Tag Archives: Brandi Carlile

Album Review: Maren Morris–Girl

Rating: 2/10

This is not going to be a traditionalist bashing of the new Maren Morris album on the grounds that it isn’t country in the slightest. Every artist should have the right to his or her own self-expression and should make the music they want to make. I am not going to criticize Maren Morris for making a pop/R&B album, or even for marketing that album to country; you can read enough about my opinions regarding that on Twitter, and it’s really a separate issue. Regardless of your position, we are music fans first, and although I will not pretend that I believe this music is right for the country genre, and I firmly believe it is less deserving of the precious few slots that this broken system will allow women than many other more country-sounding women, traditional and modern alike, I will not bash a record simply because it isn’t my taste. Kelsea Ballerini’s latest album was, somehow, less country than this one, but i reviewed it as music first because it’s a pretty good pop record. Questions of genre distinction are important, but there are larger points being ignored here by both sides.

Simply put, this is not a very good album no matter what genre you label it. It’s not only that it doesn’t belong in country; in fact, that’s almost beside the point compared to all the other problems with GIRL. It’s mediocre and derivative lyrically and littered with bad production decisions. It’s also proof that bad music in the country format doesn’t just arrive via bro country or Sam Hunt’s style of spoken word, a case that uniqueness isn’t necessarily synonymous with quality.

The brightest spot on this record is the vocal ability of Maren Morris. Her phrasing and styling are certainly not country, but again, that’s a secondary concern. She’s a fine singer in a technical sense, and she has a pretty unique voice. She sings the more upbeat material with energy and personality, and you get the feeling that this is indeed mostly the record Maren wanted to make.

It falls terribly short, however, in the songwriting department. Some of these tracks do have great messages, but the actual execution is often empty and derivative, devoid of anything truly meaningful to say. Take the title track, for example, which offers a good message about not comparing women to one another and advises women to think positively and keep their heads high when life is hard. Certainly a worthy subject, but the writing itself is just so empty and generic. As a woman listening to this, I don’t feel inspired or empowered, not the way I do when Emily Scott Robinson sings of struggle and abuse, or when Angaleena Presley sings about the institutional sexism in the country industry and the way some women feel trapped in harmful marriages by archaic ideas. “GIRL” is just an empty, feel-good mantra that, even if it wasn’t intended to, comes across as pandering to the media and calculated and formulaic lyrically.

“Common,” a duet with Brandi Carlile about loving one another despite our differences, suffers from the same fate. Carlile sings the hell out of this, and I look forward to seeing what these two and Amanda Shires will deliver with The Highwomen, but this song feels shallow and underdeveloped, like it could have been so much more. Once again, it’s a good message that fails to really say anything in its execution, much like Carrie Underwood’s recent single, “Love Wins.” There’s nothing really wrong with either of these tracks, but both try so hard to appeal to everyone and bring a universal message that they ultimately don’t say anything important or lasting.

We also have several sex songs on this record, and sex songs are not inherently bad, but the God-awful production of “Make out With Me” makes this song absolutely intolerable. To add to that, it is literally written as a drunken voice mail, and I question whether or not a man could record this in today’s country format and not be called misogynistic, fairly or otherwise. “RSVP” is also just insufferable, especially with the word “gots” replacing “got” in the chorus to add R&B phrasing and further drive home the point that this is miles from anything you could reasonably call country. Once again,, a secondary concern, but it only adds insult to injury as you struggle through this album.

There are some better moments in terms of the writing, though. “Great Ones” is an interesting love song melodically and lyrically, although it is cluttered by the overproduction that unfortunately plagues this entire record. “A Song For everything” actually scales back the production enough to allow a relatable sentiment to connect with the listener, and here, Morris sounds invested emotionally and really sells the song. The idea that music can get us through anything is one that most of us can relate to, and it’s here in this more subtle moment on the record where Maren Morris makes a connection far stronger than with the empty platitudes of “GIRL” and “Common.” “The bones” is another of the stronger tracks, again helped by the emotional performance of Maren Morris and less clutter in terms of production.

That messy production renders a lot of the more mediocre tracks difficult to listen to. “All My Favorite People,” for example, a lively party song with Brothers Osborne that would be a lightweight, fun track on a better album, is just a disappointment here. There are some clever lines, but no one involved in this project could seem to resist producing the hell out of everything. It’s not random, cacophonous production reminiscent of Keith Urban’s latest atrocity of a record, but it adds unnecessary layers to everything until all the heartfelt sentiments that Maren Morris wanted to convey are lost. “To Hell & Back” and “Gold Love” are prime examples, two songs that might have been standouts if Morris didn’t sound lifeless singing them. As mentioned, she’s a great technical singer, but her heart doesn’t shine through on so much of this. It would be nice to see her personality as much on something more vulnerable like “Gold Love” as much as we see it on an energetic song like “Flavor.”

