered by Mandy Barnett and the pre-Natalie Maines incarnation of the Dixie Chicks. The soulful ‘What You Don’t Know’ was later recorded by Jon Randall.
‘Heaven’s Flame’ is a midpaced warning against a femme fatale. ‘Bless Her Heart’ is a low-key love song and is rather sweet, with gospel style backing vocals. The valedictory ‘My Last Request’ is slow and sad, with Rodney Crowell adding a prominent harmony.
Lauderdale’s main problem as an artist was that his vocals were not strong enough. He may also have been a bit too eclectic. However, he is a great songwriter, and this album has a lot to offer, especially if you have more adventurous tastes.
Grade: B
Our September Spotlight features one of the true Renaissance persons of roots music, Jim Lauderdale. Born in 1957, Lauderdale has a thorough-going knowledge of country, bluegrass, roots-rock, folk and jazz and incorporates elements of all of these into his songwriting and performances. He has performed in theatre, as a member of various bands, and as a solo performer. He has an affable personality and a decent, but not necessarily terrific, singing voice that could, under different circumstances, led him to become a major recording star in the fields of bluegrass or traditional country music. As it is, Jim has had difficulty in receiving airplay for his own recordings and never made much of an impact on radio with his only charted single, “Stay Out of My Arms” reaching #86 on Billboard’s country chart in 1988. If heard at all on the radio, it is most likely to be on bluegrass programs (usually on NPR) or on Bluegrass Junction on Sirius-XM as his duet recordings with Ralph Stanley are quite popular with the bluegrass crowd.
As a songwriter, he has been far more successful with his songs being recorded by many artists across a variety of genres including George Strait, Gary Allan, Elvis Costello, George Jones, Buddy Miller, Blake Shelton, the Dixie Chicks, Vince Gill, and Patty Loveless. I don’t know how many of his songs George Strait recorded, but it is a bunch.
Although not a household name with modern county radio audiences, Jim Lauderdale has been quite busy, co-hosting Music City Roots, the annual Americana Music Awards Show (since 2002) and appearing on various other television shows. He has collaborated with artists as diverse as Robert Hunter (Grateful Dead), Dr. Ralph Stanley, Nick Lowe and Roland White.
Between television and touring, he stays quite busy. We have selected an interesting array of albums to review, so please join us in saluting our September Spotlight Artist – Jim Lauderdale.
When reviewing new music, I always try to follow two basic rules: (1) not to expect too much and (2) not to read any other reviews until I’ve had a chance to listen to it myself, so as not to be influenced by anyone else’s opinion. I didn’t initially expect to review Jon Pardi’s California Sunrise, so I’d already inadvertently broken Rule #2 by the time I decided to do it. The generally favorable reviews I read caused me to break Rule #1 and raise my expectations — which set me up for a huge disappointment.
Hailed as an album that tries to steer country music back towards it roots, California Sunrise is the most uninspired collection of songs that I’ve heard so far this year. I do give Pardi and producer Bart Butler for avoiding the EDM elements that have infested country music in recent years and for mostly avoiding bro-country cliches. They also make more use of country instrumentation – i.e., fiddle and steel – than is usually the case these days and that is appreciated, but ultimately the country elements are drowned out by too-loud electric guitars and hick-hop rhythms. Pardi’s vocals, which remind me of a blend of Brad Paisley and early Gary Allan, are also drowned out by the too-loud production.
Pardi is credited as a co-writer on eight of the album’s twelve songs, which partially explains why listening to the album seems like playing the same song over and over. One exception is the lead single “Head Over Boots”, which he wrote with Luke Laird, which really isn’t bad but it’s not great either. Pardi did not the album’s two most noteworthy songs: “She Ain’t In It” and “Dirt On My Boots”, which are the album’s best and worst cuts respectively. The former, written by Clint Daniels and Wynn Varble is the only song on the album that I truly liked — the one bonafide country number about a protagonist trying to resume his social life after a bad break-up. The bro-countryish “Dirt On My Boots” comes to us courtesy of Rhett Akins, Jesse Frassure and Ashley Gorley is downright terrible (I’m guessing it will be the next single), but to be fair “All Time High” written by Pardi, Bart Butler and Brice Long isn’t a whole lot better.
The remaining songs are bland, lyrically light and tend to all bleed together and aren’t worthy of individual commentary.
Jon Pardi is a talented but not exceptional vocalist, who has a lot of potential if he can only find better material. California Sunrise is not a traditional album, though it certainly comes closer than most of today’s other mainstream releases. If Pardi can tone down the rock elements and volume, and lean a little more on those country roots, he may release a great album one day, but he’s not there yet. Download “She Ain’t In It” and skip the rest.
