Reviews

Single Review: Keith Urban’s “Coming Home” (ft) Julia Michaels)

Leave a comment

Rating: 0/10

Keith Urban seems hell-bent on removing all vestiges of dignity from his legacy by wasting his undeniable talent as a musician and songwriter on producing the laziest examples of shitty non-country music to grace our ears these past several years. And while I was not one who hated “Female” as vehemently as many, feeling that that did at least try to offer something meaningful and substantive, Urban’s complete forsaking of his signature guitar work in favor of electronic beats is without excuse. And now we have this new single, “Coming Home,” lacking in both sound and substance and proving to be one of Urban’s laziest efforts to date.

Yeah, we all know by now that Keith chose to rip off the classic riff to Merle Haggard’s “Mama Tried,” which is its own form of country music blasphemy. It’s an honor I’m sure Merle is rolling over in his grave somewhere about having been bestowed. But at least they gave him credit. AT least they admitted they had no original thought here whatsoever, which is more than Thomas Rhett could say about his rip-off of “Chain Gang” commonly known as “Crash and Burn.”

But you know why they ripped off the Haggard riff? Because that’s literally the only memorable thing about this piece of shit. If not for that, none of us would be talking about it at all. It’s vapid and shallow lyrically, meant to be about coming home, but instead of taking you to a specific place with unique details like Scotty McCreery’s “Home in my Mind,” it opts for generic bullshit that ultimately says nothing. It mentions a place where people know you and repeats lines about a phone call from far away. It’s obviously trying to reach as broad an audience as possible and thus ultimately becomes disposable to everyone. Nothing here is imaginative, original, or creative. Keith Urban sounds bored and checked out vocally, and oh yeah, since the current trend is to feature a female pop star since that makes it look like country radio is achieving progress on the tomato front, we also have Julia Michaels for a brief appearance, sounding just as underwhelming. Add generic, electronic beats, a melody that’s forgettable and stale, and yeah, literally the only thing here that makes this song worthy of even a passing comment is the Merle Haggard riff. I guess this is genius marketing by Urban, elevating his completely forgettable, average song that’s not country and also not worth anything in the pop world, by adding a classic riff and therefore a story line.

This stuff is so disappointing from an artist like Keith Urban because he knows better. Instead of showing leadership in the genre, he’s selling out hard and ignoring his talents. Instead of letting go of his radio relevancy with grace, he’s sunk to the lowest points of his career. This song is an example of one of his laziest attempts to get a hit, and it just proves the lack of effort and talent it takes to get corporate country radio to play your single, and then to get all your gullible fans to buy this. Keith Urban fans should expect and demand more because Urban is capable of delivering it. And as for the Merle rip-off, it seems par for the course for an artist so determined to forsake any shred of original thought or creativity. But can we really blame him? When all your own ideas are shit, and your song is a shallow piece of crap that no one will remember 30 seconds from now, what choice do you have but to rip off the perfectly good, iconic idea of another?

Reviews

Album Review: Scotty McCreery–Seasons Change

Leave a comment

Rating: 5/10

Traditionalists and mainstream fans alike, recognize what Scotty McCreery has done here with this album release and the success of the lead single, “Five More Minutes.” Set aside for a moment any thoughts and feelings you may have about that single, or anything on this album, and think about the fact that McCreery has outsmarted a system that cast him out after he had barely finished high school. Take into account that for all the marketing and misuse of the term “outlaw,” that phrase was coined for people who went against the ways of Nashville and fought for creative control, making the music they wanted to make and being the artists they wanted to be. Often, people today are so enamored with the term “outlaw” that they overlook that definition in favor of propping up artists who sing about hard living as if it were a badge of honor. There are fans of so-called outlaw country that hate the mainstream and everything in it, anything that sounds modern or contemporary, to the point that some of this outlaw music has become a parody of itself, reliant on references of liquor and cocaine to make it seem authentic, until some of it has become as clichéd as the dirt roads and misogyny of the mainstream. These fans would never give a contemporary country artist like Scotty McCreery a second glance, and yet, it’s McCreery who has done one of the most outlaw things in Nashville in recent years by ignoring the system that killed his career and giving it second life, finding renewed success on country radio when most artists can’t find it once, and doing all this through Triple Tigers. Add to all this that he had a hand in writing all of these songs–no Nashville songwriting committee was forced on him, no compromises were made with a label in some ill-conceived effort to get a hit. Like the outlaws before him, Scotty McCreery did this his own way and with creative control, and he’s achieved remarkable success doing so. This is the record he wanted to make, and regardless of how you feel about it, that effect on the bigger picture is no less encouraging than the victories of Aaron Watson and Chris Stapleton.

