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Reviews

Album Review: John Prine–The Tree of Forgiveness

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Rating: 7/10

How can I actually find a way to properly introduce the great John Prine. If background info seemed superfluous with Willie Nelson, it seems almost ridiculous with John Prine, as that name should be an introduction in and of itself, carrying the legend of the incredible songwriting that has marked his career. Indeed, he wrote one of my favorite songs in “Angel From Montgomery,” and I am nothing but glad to see that with this resurgence of his popularity at this point in his life, new generations are coming around to the fact that Prine is a songwriting genius.

John Prine was never an especially remarkable singer, and time and especially cancer can be cruel to a voice, but that’s not why anyone ever listened to Prine in the first place. If it was a great voice you were looking for, it’s your loss because it’s wisdom and passion which outlast even time and circumstance, and Prine displays both in his songwriting. Anyone looking to become better at this craft should study this album and the music of John Prine, for the man is a world-class wordsmith, and no one can pen songs quite like him.

It’s not just his choice of words or the unique way he can empathize with the world, either. It’s the way he can make death seem like a party in “When I Get to Heaven”–in fact, the very name of this album comes from the name of a nightclub he plans to open in the afterlife. He speaks of starting a band and smoking cigarettes that are nine miles long and makes it all seem like an adventure, all but eliminating the fear of death with this picture of it. He can make us all feel at once sympathetic with the forgotten, lonesome narrator of “Knockin’ on Your Screen Door” and guilty for not helping the less fortunate. With the pictures he paints, he lets us know it’s our business to be more compassionate to people, to understand their circumstances and put ourselves in their place. It’s not preachy because John Prine is not a preacher–he’s a storyteller, and this is a story of the downtrodden that needs to be told. He can even humanize “poor planet Pluto,” as he does in the album highlight, “Lonesome Friends of Science,” the once majestic planet which has now been demoted.

It’s also in that song that he speaks of actually “living” in a place deep inside his mind while collecting his mail in Tennessee. It’s an interesting perspective and one that is common among songwriters and other creative souls, as they interpret the world with deeper emotion and unique insight, feeling things from deep within and letting their imaginations run free. It’s certainly from a place like that where songs like “Egg & Daughter Nite, Lincoln Nebraska, 1967, (crazy Bone)” originate; yes, that’s a real title here on this album, and yes, the song is about as strange as that title would imply. But it’s a cheerful reminder for us all to stay weird if nothing else.

Dave Cobb was, for the most part, a good producer for this because he knows how to get out of the way of an artist and let their lyrics be the focal point. This is pretty minimalist in its approach, and usually, that serves Prine well. There’s some upbeat, cheerful acoustic guitar in “Knockin’ on Your Screen door” which helps to give that track some life, and some lively drums and more energetic production to help the humorous “Crazy Bone.” The piano adds to “Lonesome Friends of Science” as well, creating a nice interlude in the middle of that track. There are some collaborators, most notably Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires, and Brandi Carlile, and they do their part to enhance, rather than take away from, the lyrics. Prine and his words are always the main focus.

Still, it does feel like sometimes John Prine is left too exposed by the production. “Summer’s End,” for example, could have done with a bit more, especially at the beginning, as it sounds sort of unfinished. “NO Ordinary Blue” could have benefited from some collaboration to support the vocals as well, and “Caravan of Fools” just feels like it needed something else, maybe some strings or piano to add to it. There are some strings which come in at the very end, but they would have served the song better if they’d come in earlier. It’s an odd thing to say because a record usually suffers from the opposite when it comes to production issues, but this one is underproduced in places.

As for John Prine himself, this album proves why he’s become so popular again later in his life, why people are once again taking notice of his songs and his career. It’s because he is a songwriter like no other, and people recognize that wisdom and talent when they hear it. They admire his compassion and love the weirdness and wit which separates him from many of his contemporaries. On a side note, this record is also a great case for the fact that artists don’t magically stop having something relevant or profound to say when they’ve reached a certain age or point in their careers–it’s a lesson Americana knows well but which country needs to learn. Aspiring songwriters and fans of good music, acquaint yourself with Jon Prine. This is just another good place to begin.

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Memorable Songs

Memorable Songs From Overlooked Albums: April 13th

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Since this little feature has been around for a year now, and you all seem to enjoy it, I’ve given it its own category, so you can more easily find all of these. This is a semi-regular affair that pops up when we’ve got enough material to warrant it and contains songs from forgettable/mediocre albums, songs from stuff we didn’t review out of deference to artists or time constraints, and songs from albums we just didn’t have much to say about but still felt some tracks deserved a feature.

