Rating: 8/10

All right, so no, I didn’t know we had new Gretchen Wilson music until yesterday when I heard it on WNIA Radio courtesy of my friend Zackary Kephart–check out his radio shows here–I guarantee you will never hear so much fiddle on country radio–, but that is what radio was meant to do all along anyway, and who knew it could still do that in 2017? And it turns out, yeah, we are evidently due for a new Gretchen Wilson album soon; this is the second of two new singles, and I’ll be honest and say I am not quite as thrilled by the first, “Rowdy,” which apparently came out in late 2016. But “Salt Mines” is a fine offering from Gretchen and reminds me why I miss hearing her music.

I forgot just how country Wilson’s voice and delivery can be, and it works well with the more traditional instrumentation. It’s the lyrics that stand out though, as Gretchen sings about going “back to the grind, another day at the salt mine” as she goes through each day married to a man who drinks, leaves his clothes all over the house, and generally doesn’t seem to care about much of anything. It’s told in a somewhat humorous light–“and you’d think I’d just quit, but you’re too good in bed”–what a line. She says she thinks about leaving all the time, but despite it all, she’s here to stay. Just a nice, solid country song. Glad she’s back and interested to see if we’ll get a whole album from her soon.

Written by: Gretchen Wilson