Cam has been getting a lot of attention for this song, and as someone who was excited by her potential and loved “Burning House” but wasn’t necessarily blown away by the rest of her debut, I went into this hesitantly. I hope for Cam’s sake and the sake of talented women seeking to make it on country radio that she can have success with this song–because the half of this song that is great is the half that Cam has some responsibility for.
So let’s just ignore the supposed ties to that old Dolly Parton song that literally every other outlet everywhere is discussing and take this as a song. It’s told from the point of view of the other woman, speaking to Diane and telling her that she didn’t know he was married and that she’d give back the nights he spent with her if she could. She’d rather Diane hate her than not understand what happened, but she knows Diane will probably choose to blame her instead of believing the whole truth “because that’s what a good wife would do.” Yes, a song in country that tells a story, and about adultery no less. I love the little details like how Diane will probably hate her anyway, but this woman is desperate to tell her the truth in order to keep Diane from being deceived. Cam sings it quite well too, with nice vocal delivery and heartfelt sincerity that elevate the lyrics.
So why the lukewarm rating? Simply put, the arrangement/production of this thing is horrendous. It’s too frantic and upbeat for the words Cam is saying. There’s supposed to be all this cool harmony in the chorus, but it’s the result of effects rather than actual four-part harmony. I respect the fact that acoustic guitar drives the melody, and you don’t really hear electronic beats, but as I say, this song is moving along at such a rapid, frantic pace that it feels like Cam is just trying to keep up. It could have been a great song, it’s got a great country theme. I’m all for even modernizing it some to give Cam a fighting chance to make it on radio, but she can sing the hell out of stuff like “Burning House,” and if they’d stripped this down even a little, it would have flattered both her voice and the song. As it is, this arrangement has absolutely killed it and forsaken the melody. Further, it’s still not exactly radio-friendly, as it’s kind of vintage poppish with a little country flavor, so in essence, it’s probably not going to fly either on radio or with her more country-leaning fans. So it’s lukewarm all around, and maybe that’s the genius in tying it back to that Dolly Parton song, to attach it to an admittedly interesting talking point.
I hope I’m wrong for Cam’s sake, and for the sake of more songs buried in there like “Burning House” that need this single to be successful in order to see the light of day. But in the meantime, this is a case of a good country song on paper ruined at the hands of a pop producer, and my fear is that Cam will suffer for it.
Brianna and I are both huge fans of this band, and again, I do apologize that this comes late, but the only fair way to review this is a collaboration, and so we are here now to discuss our thoughts. Both of us enjoyed the new album, but this is definitely the most we’ve differed on a collab piece, which certainly made it a fun discussion, hopefully also a fun read.
Conversation
Megan: So first off, how would you say this is stacking up against other Turnpike albums? Obviously we’ve both been big fans for a long time, and I’ll just say, this had to grow on me.
Brianna: This one had to grow on me too. But at this point, it’s my second favorite after Diamonds and Gasoline. The band really bring the energy this time around, and the musicianship is stellar. I feel like this is their best album musically, as far as the various styles that are featured.
Megan: See, this is why the collaborations are good. Because for me, musically this is actually my least favorite. I’m not as much a fan of the more rock-influenced direction they went in for some of it. I feel like what got better on this album in particular was the songwriting.
Brianna: I love their country sound so much. Particularly the fiddle and also all the steel guitar on this album. It’s great! But songs like “Something to Hold On To” really show off their abilities with a more rock sound. It’s actually my top favorite song, I think. Also, I have to mention the musicianship on “A Tornado Warning.” That part where the lyrics speak about country music and the band breaks into this great sort of country sound for those few seconds is one of my favorite moments on the whole album instrumentally. As for the songwriting, I agree that it got a lot better. I like the albums before this one a lot, but not since Diamonds and Gasoline have I felt so drawn to the stories and characters.
Megan: Yeah, as an Oklahoman, I have to talk about “A Tornado Warning” for a minute. So essentially, they’re trying to use the music to explain how the wind sounds leading up to and during a tornado. I appreciate these details from them. I know it’s important to Evan Felker just based on stuff I’ve read that he writes about and portrays Oklahoma in the proper light, and I think this song is a great example of that.
Megan: As far as the stories and characters, I think a song like “The Housefire” is an example of the improved songwriting because it’s kind of an average song on the surface, but it gets elevated with the attention to detail and the inclusion of the mysterious Lorrie. If you’re new to Turnpike, you’re not impressed, but if you know Lorrie already, it’s even more significant.