Grade: C-
In 2013 Buddy Miller teamed up with fellow singer-songwriter Jim Lauderdale for a duo project, produced by Buddy. Both men are noted for their eclectic musical tastes, so it should be no surprise that this record does not fit neatly into any categories, but a good half of it is country, and very good. Mostly either Buddy sings lead with Jim Lauderdale harmonising, or they sing together.
My favorite track is the shuffle ‘Looking For A Heartache Like You’, a super tune which both men had previously recorded individually (Buddy on his Cruel Moon album) and which the pair perform here with energy. It’s given a solid country arrangement and works extremely well.
Delving even deeper into country music’s roots is the charming traditional country/blues/folk ‘The Train That Carried My Gal From Town’ which was first recorded in 1926. Buddy and Jim’s version is excellent, complete with train sound effects. ‘Lonely One In This Town’, of similar antiquity, has a jug-band feel, and is pretty good.
The steel-laced ‘That’s Not Even Why I Love You’ is a deeply tender love song which Buddy sings lead on, and is lovely. In the same musical vein, but more downbeat, ‘It Hurts Me’ (written by Julie Miller) is also excellent.
The bluesy ‘Lost My Job Of Loving You’ is good though not very country with guitars which swamp it; this live acoustic performance by the pair is more to my personal taste. The album version is still quite powerful. I would rather like to hear a cover of this song by Gary Allan. Allan did record the bouncy ‘Forever And A Day’ on his debut album and it was a minor single for him; Buddy and Jim’s version is quite entertaining.
There are, however, tracks that I enjoyed less. R&B cover ‘I Want To Do Everything For You’ didn’t do a lot for me, but is competently if unemotionally performed. I enjoyed the zydeco/swamp-rock of ‘South In New Orleans’ more. ‘The Wobble’ is muddy rockabilly leaning more to the rock side of that spectrum, and not very interesting. The only track I really disliked was ‘Vampire Girl’, which has a vaguely psychedelic sound and bizarre lyric.
Overall, though, this is an enjoyable collaboration and fine album.
Grade: A-
Incidentally the guys currently have a radio show on Sirius XM.
2002’s Midnight and Lonesome was Buddy Miller’s most successful solo album to date. It was the first to chart (reaching a modest #50), in no small part due to the success of the previous year’s duets project with wife Julie. He produced the album himself. He and Julie wrote some of the album’s songs, but separately and together but there are also a fair number of songs, including covers, provided by outside songwriters. Though mostly a country effort, it does find him delving into rock and blues, with somewhat mixed results. I was a bit worried after hearing the opening track, “The Price of Love”, a rock-leaning Everly Brothers tune with which I was previously unfamiliar. Fortunately, things get back on track with the second track “Wild Card”, which he and Julie wrote, which finds him turning up the twang. It sounds very much like a number Hank Williams might have recorded in the early 50s.
One of the album’s best moments is the third track “I Can’t Get Over You”, a beautiful steel-laced ballad written by Julie Miller, with delicately understated harmony vocals provided by Lee Ann Womack. It is topped only by another ballad – “A Showman’s Life”, written by Jesse Winchester. Previously recorded by Gary Allan with Willie Nelson and George Strait with Faith Hill, it describes the hardship and loneliness experienced by musicians on the road. Buddy is joined by Emmylou Harris and the result is nothing short of magic. It easily trumps both the Allan/Nelson and Strait/Hill versions (although both of those are also quite good).
The mournful lyrics and high-lonesome harmonies (provided by Julie) of the title track are at odds with its up-tempo pace but it works surprisingly well.
I wasn’t particularly impressed with “When It Comes To You”, a bluesy number written by Buddy and Julie with Jim Lauderdale. It sounds like something Conway Twitty might have scored a big hit with in the early 80s. It’s not a bad song but it is marred beyond redemption by the production. It has a decidedly low-fidelity sound; the vocals are muffled as though Buddy were singing through some sort of filter. I found it very distracting. Another bluesy number, a cover of Percy Mayfield’s “Please Send Me Someone to Love”, works much better. It’s a bit of an artistic stretch for Buddy, but one that pays off nicely. I’m not familiar with the original version and my first impression was that the melody was very similar to Ray Price’s “Night Life”.
The Cajun-flavored “Oh Fait Pitie D’Amour (Lord Have Mercy on Me)” provides another interesting change of pace, although it’s not particularly memorable.