Unfortunately, the record he wanted to make isn’t really that impressive.

If I had to describe this album in one word, it would be lukewarm. It’s got a few brighter spots, which we’ll get to, and mostly these come at the front and back of the record. The majority of the middle becomes interchangeable, blending into one forgettable, bland love song after another. It’s not to say that any one of these songs wouldn’t be fine on their own, and in fact, nothing here is really a bad track. But the sameness and lack of color really wears the album down. This is why I say it’s lukewarm; it’s not that any of these songs were bad, but it’s like they stopped thinking of ideas halfway through the record and started writing other versions of the same thing.

It’s also lukewarm in terms of production and instrumentation, as if it can’t really decide what it wants to be sonically. It’s certainly more traditional-leaning than much of today’s country radio, but that’s also not saying too much. I’d like to say that Scotty McCreery does a really nice job of blending the modern and the traditional, and occasionally he does, but really, it’s mostly contemporary. That in and of itself wouldn’t be a bad thing, but his voice, the voice we all came to know and love on American Idol, is well suited for more traditional tunes, and he never seems to explore that. With his creative latitude, and particularly with the way he is rumored to sing many classics at concerts, it’s really disappointing to see him not tap into this at least a little. I wasn’t expecting Keith Whitley reborn, but it would be nice if even one of these songs could actually be called more traditional than modern–not because I am a purist, but because that style suits McCreery.

He’s also selling himself short vocally, as his range is not utilized well at all; we fell in love with the twang and the bass, similar to Josh Turner, and these songs seem to keep him out of that part of his vocals entirely. That said, he lends a warmth and personality to some of these more generic tracks that certainly adds some color. So again, we’re back to the whole thing being lukewarm.

But still, even with all these problems weighing it down, Seasons Change manages to have some really nice moments. The title track and opener displays a double meaning, as it also seems to reflect the changes in his life and career over the past several years. I admittedly am not as blown away by “Five More Minutes” as many have been, and it’s definitely obvious someone is going to die about two lines in, but it’s the details in the verses before that which save it and make it still a really solid song. “Boys From Back Home” manages to avoid every problem with this album–well, except his vocal range–as it sounds like something we’d have heard on country radio in 2004 or so and speaks of nostalgia and teenage years in specific and heartfelt ways. It shows that a song like this doesn’t have to be a pointless cliché. It works because instead of going for generic, listastic details everyone can relate to, this song opts for referencing specific people in Scotty’s life and places in Carolina, so that even though there’s a universality in the theme, you know this song meant something to the singer. “Wherever You Are” also does a better job of blending the traditional and contemporary and is aided by a catchy melody and one of his most sincere vocal performances. And speaking of sincere, the easy album highlight is the closer, “Home in my Mind,” McCreery’s ode to Carolina while he’s on the road. There are references to Carolina sprinkled all throughout this record, a touch of the personal that Scotty McCreery was allowed to inflict upon this project, and they all seem to culminate in this song. Pick this one if you only choose to listen to one track.

It’s these flashes of potential and character that I wish marked the whole album. Scotty McCreery has done a monumental thing by achieving this level of success and creative control, particularly after he was kicked out of the industry. I am glad he was able to deliver the record he wanted to make, but I wish he had done more with this latitude. This record feels very safe and forgettable overall. As I said, there’s not a bad moment, but the majority, other than what I’ve highlighted, is just bland and uninteresting. McCreery is capable of more, and I wish he had exercised his creative freedom to realize that potential. It’s the album he wanted to make, but sadly, the album he wanted to make is pretty disappointing.