Brianna: It sure is. If you’re new to the band, I’d even recommend going back and checking out the songs where she appears. It’s extremely unique and clever how Evan crafts such compelling stories. I love “The Housefire” and think it’s one of their best story songs. It just feels fuller knowing Lorrie’s backstory.
Megan: I’m glad you mentioned going back, because I think that’s my main criticism with this album. Even though the writing is better, it’s almost like an inside thing by now, like you couldn’t start someone new to this band with this album because of the references and interwoven stories.
Brianna: That’s a good point. I haven’t thought about that. On one hand, you’re right. All these little details, like the Browning shotgun that belongs to the narrator of “The Housefire” keep coming up, so yes, you do miss out on some things if you’ve never listened to them before. I”m more fan and think it’s awesome that these guys have created their own world and characters, but if you look at it this way, it can be a bit alienating. Still, if you are unfamiliar, you wouldn’t really know you’re missing out, and you could still appreciate the song. You’d just not get the bigger picture until you listened to their previous work.
Megan: That’s also a good perspective. So, standout moments for you? I know you’ve already mentioned “Something to Hold On To.”
Brianna: OH yeah, the guitar and chorus of that song are just so catchy! I love it. Besides that one and “The Housefire,” I love the fast pace of “Winding Stair Mountain Blues,” with its sort of bluegrass sound. Plus, the lyrics are very interesting. I also really love “Pay NO Rent” because it’s such a heartfelt description of emotion. “Sunday Morning Paper” is very catchy and also pretty timely, as it’s about the death of rock ‘n’ roll. Really, I could go on about almost all of these songs. What about you?
Megan: I’d agree about “The Winding Stair Mountain Blues” and Pay NO Rent” for sure. “Winding Stair” is just stellar instrumentally, and it shows off their fiddle which I always have a weakness for. On the other side of that, you’ve got “Pay no Rent,” which is pretty much Exhibit A for the fact that Evan Felker is a redneck Shakespeare. Incredibly poetic, well-written song. Also really digging “Pipe Bomb Dream” and “Old Time Feeling (Like Before).”
Brianna: OH, how could I forget about those two? The first thing I noticed about “Pipe Bomb Dream” was all the great steel guitar, but I think painting the portrait of a war vet getting into trouble with the law on account of some rather illicit activities was kind of fun. As for “Old Time Feeling,” I thought it was pretty potent emotionally, as he’s saying he felt exactly the same way he used to. Times have changed, but his feelings haven’t. I like the lyrics of that song a lot.
Megan: It’s easy to forget them, I think, because there are so many great songs. So I think we agree on the low point of the record, that being “Oklahoma Stars.”
Brianna: For sure. It’s not a bad song by any means, but the lyrics don’t really do anything for me. There isn’t one Turnpike Troubadours song I think is awful, but this one just kind of…bores me, I suppose.
Megan: Jamie Lin Wilson did that song at Medicine Stone. She wrote all of it and sent it to Evan, who apparently added the last verse. I actually thought her version was beautiful, and I was really looking forward to hearing theirs. She had written the song after Medicine Stone last year about the experience there; that’s why it mentions the “banks in late September” for example. I actually think their version is completely awful in comparison, because it’s a complete misinterpretation of hers. Hers was much more melodic and heartfelt, and I think this one stripped a lot of that away.
Brianna: Oh wow, I definitely need to see if I can listen to her version. I really like her singing, so I’m betting I’ll like that a lot.
Megan: Yeah, hearing it on this album was majorly disappointing for me. She’s singing with him on it, but it still just doesn’t sound right. Anyway, I’m interested to see what your overall rating of this will be because based on this conversation and some things we’ve said in private, I think this may be the first time your rating beats mine.
Brianna: I think I’ll have to go with a 9.5 on this one. The instrumentation really is stellar, and the sound is much fuller than on their previous albums. The writing is very well done, and I love most of these songs. Really, the only thing bringing this album down for me is my total lack of feeling toward “Oklahoma Stars.” While I definitely acknowledge your point about the number of things on this album that are kind of special only if you’re already familiar with their work, it’s just something that draws me into their music and this album even more.