Another highlight is the closing track “Quecreek”, an acoustic folk-leaning ballad which finds Buddy accompanied only by an acoustic guitar and Julie’s harmony vocals. Slightly reminiscent of Merle Travis’ classic “Dark as a Dungeon”, it tells the true story of a coal mining accident in Pennsylvania.. The nation waited with baited breath when nine miners were trapped for 77 hours between July 24 and July 28, 2002. Miraculously, all nine were rescued and Buddy’s emotional retelling of the ordeal likens their recovery to Christ’s Resurrection.
Midnight and Lonesome was nominated for Album of the Year in 2003 by the Americana Music Association. Though it did not win, it is a stellar collection (“The Price of Love” and “When It Comes to You” nothwithstanding). It is perhaps most accurately described as a roots album but country is the predominant influence.
Grade: A –
I’ve come to think of Gary Allan as the male Martina McBride — an artist that I really like, who has shown in recent years, a seeming inability to select quality material. I hold out hope, with each new release, that things are getting back on track, and each time I am disappointed. It is particularly disheartening since Allan’s latest single “Hangover Tonight” is a co-write with Chris Stapleton, formerly of The SteelDrivers.
I suppose it is unrealistic for me to have any expectation that a mainstream artist struggling to get airplay in this day and age will release anything that sounds even remotely country, but the title did suggest that this might actually be a honky-tonk song. Any hopes of that were cruelly dashed by the first notes of the funky, bluesy electric guitar that dominates the track. Not only isn’t this honky-tonk, it isn’t even a drinking song. Alcohol is mentioned, of course, but the term “hangover” is used more in the sense of hanging out all night long, rather than the consequences of the morning after.
Little effort seems to have been put into the writing of this song — the lyrics are superficial, repetitious and don’t really say anything. That in itself is not a huge problem; not every song has to be deep and meaningful. But it would be nice if it actually sounded as though it belonged in the genre under which it is being marketed. I realize that this is not a new complaint, but it is frustrating in the extreme when an artist who is nearly 20 years into his recording career – who has demonstrated in the past that he can do better – phones it in instead of trying to elevate the genre above the usual dreck we’ve come to expect. The newer generation might not know any better but Gary Allan does. Too bad he has chosen the path of least resistance once again.
Listen to it here.
Grade: C
1954 (Sales): More and More — Webb Pierce (Decca)
1954 (Jukebox): More and More — Webb Pierce (Decca)
1954 (Disc Jockeys): More and More — Webb Pierce (Decca)
1964: Once A Day — Connie Smith (RCA)
1974: She Called Me Baby — Charlie Rich (Epic)
1984: Chance of Lovin’ You — Earl Thomas Conley (RCA)
1994: If You’ve Got Love — John Michael Montgomery (Atlantic)
2004: Nothing On But The Radio — Gary Allan (MCA)
2014: Shotgun Rider — Tim McGraw (Big Machine)
2014 (Airplay): Girl In A Country Song — Maddie & Tae (Dot)
1954 (Sales): More and More — Webb Pierce (Decca)
1954 (Jukebox): More and More — Webb Pierce (Decca)
1954 (Disc Jockeys): More and More — Webb Pierce (Decca)
1964: Once A Day — Connie Smith (RCA)
1974: Back Home Again — John Denver (RCA)
1984: Your Heart’s Not In It — Janie Fricke (Columbia)
1994: The Big One — George Strait (MCA)
2004: Nothing On But The Radio — Gary Allan (MCA)
2014: Something In The Water — Carrie Underwood (Arista Nashville)
2014 (Airplay): Somewhere In My Car — Keith Urban (Capitol)
Jim Lauderdale, recording once again for Sky Crunch Records, has gifted us with a self-produced double album to follow-up his acclaimed Buddy & Jim duets project from 2012. I’m A Song, his 26th album, spans twenty songs over a single disc of pure honky-tonk bliss with not a clinker in the bunch.
For this project Lauderdale wrote or co-wrote every song, opting to self-pen eight of the album’s tracks. For these numbers he mainly focuses on different aspects of relationships, from the hopeful beginnings of “Lets Have A Good Thing Together” to a woman’s uniqueness in “You’ve Got A Way With Yours.” “There’s No Shadows In The Shade” confronts what we tend to hide from one another in relationships, while the title track cleverly compares a romance to different aspects of a song. All are excellent, with gorgeous twangy guitar, drum, and pedal steel based arrangements that nicely complement Lauderdale’s southern drawl.