Dallas Moore: “Home is Where the Highway Is

I know many people liked Dallas Moore’s album Mr. Honky Tonk–it really wasn’t for me, but it’s one where I get the appeal for those who like that “outlaw country” sound and style. I could have really picked any of these tracks to showcase because once you’ve heard one, you’ve got the idea, and basically, you’ll know who you are if you’re going to like it. It’s that typical, straightforward outlaw sound that many artists have relied upon recently, although I will say that Moore tries to go deeper than the surface with some of this and pulls this off more than many of his counterparts.

David Lee Murphy–“As the Crow Flies”

The best and most succinct descriptor for David Lee Murphy’s recent album, No Zip Code, that I’ve seen is “lame.” It’s a shame because he made some really cool music back in the 90’s; on this album, he tries to revive the ghost of bro country in lots of boring and ill-advised ways. The album has very little personality, but here’s a track that really stands out among the forgettable.

David Lee Murphy–“Voice of Reason”

Definitely a highlight on this album, a nice country rock track reminding you what David Lee Murphy is really capable of when he applies himself. More of this on the next record, please.

Western Centuries–“Earthly Justice”

This Western Centuries album is just not for me. “Earthly Justice” was the first song I heard From Songs from the Deluge, and I thought I’d really enjoy it, but it turns out to be the only one I really like. That said, a song like this is the reason this feature was born because this is a really cool song that deserves to be heard. And who knows, the album might be for you as well.

Jordan Davis–“Going ‘Round”

Now to the mainstream, and yes, that dude who produced the completely idiotic “Singles You UP” also has a couple of intelligent cuts on his album. “Going ‘Round” is the antithesis of “Singles You Up” actually, depicting a narrator who is remorseful after screwing it up with his ex, and now that he’s heard she’s broken up with her new boyfriend, he wants to get back together. But he doesn’t want to move too fast because he knows she’s hurting, and he also knows that if he hadn’t let her go, this probably wouldn’t have happened in the first place…yes, I know, actual mature, intelligent emotions. Really good song here.

Jordan Davis–“Leaving New Orleans”

Further proof on Home State that this guy has something meaningful to say comes in the closer, “Leaving New Orleans.” Here, our narrator is leaving that town and all he’s ever known because it reminds him too much of his ex…again, actual, honest emotion, and also really nice, vivid imagery of the Quarter and the things that make New Orleans unique and beautiful.

Kim Richey–“Chase Wild Horses”

Kim Richey’s Edgeland is a victim of a bad release day–it came out the same day as Lindi Ortega, Kacey Musgraves, Ashley McBryde, Red Shahan, etc. It’s partly because of time constraints and partly because I like this album better than my review would likely indicate that I leave it here; those obsessed with the rating would get caught up in the 6, but it’d be a good 6. This is one where I could have chosen several songs and the album I most recommend people listen to out of the ones featured here. If you liked the Caroline Spence album Spades and Roses from last year, you’ll have a great shot of enjoying this. I tried to display the variety here by going with these two, “Chase Wild Horses” being the more upbeat, folk rock number.

Kim Richey–“The Get Together” (featuring Mando Saenz)

The best for last, and this is a beautifully written and performed song about two friends, or exes, or really whatever relationship you want to imagine since it’s not clear, getting together because one of them is leaving. It’s something we can all relate to, and the harmonies really add a lot to this track. This one’s also more country-leaning and features some excellent steel guitar. There’s a reason this is on the March playlist for sure. Really great song, and my only regret is that this live version is all I can find to place here.

Reviews

Single Review: Carrie Underwood’s “Cry Pretty”

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Rating: 8/10

Yes, Carrie Underwood has new music. I think we all knew that if we were living anywhere on the planet this week, so let’s get right to the point.

This song so blatantly flaunts established country radio convention that it becomes necessary to make a list of things it does to fly in the face of that institution.

