Rating: 7/10
If you’re looking for someone new to follow in the traditional country scene, meet Randall King. This self-titled debut album really fulfills any fan of the genre’s requirements. It features plenty of steel guitar, nicely varied tempos, and his voice is quite good. I just knew I was going to like this album once I heard his Southern drawl and the upbeat tempo of the first track, “Freightline”.
It’s no surprise, then, that “Freightline” is one of my favorites off of the whole album. It’s a song all about how the main character, a trucker, simply wants to get back home to his partner. She’s waiting for him, the least the trucking line could do is work faster. I just found this song a breath of fresh air, and it makes for a solid album opener. Another of my favorites off of the album is the slower “Mirror, Mirror”. It’s more introspective, with the character in the song looking into a mirror. It’s reflecting him, the biggest fool, who’s somehow managed to lose the woman he loved. Randall King’s voice really sells this song, and you get to see just how vocally talented he is. The steel guitar is amazing on this track, but since this is true for most of this album, I’ll try not to elaborate on it too much.
While we’re on the subject of songs wherein the main character isn’t perfect, there’s “Cool Under Pressure”. While it’s more upbeat, the character is saying how he has to hide his nerves around a girl he likes. I didn’t like it at first, because it seemed to me that he wasn’t being himself. When I really thought about it, though, I found the song a breath of fresh air. The man is admitting that he’s not smooth and that he doesn’t actually have the girl yet. I liked that a lot.
My absolute favorite song on the album is “When He Knows Me”. It’s about a truck driver who is losing his memory, told from the perspective of a friend or relative. It’s an incredibly sad song, wherein Randall King describes how some days the man remembers, and some days he doesn’t. The line that really gets me here is “those precious moments are getting fewer and farther between, when he knows me”. There’s also the verse where the narrator describes how he’s been mixed up with a field hand, a foe, and a friend. It really is one of the saddest songs I’ve heard all year. If you listen to anything off of this album, make it this.
While I’ve highlighted my favorites, the rest of the album is nicely varied between happy and sad, fast and slow. There isn’t really one song I hate. If I had to pick my least favorite song here, I think it’d have to be “Tuggin’ On My Heartstrings”. Which is sad, because I love it instrumentally. It’s fun, upbeat, with awesome fiddle and steel. The lyrics, though, is where I take issue. It’s about a man who’s in love with a woman, and that woman is changing literally everything about his life, from his friends to what he watches on TV. I just think that’s stereotypical and wrong. That said, I can’t help liking the melody, tempo, and everything musical about this song.
Overall, this album is solid. Not every song is a standout, but Randall King has a really good voice. He’s definitely got the talent to pull off the variety found here. With songs like “When He Knows Me”, and “Mirror Mirror On The Wall”, I’d say he’s one to watch. The fact that the whole album wasn’t slow and sad just makes it that much better, and I definitely recommend checking this out.