Much like “There’s No Shadow In The Shade,” “Hope and Find” has a very modern, and somewhat heavy, accompaniment the builds along with the sinister lyric. “The Day The Devil Changed” is the exact opposite – sunny and bright, despite a lyric about a man’s desire to course correct his troubled past. “We Will Rock Again” closes the album by echoing the honky-tonk beat of opener “Lets Have A Good Thing Together,” but presenting it as straight up rock. The lyric, about endings that aren’t goodbye, is in its chosen spot given its appropriateness as an album ending song.
Lauderdale teamed up with Jimmy Richie and Mark Irwin for “Past It,” in which the guy is eternally hopeful that he and his woman may be over the ‘rough patch that we’re on.’ The jaunty beat nicely aids in his optimism, while his cynical vocal suggests otherwise. Newly minted Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Bobby Bare shares co-writing credits on “This Feeling’s Hanging On,” a glorious straight-up traditional number bursting with steel and fiddle. “End of the World Rag” is one of the louder numbers, a doomsday lament that’s rock in every way.
Odie Blackmon, probably best known for writing Lee Ann Womack’s “I May Hate Myself In The Morning,” collaborated with Lauderdale on three cuts. “Neon Hearts” is a lonely man’s ode to drinking in bars, “Makin’ Honey” is a jarringly happy love song that seems somewhat out of character for the album, and “The World Is Waiting Below” concerns a very happy couple who are so in love they haven’t come down to earth yet. Of these three, which are all good, “Neon Hearts” is a cut above the rest, a wonderful bar song that gets to the heart of why we sometimes just need a stiff drink to wash away our troubles. Matt Warren and Gary Allan (along with Lauderdale) co-wrote “I Wish You Loved Me,” a fabulous honky-tonk number about unreciprocated love.
Womack provides harmony vocals on two of the four duet tracks on I’m A Song. Co-written with Robert Hunter, “A Day With No Tomorrow” is an excellent mid-tempo traditional country ballad about a recently heartbroken man. Even better is “Doin’ Time In Bakersfield” a Frank Dycus co-write about a man behind bars in the aforementioned California city. I wish Womack could’ve done more than harmonize here, making it a true duet, but her contributions only add to the outstanding quality of the track.
A collaboration with Patty Loveless on the self-penned “Today I’ve Got The Yesterdays” is given the same harmonizing treatment as the Womack numbers, and while it’s a great song with a flawless production, I would’ve liked to have seen Lauderdale give her some lines to sing solo. Their voices sound sharp together, too, as the both have distinct twangy vocals that keep them from harmonizing perfectly, like he was able to do with the sweeter voiced Womack. The Buddy Miller partnership on his Elvis Costello co-written “I Lost You” works the best given the format, as they are essentially a duo anyways.
“The King of Broken Hearts,” which George Strait brought prominence with the Pure Country soundtrack and Womack cut on Call Me Crazy gets recorded here by its writer twenty-three years after his original release since that project is long out of print. A staple of his shows and easily his most popular song, its revival here is a welcomed treat.
Most times when an artist opts to gift their fans twenty songs on a single disc, the results are uneven at best, and often wrought with wide sweeps of varying styles meant to please each and every sector of the audience. Lauderdale smartly forgoes that in favor of crafting a pure honky-tonk project as cohesive as any album could aspire to be. While not a fault of his own the track do tend to run together a bit, but the standout numbers (“Doin’ Time in Bakersfield,” “Neon Hearts,” and “The Day The Devil Changed”) stand out loud and clear.
Grade: A
Much like the state of modern country music the 49th annual Academy of Country Music are somewhat of a joke, marred by controversy and shameless rule breaking. Trigger, from Saving Country Music, did an excellent job summing up Justin Moore’s erroneous nomination for New Artist of the Year and exposing the truth behind the ‘fan voting.’ I highly suggest reading these three articles before proceeding further:
Justin Moore Should Be Disqualified from ACM’s “New Artist”
ACM’s Respond to Justin Moore’s “New Artist” Ineligibility
Why The Best Fan Vote for the ACM’s Is No Vote At All
That being said, when the show airs this Sunday on CBS, it promises to be a fun night of modern country music. Here are the nominees. My Should Win / Will Win are predictions below:
Entertainer of the Year
It’s a solid list of deserving nominees who’ve all had a very big year in one-way or another.
Should Win: George Strait – he captured the CMA equivalent last fall in a surprise victory and continues to show all the ‘young guns’ how it’s done on his farewell Cowboy Rides Away Tour. He’s a legend, Country Music Hall of Famer, and the single most consistent artist and performer of the past thirty years. For him to lose would be an injustice.