  • it’s a mid-tempo ballad, not some upbeat summer anthem
  • it contains actual steel guitar
  • it features four female songwriters which must be some sort of unspoken crime in Nashville
  • it actually speaks to the female perspective instead of whatever “Female” thought it was doing
  • there’s actual emotion, but it’s nothing to do with love or anything else stereotypical

And yet, Carrie Underwood has the gall to release this to country radio–not only that, to choose to release it despite the pressure to release her Super Bowl anthem “The Champion” which featured Ludacris instead. That song, despite not being country in the slightest and not being very good in whatever genre it landed beyond its original purpose, probably would have done well in today’s radio environment. Yet she chose this decidedly country pop song and exercised leadership with that decision, more than we can say for many other mainstream country artists.

The song itself starts off with just Carrie and some very faint electric guitar, and credit to her for being very restrained at the beginning and slowly building throughout the song to reflect emotions getting out of hand and becoming uncontrollable. She’s singing about those times when our emotions get the best of us; we can fake it with a”pretty lie” or brush it off with a “pretty smile,” but it’s impossible to “cry pretty.” She asserts that crying is human and all part of being a person and a woman–it could be in response to the way she removed herself from the public to heal after injuring her face, but the details are vague. The vagueness is both a drawback to the song and a thing that will keep it more relatable to a wider audience. This is Carrie Underwood, famous singer, always in the spotlight, actually being vulnerable and making herself an equal with all of us. It’s why this song will work–it shows that she’s really not that different to any of us, and it will speak to people because of that.

And it will most likely get played on country radio as well because it’s Carrie Underwood we’re talking about, and she’s pretty much one of the only women guaranteed to have success in the format. Credit to her for taking advantage of that position and releasing this song, adding her name to the growing number of artists channeling good singles out into the mainstream.

Written by: Carrie Underwood, Lori McKenna, Liz Rose, Hillary Lindsey

Reviews

Single Review: Kelsea Ballerini’s “I Hate Love Songs”

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Rating: 7/10

Wow, it feels good to be able to sit down and positively review a Kelsea Ballerini single–and even more than that, to have something good to say about a song partly concocted by Shane McAnally. Kelsea had already showed significant growth and maturity on her second album, and I was hoping we’d see something like this released as a single. Hopefully, we’ll see it have the same kind of success as some of her previous stuff because maybe she’ll keep releasing substantive, if pop-flavored, material to country radio.

The thing about this that makes me think its success is highly possible is that while substantive, it’s still fun. It’s clever and witty, bringing a much-needed slice of humor to the genre similar to what we saw with Maddie & Tae’s “Shut up and Fish.” But whereas that song forsook the clingy guy altogether in favor of fishing, this one only casts off the tired, worn-out clichés associated with love. She still loves her man, but she’s sick of “cakes with white frosting” and “Valentine’s dinner” and notes that “you’d die if your heart really skipped.” He makes her feel something, but it “sure as hell ain’t butterflies,” and they were drunk when they met, so neither of them can remember their anniversary.

It’s all delivered with a laid-back lounge atmosphere that calls to mind vintage pop; yes, it’s definitely pop more than country, but it’s like a 50’s style more than anything modern. I can almost hear Whitney Rose doing something like this, only maybe less produced. The delivery is part of its charm, as she’s telling us all these lines in an offhanded, casual way, so you might not pick up on the jokes right away.

This is Kelsea Ballerini’s smartest, most mature single to date. The lyrics are sharp, and the delivery fits the song well. She’s also kept the fun personality which characterized her earlier singles, refining it into wit and humor rather than immaturity. This should be a hit, and I hope it will be because this is both the right direction for Ballerini and a move toward more quality in the mainstream.

Written by: Kelsea Ballerini, Shane McAnally, Trevor Rosen

Reviews

Album Review: Years by Sarah Shook & the Disarmers

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Rating: 8/10

Sometimes it’s not the records with the best songwriting, the ones with the most interesting instrumentation, or the ones with the greatest vocalists that manage to stand out. With regard to that last point especially, Sarah Shook certainly doesn’t qualify, and as I said in a recent piece on vocal technique, hers is a perfect case for the value and importance of improving your vocal skill and making your music work regardless of your tone. She’s not an especially brilliant songwriter either; it’s not that her songs are lame by any stretch of anyone’s imagination, but there’s no Jason Isbell or Evan Felker-ish line coming out of nowhere on this album to make you stop in your tracks and think about life differently than you did five minutes ago. So why is it that she and her band, The Disarmers, seem to have captured such a wide audience with this record?