Buy the Album

Memorable Songs

Memorable Songs From Overlooked Albums: March 8th

3 Comments

WE say that this feature appears semi-regularly, whenever enough songs are available to produce one, and this first one has been a bit long in coming this year. That’s really a good thing, as it means that most of what we’ve heard so far in 2018 has been good and deserving of a full review, and even some of this has only made it here out of a lack of inspiration on our part rather than a real lack of quality in the albums. For anyone who is new to the site or the feature, we place good songs here from mediocre albums, songs from albums we did not review out of deference to artists or time constraints, and songs from albums we just didn’t really have much to say about but still considered the album or artist worth spotlighting in some way. Most of these songs fall into the last category.

Josh Grider: “Less and Less”

Josh Grider is the exception to the above, as he falls into the mediocre category. This album was, in many places, simply bland and boring and without flavor or color. However, I have seen a host of varying opinions about it, and a lot of people seem to really enjoy it, so it seems ideal to place here and let you all draw your own conclusions. This one is a pretty decent breakup song with a melody that is catchy and a hook that’s smarter and more interesting than what you’ll find on much of this album.

Josh Grider: “Pictures Do”

As mentioned, one of the biggest drawbacks to Good People was the blandness and lack of color of it all, so it’s nice to see Grider really sounding heartfelt and emotional on this track about the value of pictures and memories.

Bonnie Montgomery: “No More”

Bonnie Montgomery and her album, Forever, inspired an idea for another post about which I have been in the process of piecing together my thoughts. This is an album that’s pleasant enough, floating by without making much of a mark, but not really offending you either. The sound on this is stellar, and for people that just want something to carry the “outlaw” flavor and enjoy lots of fiddle and steel, there really is a lot to enjoy here. It’s underwhelming in the writing, but it’s the vocals that bring this album resoundingly down. It’s for that reason that I choose a track like “No More” to highlight, because although there are better selections lyrically, this is the only one that works in spite of her lack of energy, or maybe the only one where she pays attention enough to her vocal power to make this one stand out and remain memorable.

Dusty Rust: “Arizona”

This is a case of featuring Dusty Rust and his album, Stolen Horse, in a better light here than in a full review. It’s a western album done similarly in style to Marty Stuart’s latest, and another song, “No One to Blame,” was also featured on January’s playlist. I could have picked several of these songs, and this would get the best review if I featured one of these, but the drawback is that it’s short. People hung up on ratings wouldn’t check out an album that deserves it because on a nine-track project, you can’t afford to only really enjoy six. This album gets a 6 if I review it, but it’s a 6 filled with promise and potential rather than disappointment. If you’re into stuff with a western theme and forward-thinking approach, check this guy out.

Ronnie Eaton: “Another War”

Ronnie Eaton’s concept album about a soldier returning home from war, known as The Hand That Mocked Them and the Heart That Fed, is something I can honestly say I have listened to many times and have absolutely nothing worthwhile to say about it. I respect the hell out of it more than I enjoy it, and I guess that’s why the proper words have never come for me. That said, it’s probably the one I’d most recommend to you all because I think it’s being underappreciated, and I can see the appeal for many. It also had a song featured on our January playlist, so I’ll put another one here.

John Oates: “Arkansas”

I debated whether to list this one at all, seeing as it’s a song featured on February’s playlist. But for people who don’t do the playlist thing or may otherwise be new to this, this is a surprisingly great song from yes, that guy from Hall & Oates. I’ll be the first to say I found the rest of his album completely unlistenable vocally, although the style was quite cool and bluesy, but this title track is a great song.

J.D. Wilkes: “Walk Between the Raindrops

What can I say to introduce this? J.D. Wilkes is a strange guy, and Fire Dream is a strange album. I don’t even know who I’m recommending it to because I don’t know if any of you would enjoy something this bizarre. It’s almost theatrical in nature, as if Wilkes took elements of really old forms of country and then infused them with something modern and theatrical and weird. I can’t say I necessarily enjoyed this, but there is no doubt that it was forward-thinking in its approach and very interesting instrumentally. And the qualifier for this little feature is memorable, which it certainly was. Who knows who it may resonate with, but here you go.