Will Win: Blake Shelton or Luke Bryan – the show co-hosts are at the height of their popularity, with everything they touch turning to Gold. Bryan surprisingly won last year, so I’m betting Shelton will edge him out, and take home his first such trophy from the ACM. That is, if they don’t give the award to Strait.
Doug Stone’s most recent album, My Turn, was issued on Lofton Creek Records in 2007. Produced by the singer himself, the album is comprised solely of original material (none of which he wrote), without any re-recordings of past singles.
With Stone no longer in the good graces of country radio, and My Turn receiving little publicity from the label, it’s unsurprising none of its three single charted. Lead single “Nice Problem” boasts a wonderfully traditional arrangement, and a strong vocal from Stone, but is too sentimental lyrically. The idea of “what a nice problem to have” is just too predicable to work on a truly emotional level. “She Always Gets What She Wants” is a fine uptempo number and good choice for the second single. The title pretty much gives away the song, but it works because Stone doesn’t come off corny. I really like the light production, too.
My favorite of the three singles is “Don’t Tell Mama” a tune I first came to know through The Grascals’ version, which features a duet vocal by George Jones. The song first appeared on Ty Herndon’s Living In The Moment from 1996 and then from Gary Allan’s 1999 Smoke Rings In The Dark. It’s a perfectly cut slice of pure country about a man pleading with a first responder in the wake of his car crash, just before he dies:
Don’t tell Mama I was drinkin’
Lord knows her soul would never rest
I can’t leave this world with Mama thinkin’
I met the Lord with whiskey on my breath
“We’re All About That” is a fairly cliché uptempo rocker laundry-list type song that showed the beginning of this now insufferable trend. Stone keeps up with the high-octane rock of “The Hard Way” but the whole thing fails him by being far too progressive for his far more traditional voice. with a reference to Hank Williams Jr within the first seconds, “That’s How We Roll” plays like a Gretchen Wilson cast-off, a song too demographically specific even for her.
“Dancin’ On Glass” is a smooth-pop love song that fails to be anything great thanks to rudimentary lyrics and bland production. “Ain’t That Just Like A Woman” is another laundry-list song, this time in ballad form about rudely stereotypical characteristics of being female. The song is demeaning in nature, which doesn’t help its cause, although it boasts a somewhat listenable production.
Stone is at his best when steel guitar penetrates the production track, thus giving his natural twang some context on a song. “The Right Side of Lonesome” is just one such example of this, a moment where he’s allowed to shine. It’s not a revelatory song by any stretch, but it works because all the necessary pieces come together nicely. “To A Better Place” also fits the traditional criteria, although it just isn’t that great a song, and there’s an odd vocal mix on the chorus that doesn’t do Stone’s voice any justice. He’s far better on “You Were Never Mine To Loose,” a straightforward country song with ample fiddle. It could’ve been written a little stronger, but it works fine just like it is.
When I was listening to the three singles for this review, I was excited to be able to praise Stone for making a record that showcased what he does best instead of an uncharacteristic effort that bowed to mainstream pressure. My Turn is actually neither of those things. It falls somewhere in the middle, settling as a mixed bag of tricks, some that work, and a lot that don’t. But he’s in fine voice throughout, which is nice to see from a country singer past his commercial prime. I just wish he’d been gifted with better songs.
Grade: B
Compiling a list of my favorite singles is no mean feat these days; I’ve been disengaged from country radio for quite a few years now, with no desire to reconcile, and although I try to keep up with new music, much of it is no longer considered mainstream. As such, I’m at times only vaguely aware of which songs I liked during the year were actually released as singles. I was, however, able to cobble together a list of songs that may not all be great, but are at least tolerable.
10. It Ain’t The Whiskey — Gary Allan
In a better year, this song probably wouldn’t have been even under consideration for my best-of list, but after being disappointed by most of Gary Allan’s recent work, this track is one that I at least can listen to without cringing.
9. Tonight I’m Playing Possum — Randy Travis with Joe Nichols
This is another song for which I could only muster up lukewarm enthusiasm, but even though it doesn’t rank among either Travis’ or Nichols’ best work, it does at least pay tribute to one of the greatest voices country music has ever known.
8. When The Lights Go Out (Tracie’s Song) — Mark Chesnutt
A road-weary musician’s heartfelt declaration of love to his better half, this is the type of song I really miss hearing on country radio.
7. Like A Rose – Ashley Monroe
In years gone by, my favorites list would likely have been dominated by female artists. There have been a lot of complaints — with some justification — in recent years that the ladies aren’t getting a fair shake from country radio, but the truth is that most of them haven’t doing anything that is very interesting. Ashley Monroe is a notable exception, but sadly, radio isn’t isn’t taking much notice of her solo work. The title track to her current album is a real stunner that deserves a listen.