Megan: Everyone, take note, this is the highest rating for an album Brianna has yet given here. I myself don’t love it as much as you, I’d go with an 8 for this album. The songs I enjoy I absolutely love, but it’s not the entire album for me. Definitely a solid addition to their discography, but I guess I’ll be in the minority because I don’t think it’s their best album overall. And we’ve created a weird collective rating for this which has never happened before.
When I saw that Whitney Rose was going to release an album so soon after her recent EP, I was excited. I really like the sound that she is developing, and her voice is unlike any other I know of today. After hearing this record, I have to admit that I am a touch disappointed. While it is still instrumentally appealing and has some good songs, I have to say that I believe that Heartbreaker of the Year was abetter album to me.
“I Don’t Want Half (I Just Want Out)” starts the album off in a very country way. The lyrics tell of a woman who just wants a divorce. her husband and his girlfriend can have the house, all of her possessions, even the cat. She simply doesn’t want to be reminded of her husband anymore. I like this song’s instrumentation, because it’s very country with the fiddle solo. I like the fast pace of “Arizona”, as well. In this song, Whitney Rose tells of dreaming of Arizona where there is heat, because her partner is so cold. It’s an interesting kind of track lyrically. Plus, there is some really well-done saxophone. Another song I enjoy is “Better To My Baby”. The woman in the song wants her ex’s new partner to treat him better than she did. I don’t think I’ve heard a song speak about an ex in that manner, which makes it very refreshing. Like many songs on the album, it’s faster and not sad at all, and I quite appreciate that.
“You Never Cross My Mind” slows everything down, though. This song is just a bunch of lines that aren’t true, such as how oceans aren’t deep and mountains aren’t tall, and he never crosses her mind. While I do like that, it quickly becomes a bit dull. “You Don’t Scare Me” is a song I find unique. It tells the story of a woman who meets a man at a bar and goes home with him. When the man points out that it’s only for a night, she laughs and says that’s fine. She’s not scared of him, because her heart’s already been broken. There’s nothing that he can do to her that hasn’t already been done.
Now we come to what is my least favorite song by Whitney Rose. I haven’t heard her first album, but out of the songs from this album, her EP, and Heartbreaker of the Year, this is definitely the track I like the least. It’s essentially about being nervous and tense, but the fact that she keeps repeating the phrase “I can’t stop shaking” makes it all very redundant. Not even the fast instrumentation got me into this song. I really like the next track, “Tied to the Wheel”, however. I read somewhere that it is a cover, but this is the only version I’ve heard. The track tells of a trucker who loves what he does, but at times he feels tied to the wheel. He misses his family but never sees them due to his job. I’m sure that this theme is very relatable for people who aren’t home as often as they might like. There is some accordion in this song, and it just adds to the appeal for me.
Probably my favorite song on the whole album is “Trucker’s Funeral”. It tells the tale of a funeral where the person telling the story finds out that her father, who was a trucker, had another family across the country. It’s an interesting story, and like a good book, when I first heard the song I couldn’t wait to see what happened next. “Wake Me In Wyoming” is a sad song about heartbreak. The person in the song is sad about the fact that their relationship has ended, and in order to not be tempted to go back home, she doesn’t want to be woken up until she’s thousands of miles away in Wyoming. I like the instrumentation of this song, but the way it’s sung, as well as the vagueness of the story keep it from really standing out to me.
“You’re A Mess” is another song I don’t particularly like on this album. The lyrics tell of a woman trying to love the person she is with, but they make it hard for her. She loves him, but he makes her angry. Yet again, this one isn’t particularly memorable for me. I don’t know if it’s how Whitney Rose sings the song, the instrumentation, or just the somewhat vague lyrics, but I just can’t get into this song. I do like the last track, “Time To Cry”, though. It’s fast and fun. The lyrics revolve around a woman who left the man who had made her cry, and now she says it’s his turn. I find it interesting how this song is right after “You’re A Mess”, so it could be taken as a kind of story. I think this was a good way to end the album.
In the end, I like this album. I don’t like all the songs, as evidenced by my feelings for songs like “Can’t Stop Shaking”, “You Never Cross My Mind”, and “You’re a Mess”. Still, I enjoy how a lot of these songs are at a faster tempo. I especially like how upbeat “Time To Cry” is, since I initially assumed it’d be slower and sad. This album features some very well-done steel guitar, accordion, and fiddle. I continue to like Whitney Rose’s singing, although I had to get used to her tone on some of the songs. Still, I think if you are a fan of her, this album is at least worth looking into. While I don’t believe it’s her best work, it’s by no means a bad example of it either.