It’s amazingly, stupidly simple, and yet so few artists have stumbled upon it: Sarah Shook is relating to people. She’s being herself, and she’s being real. She’s telling us all the God’s honest, unpolished, unedited truth, and not only that, she’s making us all empathize with her. When you strip away all the extraneous qualifications and unnecessary bullshit, that’s what music is all about and why we all love it. It’s meant to make us feel something in a way that nothing else can, and Sarah Shook delivers that in full force on this album.

And when you’re throwing out lines like “I need this shit like I need another hole in my head,” it only makes sense that you deliver them in a rough, weathered vocal tone. Sarah’s vocal tone is anything but pleasant, but she worked on the parts of her voice that she could control, such as breath support and pitch accuracy, between the Disarmers’ debut album and this one, and the results are tangible. It makes her tone a feature rather than a flaw, lending character to songs about living hard, breaking up, and spiraling through drunken depression to deal with it all. Some people are just not going to like her tone regardless, a fact which there’s really no getting around–but the people that are going to love this record are going to love it in spite of and even because of that.

Relatability is her strength, and she showcases it here by telling both sides of the story in the breakup. Sometimes she’s the one fed up with her lover for drinking and staying out late and generally living unwisely, and sometimes she’s the one doing all of these things. In the opening lines of “Good as Gold,” she adopts the role of her whiny ex, as she mockingly sings, “I’m afraid of losing, not afraid of losing you, ’cause I don’t think of you like a thing of mine that I can just up and lose.” You can feel the sarcasm coming off her in waves, and you want to empathize with her and call this guy a bastard. But then, on “The Bottle Never Lets me Down,” she provides a counter to that argument, singing from the man’s perspective and saying “the bottle never lets me down the way you do,” asserting that drinking is the only way he can feel the way he used to be. We’ve all been there on one side or the other, and the genius in Sarah shook is that she gracefully depicts both, and more than that, she leaves it up to us to decide who is right. And still other times, she sings from her own perspective but still portrays someone living hard, adding another angle to the story. In “New Ways to Fail,” in a moment of forthrightness I think we can all appreciate, she announces,

It seems my way of living don’t live up to your standards,
And if you had your way, I’d be some proper kind of lady.
Well, the door is over there, if I may speak with perfect candor,
You’re welcome to walk through it at any old time that you fancy

It’s that sharp, raw honesty, spoken out of a place of perpetual tiredness, that many of us can relate to and which keeps people identifying with Sarah Shook and her music.

As for the instrumentation, it’s bright and vibrant, especially for an independent country/Americana record. I’m so glad to see we’re getting more energetic stuff in 2018; I feel like I’ve written that last sentence more already this year than I ever got the chance to do in 2017. I’ve seen this labeled stylistically as everything from outlaw to cowpunk, but I think we should just go with…country. We can have all kinds of discussions, enlightening and otherwise, about what isn’t real country these days, but some things are just unequivocally real country, and this is one of them. It isn’t going to cause debates or discussions or divisions. Within that, we are blessed with varied tempos and even some variations in style. “Lesson” goes for an almost beachy feel and sees her casually vowing to learn from all this and move on. Following that, we have a straight-up Western swing number in “Damned if I Do, Damned if I Don’t.” This one is just infectious as all hell. And massive credit to the Disarmers, an essential part of making these melodies and often depressing lyrics come to life on this record and complement the stories told by Sarah Shook.

This album is not without its flaws, the biggest one being inconsistency. We go from the absolutely excellent openers “Good as Gold” and “New ways to Fail” to an honestly boring rendition of “Over You.” “Heartache in Hell” is another boring moment, this one unfortunately allowed to drag on for over five minutes. Sarah Shook’s stories work best when they’re backed up by fun, infectious music, and the slow-burning songs serve to interrupt an otherwise fantastic record. It’s here where her vocal quality sticks out because it’s here that it’s meant to shine above the rest of the band. They work better as a seamless, collective unit rather than as a backing band featuring Sarah in a prominent spot. They are much more suited for the faster songs, as these are where they all work together to create a sum that is better than its individual parts.

But when it works, as it does for a good majority of this album, it’s nearly flawless. Sarah Shook’s ability to cut right to the point and then frame that point around a clever hook and catchy melody in a way that you can’t help but relate to it and get it stuck in your head is uncanny and certainly welcome in independent music. You all might be surprised at the amount of 8’s and 9’s pouring out over the past couple weeks–and yes, we’ll have some balance soon–but I wish all release weeks could be like these last two. Add this one to the growing pile of great records already released this year.

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