6. Borrowed — LeAnn Rimes
This semi-autobiographical number, sung from the point of view of an unrepentant adulteress is hands down the best thing LeAnn Rimes has released in years. It’s unfortunate that it failed to chart.
5. Give It All We Got Tonight — George Strait
MCA started a “60 for 60” campaign to make this single the 60th #1 hit of the then 60-year-old George Strait’s career. The enjoyable midtempo tune only made it to #7 in Billboard — perhaps another victim of the chart’s new methodology — but it did make it to #1 in Mediabase. Regardless of its chart position, it’s well worth a listen.
4. I Got A Car — George Strait
I usually try not to include an artist more than once on these lists, but I was having that hard a time coming up with ten singles that were worthwhile. It’s a typical circle-of-life story that has become a staple of the Strait catalog.
3. Sweet Annie — Zac Brown Band
The Zac Brown Band is one of the few bright spots on country radio these days and one of only a handful of acts that consistently delivers.
2. I Wish I Still Smoked Cigarettes — Ronnie Dunn
This one is brand new, so a lot of fans may not have heard it yet. We haven’t reviewed it yet so I won’t say too much about it now, other than to say that after a few very disappointing releases, Ronnie Dunn is back.
1. Wagon Wheel — Darius Rucker
This Bob Dylan-penned tune about a hitchhiker trying to get home to see his sweetheart is the surprise hit of 2013 and the only decent song to reach #1 this year. I still prefer the Jeremy McComb version, but Rucker’s version is also good. I never expected this one to succeed, partly because it’s a remake of an old song, and partly because songs I like don’t tend to do well on radio these days. I’m glad to have been proven wrong. I wish Rucker would do more music like this and less of the interminably dull stuff he’s been churning out.
Country radio may have gone from bad to worse this year, but as ever there were a few bright spots – and some great singles away from the mainstream offerings. Here are my favorite singles of 2013:
10. Wagon Wheel – Darius Rucker
A vibrant, charming cover with rootsy production. What a pity the rest of the album was so deadly dull.
9. It Ain’t The Whiskey – Gary Allan
A bit loud, and perhaps rather similar to past songs, but a great vocal makes this worthwhile.
8. Songs About Trucks – Wade Bowen
An emotion I think we can all get behind – no more songs about trucks, please. But this isn’t just a complaint, this song also has a genuine emotional storyline which lets it stand on its own merits.
7. Overnight Success – Zane Williams
The independent artist explains how to become a country star, overnight (well, after nine or ten years hard work, of course). A fine song, by turns ironic, self-deprecating and good humoured.
6. Stripes – Brandy Clark
The witty song isn’t the best on the singer-songwriter’s excellent album 12 Stories, but it’s highly entertaining nonetheless. It’s a pity it hasn’t got more mainstream attention.
5. What Are You Listening To – Chris Stapleton
A very tastefully arranged recording, a well written song, and intensely emotional vocal. It wasn’t as successful as I had hoped it would be, and the singer-songwriter and former SteelDriver still awaits release of his solo album for Mercury, but it’s a fine and memorable record.
4. I Got A Car – George Strait
The story song about a couple’s journey from first meeting to starting a family, written by Keith Gattis and Tom Douglas, was an obvious single choice from George’s current album. It is packed full of charm, and shows the veteran (unexpectedly named the CMA Entertainer of the year) still has commercial potential.
3. Could It Be – Charlie Worsham
A debut single from a young artist with a fresh, youthful sound. Utterly charming. I wasn’t as taken by the album, but the single (which reached #13 on the country airplay chart) stands up as one of the more refreshing moments on country radio this year.
2. Borrowed – LeAnn Rimes
A cheating song from LeAnn’s somewhat controversial Spitfire album. Her mature vocals are beautiful, and the self-penned song draws with an unsparing honesty on LeAnn’s own experiences with her early relationship with her current husband, when both were married to others. The song’s complicated emotions didn’t help LeAnn’s increasingly chequered image, but it’s a fine and deeply truthful song – what country music is all about. The production is delicately sensitive and allows the vocals to shine.
1. I Let Her Talk – Erin Enderlin
A fantastic story song from the singer-songwriter, this beautifully realised tale narrates a bar room encounter between two women drowing their troubles. In an unexpected twist the meeting turns out to be between a man’s wife (the narrator) and his clueless “careless drunk” lover. Erin wrote the song with the great Leslie Satcher, and it is perfectly constructed. This was the promotional single for Erin’s independent album of the same name, and although it received limited mainstream attention it was absolutely the best single of the year for me.