You know what the coolest thing about this little online blogging/music world is? It’s the friends you make through doing this, people that share a common interest and love for the same music. And one of the greatest parts of that has to be all the albums and artists friends and acquaintances of mine have sent me, not in the way of a publicist looking for a review, just as a friend looking to send me something I might like. I’ve got a “never-ending list” of these, especially since getting Twitter, and by all means, keep them coming. Anyway, The Whiskey Gentry here was one of these recommendations sent by a friend who thought I might enjoy them, and yes, they got moved straight to the front of the never-ending list just because that’s a badass name. The Whiskey Gentry? You’ve got my attention. It took awhile with this album, partly because it had to grow on me and mostly because I’ve had some stuff go on in my personal life that put me behind in writing, but I’ve discovered that not only do they have a cool name, The Whiskey Gentry have a pretty good new album here as well.
Actually, the front half of this album is pretty excellent. We’ve got a traveling musician theme running through this record, established with the opener, “Following You,” a reminder that all the other dreamers are looking up to you as you try to make it. I love the line, “the worst day on the road beats spreading paint,” as it seems to be a reminder to them as well as to the listener. The title track is a companion to this, as the lead singer, Lauren Staley, describes getting an English degree and being able to talk Shakespeare but really dreaming of being the “more famous girl on the radio” that people supposedly mistake her for. The lighthearted “Rock n Roll Band” fits this theme as well, and although it’s not quite as memorable as these two, it fits in with the whole atmosphere of this record. “Looking for Trouble” attempts to be a bit more serious, but the instrumentation is still quite lively, and Lauren’s voice, though admittedly weak on quite a few of these songs, shines here on a more subdued track. “Paris” is just, well, let’s use the band’s own description, stupid, but damn, it’s fun, and I just love this. And then if you thought all they did was play upbeat, fun stuff, “Paris” dissolves rather abruptly into “Kern River.” That same fragility in Lauren Staley’s voice works to perfection on this cover, adding a natural vulnerability to the song. This was a brilliant choice, and at track 6, I’ve no complaints with this album at all. Sure, her voice gets drowned out in places, but her personality and the lively, fun instrumentation more than make up for this. OH, and I haven’t said so yet, but this is pretty damn country, despite Apple Music amusingly calling it rock…guess they assumed because of the sheer number of boring, mid-tempo country/Americana releases in 2017, anything this upbeat and cheerful couldn’t possibly be classified as such…but I digress.
The back half does have some problems. I’ll isolate “Drinking Again” on this half because it’s just awesome, and I’ve been singing this for a week and a half. It’s about her going into rehab and pretending to care while she dreams of getting back to drinking. She’s trying to get her drinking under control, but she’s got zero intention of actually giving it up; “it’s time to start drinking again, but first I gotta make it one more day.” “Seven Year Ache” isn’t bad either–in fact, I love the arrangement–but the very frailty I pointed out earlier in her voice doesn’t suit this song, and as a huge fan of the Rosanne Cash original, I wouldn’t have wished Lauren Staley anywhere near this song. “Martha From Marfa” is meant to be stupid just like “Paris,” but it doesn’t pull it off as well, and “Say it Anyway,” although it has a good message, is just a little forgettable. The two slower songs at the end, though placed there to highlight a different side of the group, really don’t add much. The hook of “Is it Snowing Where You Are?” is just weird, and “If You Were an Astronaut” takes incredibly long to get to the point. I’ll give this one the fact that the point, once reached, is good; it’s quite a nice love song once you extract it from all the metaphors. These two, as I say, do show another side to the band and also showcase Lauren’s voice better, but I could have done without both of them. I wouldn’t call any of this especially bad, but we went from excellent to mediocre on the back half, except for “Drinking Again.”
So, yeah, this rating was a bit hard to assign because quite a bit of this album is outstanding, mixed in with some really average, unremarkable stuff. Take off the two final tracks, and we’ve got a ten-track 8.5/10 for sure. But this album is definitely worth hearing because there’s some really good stuff here, and also because it’s just so fun and lighthearted, and we haven’t gotten a lot of that this year. We haven’t gotten too much good true country anyway, let alone true country with this much energy and personality. So thanks for introducing me to The Whiskey Gentry, and now I’m passing them on to you all.