Brandon Jenkins: “Other Side of the Wall”

And now we come to some of the hardest stuff I’ve ever had to write.
Many of you have followed the updates on Brandon Jenkins and his heart surgery and subsequent complications. I won’t lie and say that I was a huge Jenkins fan; rather, I was largely unfamiliar with much of his music and only lukewarm on the new album, save for a couple excellent songs which I’m about to feature here. But he was too young to leave us and has made a lasting mark on the world of Texas and Red Dirt music.
The new album, Tail Lights in a Boomtown, was released in the midst of his health issues and just days before his surgery, and I held off commenting during this time, simply following the updates and grieving with the rest of the Red Dirt community when he passed away last Friday (Mar. 2nd.) The record has a completely different meaning when you listen now, as if Brandon were experiencing premonitions of what was to come. It is sometimes painful to listen to. So, rather than give a review to his final album, I want to highlight the two gems I found and maybe give other people who also weren’t as familiar with him a gateway into the music of the one known as the Red Dirt Legend.
This first is about the woman on the other side of the wall from his apartment, as he understands the private hell she’s going through even though they’ve never met.

Brandon Jenkins: “Fade to Black”

And in the tradition of saving the best song for last here, this is both the best song here of Brandon Jenkins’ album and the best one on this feature. And this one goes even deeper now because it’s certainly one that carries the undertones and foreshadowing of what would happen to Jenkins. RIP, Red Dirt legend.

Commentary

Dear Award Shows: Stop Making Chris Stapleton Your Token Traditionalist

1 Comment

Chris Stapleton has done to country award shows what Clemson college football did to Alabama–seemed new and fresh for a second, until you began to hate Clemson with the same equal passion you hated Alabama with before Clemson came along.

On November 4th, 2015, Chris Stapleton shocked the world at the CMA’s when, out of nowhere and with virtually no industry support, he won three awards, including Album of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year. His debut album, Traveller, rocketed to the top of the iTunes charts as people sought to find out who this unknown bearded country traditionalist with a voice infused with soul could possibly be. Add to all that, his performance of “Tennessee Whiskey” with Justin Timberlake was one of the most memorable award show events in recent history and helped to make him an overnight superstar. Two days later, I wrote a piece entitled Who the Hell is Chris Stapleton: Answering the Question in the Minds of Millions of Sam Hunt Fans, an explanation that basically, the CMA voters knew what many fans and traditionalists had known all along, that Chris Stapleton had talent and potential, and he only needed a chance to be heard in order to fully realize that potential.

Fast forward to 2018, and Stapleton’s selling out arenas with almost no radio support. All three of his albums have sold remarkably well and regularly sit atop the Billboard album charts. In an era where streaming is king, Chris Stapleton’s selling records. In a time when country stars in the mainstream rely nearly exclusively on radio, Stapleton’s proven it’s not the only viable format. And best of all, he’s proving this all with quality music, and music that is somewhat traditional-leaning, if infused with blues and Southern rock at times.

But at this point, his nominations and wins at these award shows have become predictable, and we’re all going to become sick of Stapleton sooner rather than later. I was afraid of this in November at the CMA’s when I cautioned them to add more traditionalists, and it’s come to fruition with the ACM’s. “Whiskey and You,” while a great song, came from his 2015 debut album and had absolutely no right to be nominated for this year’s ACM Song of the Year. Instead of opening the door for other traditional and independent artists to walk through, Stapleton’s become the token traditionalist, nominated and winning to keep our crowd happy. Sure, he’s obviously better than the rest of the garbage the ACM throws out here, and the ACM is a joke at best these days anyway, but where the historic wins of Stapleton were once seen as a great stepping stone for other deserving artists not molded by country radio and the mainstream format, now they just seem as tired and predictable as the wins of FGL once were for Vocal Duo. And when you take into account the other crap, you still root for Chris Stapleton–because next to them, he deserves to win, and not only that, he deserves to win by miles. But he’s not the only artist out there who deserves recognition.

Furthermore, if he’s going to continue to win awards automatically now, this diminishes the value of the awards he actually deserves to win. It’s like what we’ve seen happen with Miranda Lambert; we are sick of her winning Female Vocalist of the Year because she’s the only token female these establishments will recognize, so that when she did deserve a win for an album cycle like that of The Weight of These Wings, we actually wondered if she wouldn’t get it this year because Carrie Underwood would beat her out simply from years of spite from Carrie Underwood fans. Miranda was deserving of the award at the CMA’s, but it hardly seemed significant when she had won the same award for doing virtually nothing in years past.