1953 (Sales): I Forgot More Than You’ll Ever Know — Davis Sisters (RCA)
1953 (Jukebox): A Dear John Letter — Jean Shepard & Ferlin Husky (Capitol)
1953 (Disc Jockeys): I Forgot More Than You’ll Ever Know — Davis Sisters (RCA)
1963: Love’s Gonna Live Here — Buck Owens (Capitol)
1973: We’re Gonna Hold On — George Jones & Tammy Wynette (Epic)
1983: Islands In The Stream — Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton (RCA)
1993: Easy Come, Easy Go — George Strait (MCA)
2003: Tough Little Boys — Gary Allan (MCA)
2013: That’s My Kind Of Night — Luke Bryan (Capitol)
2013 (Airplay): It Goes Like This — Thomas Rhett (Valory)
1953 (Sales): I Forgot More Than You’ll Ever Know — Davis Sisters (RCA)
1953 (Jukebox): Hey Joe!— Carl Smith (Columbia)
1953 (Disc Jockeys): I Forgot More Than You’ll Ever Know — Davis Sisters (RCA)
1963: Love’s Gonna Live Here — Buck Owens (Capitol)
1973: Ridin’ My Thumb To Mexico — Johnny Rodriguez (Mercury)
1983: Lady Down On Love — Alabama (RCA)
1993: Easy Come, Easy Go — George Strait (MCA)
2003: Tough Little Boys — Gary Allan (MCA)
2013: That’s My Kind Of Night — Luke Bryan (Capitol)
2013 (Airplay): It Goes Like This — Thomas Rhett (Valory)
1953 (Sales): Kaw-Liga — Hank Williams (MGM)
1953 (Jukebox): Kaw-Liga — Hank Williams (MGM)
1953 (Disc Jockeys): Kaw-Liga — Hank Williams (MGM)
1963: Don’t Let Me Cross Me Over — Carl Butler & Pearl (Columbia)
1973: ‘Til I Get It Right — Tammy Wynette (Epic)
1983: The Rose — Conway Twitty (Elektra)
1993: What Part of No — Lorrie Morgan (BNA)
2003: Man to Man — Gary Allan (MCA)
2013: Sure Be Cool If You Did — Blake Shelton (Warner Bros.)
2013 (Airplay): One Of Those Nights — Tim McGraw (Big Machine)
1953 (Sales): Eddy’s Song — Eddy Arnold (RCA)
1953 (Jukebox): I Let The Stars Get In My Eyes — Goldie Hill (Decca)
1953 (Disc Jockeys): I’ll Go On Alone — Marty Robbins (Columbia)
1963: The Ballad of Jed Clampett — Flatt & Scruggs (Columbia)
1973: She Needs Someone To Hold Her (When She Cries) — Conway Twitty (Decca)
1983: Inside — Ronnie Milsap (RCA)
1993: Too Busy Being In Love — Doug Stone (Epic)
2003: 19 Somethin’ – Mark Wills (Mercury)
2013: Every Storm (Runs Out Of Rain) — Gary Allan (MCA)
2013 (Airplay): Every Storm (Runs Out Of Rain) — Gary Allan (MCA)
Gary Allan’s career seemed to be on a bit of slowdown, with his last top 10 single coming in 2007. Gary has responded by turning to a variety of producers, often a ploy of the artist in decline and desperate to get another hit, but on the whole it seems to have worked. The result is probably the artist’s most sonically adventurous album to date, which is a mixed blessing, but after an initial sense of disappointment on my first hearing, I’ve warmed to the record more than I was expecting.
His biggest hit single in years, the resigned ‘Every Storm Runs Out Of Rain’, is a good song in a contemporary vein. The production (overseen by Gary with Greg Droman) is adventurous and a long way from Gary’s earliest traditional leanings, but not unattractive (apart from an echo which I could do without but is only used a couple of times). It places Gary’s best plaintive vocal at the heart of the track, supported by an effective harmony from co-writer Hillary Lindsey. This is the song which give the album its title.
Gary and Droman also produced ‘You Without Me’, a weary reflection on dealing with having split from someone the protagonist still loves, which Gary wrote with John Lancaster and Rachel Proctor, with another fine vocal. ‘Sand In My Soul’, their third collaboration, on the other hand, is a boring Warren Brothers song about depression on the beach, with a weird echoey sound. The bluesy rocker ‘Bones’, written by Keith Gattis, has an interesting lyric but it sounds like a loud tuneless mess. Disappointingly it is one of the songs flagged on the CD packaging as a likely single.