Look, Midland are full of shit. I know it, you know it, and Midland sure as hell know it, and they should drop the bullshit about how they’re this bar band from Texas. But they aren’t going to, and we can either spend time hung up on that, or actually focus on the music. I can understand the criticisms, but look, there are a lot of artists I don’t like or respect personally that make fine music. You wonder why I don’t have a picture accompanying this review? Well, think about this: I don’t look at the outfits. Yes, I’ve seen the stories, but it’s easier for me to assess the music on its own merit. Many of you, and understandably so, judge a lot about an album or artist simply by the cover, something I didn’t honestly take into fair account until the John Moreland record. At that point, I saw as many comments on the cover as on the album. I see remarks all the time on the image of the artist, usually derogatory ones on mainstream artists peppered all over SCM threads, just to be blunt. Anyway, at that time, after I became curious at the scrutiny the Moreland cover had received, we started adding captions here for many of our covers, to give blind readers that advantage of being able to discern things from the cover art. Indeed, sometimes these captions have given me insight into my reviews. When you see the Steel Woods cover with a farmer biting into an apple staring into a hurricane and then hear “The Secret,” it’s all the more intense. Liz Rose’s cover adds more to that album too. But here, with Midland, I want you all to take your focus off that for a moment and just think about the quality of the music. I know this is ridiculous, and that you’ve seen plenty of pictures of them and their cover from other outlets, but try to understand the point I’m making here.
So we put this record on, all extraneous bullshit stripped away, and I’ll be damned, it’s traditional. Maybe not the second coming of Haggard, but I’d say 90’s country. NO electronic drumbeats, plenty of steel and fiddle, yeah, you know, those things we used to take for granted in country music. And this came out of Big Machine. I didn’t know it was possible in 2017. I didn’t know there were still people left in Nashville who could play actual instruments for an entire thirteen-song album. And you want to talk about songwriting by committee? Yeah, I’m not a fan of that either, but isn’t it refreshing to see people like Shane McAnally actually lending their names and talents to something resembling country music? You know, the guy that put Sam Hunt on the map?
And that’s not to say this album is going to be the best thing I’ve heard all year, not by any stretch. The best word for it is consistent. It’s solid all the way through, and it took a few listens to sink in. At first, it was pretty unremarkable to me. A couple listens in, this would have probably gotten a 6 from me. There are a couple life-on-the-road songs here like “Electric Rodeo” and especially “Check Cashin’ Country” that just seem fake–no, not because Midland haven’t traveled all over Texas, just because they’re a young band, and they don’t have the experience anyway. These songs just seem clichéd, and actually, that’s the biggest problem with this whole record. The songwriting by committee thing is most evident in this respect because you don’t get personal details from Midland; it’s great that the style is traditional country, but much like Alex Williams’ latest, this often feels like an interpretation of style instead of anything resembling personal expression. It’s a debut, and just as with Alex, I think we can forgive that for Midland. It’s the clichés that held this back for me at first, but equally, the songs are better as a whole than those on the Williams album, so it’s a 7, but a hesitant 7.
I said the songs are better, and it’s true–this album just won me over after awhile. It’s hard to hear “Make a Little” and not smile, both at the country instrumentation and the catchy melody. There’s “More Than a Fever,” which reminds me of something George Strait might have recorded later in his career. There’s “Somewhere on the Wind,” which manages to pull off the road-weariness thing pretty well. Clever details and hooks in songs like “At Least You Cried” and “Out of Sight” elevate these tracks as well. As I say, it’s not groundbreaking material, and there’s not a whole lot I can write about it, but it’s very solid.
I wish Midland had never lied about their background because a lot of people, myself included, would have never given a shit where they came from. But you know what? In a way, I get it too because from the shit storm I’ve seen on Twitter this week, I daresay there are some narrow-minded people who would have never given this band a chance even if they had been honest. It’s that narrow-mindedness that I hate in the independent/Americana/Texas scenes. And if you deny its existence, I present Sam Outlaw, his name and his previous occupation in advertising, as Exhibit A. How many people don’t give him a chance because of either or both of these things? It’s no excuse for Midland’s lies, and I think that’s done more harm than good, but in a way, I understand it. I’m sorry they didn’t let the music speak for itself, but we as music listeners can do just that, and that is how I for one choose to approach Midland. And if you do give this a chance, you’ll find some pretty good country music.