I don’t want to see it become this way with Chris Stapleton. When he won all those awards at the 2015 CMA’s, we all hailed it as a turning point for the state of country music–and for Stapleton himself, it has been, as he’s managed to become a star with virtually zero help from radio. But for the rest of the industry, it has done little, and he’s becoming nothing more than the token traditionalist.

I like Chris Stapleton. I think he deserves his success. I think the CMA took a huge step when it chose to give a deserving artist a chance in 2015, and because of the willingness of that organization to vote for someone who didn’t fit the normal mainstream mold, an artist’s life and career was changed forever. But it can’t stop there. This has to be a foundation, and Chris Stapleton has to be the first of many artists to receive this opportunity for it to signal any kind of true change. And right now, he’s starting to seem like an anomaly. Let’s change that before he becomes a cliché.

Reviews

Album Review: The Lost Brothers–Halfway Towards a Healing

Leave a comment

Rating: 7/10

Time to take an album off my 2018 back burner while it’s still manageable and not out of control like the back burner of 2017. And first on the list is the latest album from Irish folk duo The lost Brothers, (Oisin Leech and Mark McCausland(, known as Halfway Towards a Healing. The title track of this record made our January playlist, and I’ve also done a reflection on them in the past, but finding words for this album has proven to be difficult.

This is primarily because it’s one of those nice, pleasant listens, very much a mood record. It’s definitely a good album, and the songwriting is strong throughout most of it, but what really holds your attention is the atmosphere surrounding it. Songs like the opener, “Echoes in the Wind,” really capture the peaceful, introspective thing this album was going for. It’s going to be an album a lot of people enjoy just for how relaxing it is; those that love the more polished, stripped back stuff like Sam Outlaw or the Secret Sisters will gravitate toward this. And speaking of the Secret Sisters, the harmonies throughout this are just excellent, definitely another highlight of this record. It’s almost like listening to a modern-day Simon and Garfunkel. All that said, you’ve still got to be in a certain mood to really appreciate this album.

Even still, compared to some of their earlier material, there is more variety in tempo and mood here. The excellent Spanish style instrumental “Rains of Ruin,” paired with the title track which also carries this Spanish flair and speaks about a Spanish church, comprise the most interesting moments of the album musically. The title track also serves to provide some much-needed energy on the album. “Come Tomorrow” stands out a bit on this record as well, as the percussion here really adds some life; this is the third track, and after two introspective, acoustic numbers, some life was certainly in order. It’s also nice to hear textures like the horns happily contributing on “Where the Shadows Go” to make this song fuller. On an album mostly reliant upon acoustic guitar and their flawless harmonies to carry the weight, subtle things like this can really make a difference, and these little nuances serve to add character to this project. Thank you, Lost Brothers, for adding yourselves to the ranks of independent artists actually taking the time to care about your production and instrumentation as much as your lyrics.

The same strengths of this album, however, are also going to be its weaknesses. Some people will find it too slow or sleepy or boring, in varying degrees. Although there’s definite improvement on that front for the group, they could still do with infusing some more life here. There are more moments of variety, but equally, there’s nothing as bright as something like “The Goodbye Kid” from one of their previous records. And I have no idea what the hell “The Ballad of the Lost Brother” thinks it’s supposed to be, but it’s just…weird. I could definitely do without this track completely.

This is an album that’s being criminally overlooked, and one I think many of you will enjoy. As previously mentioned, fans of a more polished, stripped back, singer-songwriter style are going to be more inclined to like this, but stuff like the title track may appeal to everyone. This was one reason it was the song featured in our playlist. It wasn’t easy to write about this group, but this is an album I enjoyed from a band that needs to be on more people’s radar, and they deserved some words. That said, just as I can see the appeal for many people, I can see how some would find this really sleepy/boring. For this listener, it was just peaceful and pleasant. Hopefully, for the right audience, this album and artist will be a cool discovery, just as they have been for me.

Buy the Album

The Most Destructive Criticism is Indifference