Gary turned to Mark Wright to help with a further three tracks. The best of these is ‘Hungover Heart’ which is a solid number despite a sometimes heavy hand with the electric guitars. Gary’s vulnerable vocal is perfect for the song, written by Matt Warren and James Leblanc. Gary’s own ‘No Worries’ is bland and boring reggae-lite which sounds like a Kenny Chesney reject, with irritatingly whispery, echoey production. ‘Good As New’ closes the album with an air of philosophical resignation, and is okay but a little over-produced.
The producer with the biggest role is Jay Joyce, best known for his work with Eric Church, and although I was concerned that I wouldn’t care for his work with Gary, it turns out to be better then expected. The best track on the album is one of his production efforts, is the downbeat ‘It Ain’t The Whiskey’, which showcases Gary’s grainy voice and is reminiscent of his best work, and where the production choices are inventive in a mostly good way (although the last instrumental break is pointlessly loud). An unusual opening with the faint sound of an organ leads into the body of the song, in which Gary declares to an AA meeting “in the church of the broken people” that depression is the root of his addiction, and
It ain’t the whiskey that’s killing me
The song was written by Greg Barnhill, Jim Daddario and Cole Degges.
Joyce also does a good job with the chugging ‘Tough Goodbye’, about a commitment-phobe with some qualms about breaking up with his latest victim. Penned by Josh Thompson and Tony Martin, the song is pretty good and gets a committed delivery from Gary, with an interesting ending where he suddenly sounds more vulnerable and even regretful. It might make a good single.
‘Drop’, another likely single does have a compelling, sexy vocal, but the song is just okay and the instrumental arrangement and production don’t really appeal to me, although it might work on radio. The mid-tempo ‘Pieces’ (written by Gary with Odie Blackmon and Sarah Burton) isn’t bad but is a bit loud, while ‘One More Time’, written by Gary with Hillary Lindsey and Matt Warren, is inoffensive but boring.
Overall, I think this album is a distinct improvement over his last couple of albums, although the quality of the material is not up to his classic work.
Grade: B
Although 2003’s The Dreamer achieved gold-level sales, its singles performed inconsistently at radio. After producing the #1 hit “The Baby”, the album’s subsequent singles all failed to crack the Top 20. This trend began to reverse itself with the release of Blake Shelton’s third album, Blake Shelton’s Barn & Grill, which was released in the autumn of 2004. The Bobby Braddock-produced effort got off to an initial rocky start when the album’s first single, a very nice ballad called “When Somebody Knows You That Well” died at #37. Blake’s chart decline bottomed out with that release, however, and all of the album’s subsequent singles reached the Top 10.
The album’s second single, the catchy “Some Beach”, written by Paul Overstreet and Rory Lee Feek, returned Blake to the #1 spot and also became the first gold-selling single of his career. It was followed by an excellent cover version of Conway Twitty’s 1988 hit, “Goodbye Time.” Blake’s version didn’t chart quite as high, peaking at #10. I prefer the Conway Twitty version but Blake’s rendition is my favorite song on this album. Both artists knock the Roger Murrah & James Dean Hicks tune out of the park and both versions deserved to be monster hits. A bit of trivia: the song was originally pitched to Reba McEntire, who turned it down because she was going through her divorce at the time and the lyrics apparently hit a little too close to home. The album’s fourth and final single, “Nobody But Me” was a substantial hit, reaching #4.
The album cuts in this collection are unusually strong and most of them had hit single potential. Two of them had been previously recorded; the uptempo “Cotton Pickin’ Time” (another Paul Overstreet co-write) had been released by The Marcy Brothers in 1989 and “What’s On My Mind” had appeared on a 2001 Gary Allan album. To my knowledge, “Good Old Boy, Bad Old Boyfriend”, which was written by Shelton’s producer and mentor Bobby Braddock had not been recorded before but it sounds very much like something Waylon Jennings might have done during his heyday. But perhaps the most interesting track is the Harley Allen tune “The Bartender”, in which Blake observes a tavern’s patrons and listens to their problems from across the bar.
There aren’t any weak tracks in this collection; they are well written and performed and without the production excesses that are the hallmark of most of today’s chart hits. Blake Shelton’s Barn & Grill serves as a model that demonstrates how much better the artist’s material — and indeed, country music in general — was, just slightly less than a decade ago. The album is easy to find and is worth seeking out.
Grade: A-
My Kind of Country 