This is not about genre. As an artist, Maren Morris should have the creative freedom to make the record of her choice, and it’s great that she has. But the record she wanted to make just isn’t very good. It’s underwhelming lyrically, and much of its themes are too generalized and shallow to really make an impact. The production is cluttered at best and counterproductive to some of the songs at worst. Marketing this album to country is just the icing on the cake, and while we shouldn’t gloss over this fact either, the bigger issue is that this is just bad music in general. It’s not good pop music sorely mislabeled, it’s bad pop music with an unfortunate country label attached to it to rub salt in the wound. It’s not the genre-bending, inspiring blend of country pop it believes itself to be; it’s just another generic collection of songs that frankly, we wouldn’t even be discussing at all if they were being marketed to pop and it didn’t seem as if Maren Morris were courageously pushing some sort of arbitrary sonic boundary. Kacey Musgraves and Caitlyn Smith both made incredible albums in 2018 that pushed boundaries and fused the sounds of pop and country, but the difference is that these records were marked by unique, insightful songwriting and stirring vocal performances, helped rather than hampered by the production. GIRL boasts none of this; indeed, it offers nothing worth more than a passing glance, and in the vast music landscape of 2019, deserves to be forgotten.

The Decent

The Terrible

July Playlist on Spotify and Apple Music

Yes, the playlists are back! June had all the midyear lists, so I decided to just include some June songs in July’s playlist. Here’s where you can catch up on the latest stuff from artists such as Cody Jinks and Lori McKenna, the second artist to receive a 10/10 review in 2018, as well as check out some underrated names like Wes Youssi & the County Champs, Rhyan Sinclair, and El Coyote. Really strong playlist for the mainstream, including songs from Kenny chesney’s latest, songs from Dierks Bentley’s excellent album that came out in June, and new singles from Eric Church and cam. And speaking of new tracks, we have two strong ones from Jason Eady and Colter Wall off each of their upcoming records; any day either of these guys decides to release music into the atmosphere is a good one. As always, tremendous thanks to Zack for supplying this playlist to the Spotify people.

Apple Music users, you can follow me there @countryexclusive for this and all of our playlists, as well as for updates to the Saving Country Music Top 25. For July’s playlist,
Click Here

Spotify users, click below.

My Top Thirteen Songs of 2018 so Far

Editor’s Note: These are not ranked in any particular order, and all songs have been reviewed or featured in some way, whether in Memorable songs or on one of our playlists, by Country Exclusive. Please respect this list for what it is–one person’s opinion, and an outlet for sharing good music. That said, feel free and encouraged to share your favorite songs of the year so far in the comments below!
And don’t ask why I picked thirteen, some things should remain a mystery.

Anderson East: “Cabinet Door”

From Encore, featured on our January playlist

This was the first song to blow me away in 2018, and yes, hopefully I will review this album at some point. This is the tale of a man whose wife of fifty-two years has passed away; he’s left lost and alone trying to pick up the pieces, and he’s talking to her about everything he misses, and everything that hasn’t been right since she’s been gone. It’s just an incredible song of love and loss, and it’s impossible not to feel something when you hear it.

Caitlyn Smith: “This Town is Killing Me”

From Starfire

What an honest, bittersweet, heartbreaking story of an artist’s struggles in Nashville, the things they’ll give up and go through in order to chase that dream, and the reasons it’s worth it. Caitlyn Smith is a world-class vocalist, and she’s known for belting and displaying her incredible range, but it’s a song like this, where her emotions are laid bare before us, that really sets her apart and makes her special. An artist with this much talent shouldn’t be struggling for a second in Music City, but it’s the hardship that led to this poignant, beautiful song.

Mike & the Moonpies: “Steak Night at the Prairie Rose”

From Steak Night at the Prairie Rose

Maybe it’s the relationship I have with my dad, or maybe it’s the stories of chasing his dreams of music, or perhaps it’s just a damn good song, but I think “Steak Night at the Prairie Rose” has been really underrated as a song in 2018. Just a simple tribute to his father and to music that should just be heard. Also, love that organ.

Wade Bowen: “Day of the Dead”

From Solid Ground

An underrated song from an underrated album. Putting some really cool Mexican influence in his Texas country, Wade sings of a man who’s run off to Mexico during the Day of the dead on his ex’s wedding day. It uses some interesting metaphors for the death of their love, and it’s one where the melody, instrumentation, and lyrics all work together to create a really great piece of music.

Courtney Patton: “Round Mountain”

From What it’s Like to Fly Alone

As I said recently on Twitter, here’s a song that blows me away every time I hear it. A beautifully crafted narrative of a woman who married young and felt trapped by her life and family–she made mistakes and eventually abandoned them, and the beauty here is that she’s neither apologetic for her actions nor unaware of what she’s done and the people she’s hurt. Also, there’s an overdose of lovely fiddle.

Courtney Marie Andrews: “Took You Up”

From May Your Kindness Remain

An incredibly moving love song that reminds us the best things in life are free. What a world it would be if we could all learn to embrace life like the lovers in this song. Also, Courtney Marie Andrews absolutely sings the hell out of this.

Red Shahan: “Waterbill”

From Culberson County

And for those of you who don’t think fun songs can be on these lists, I present Red Shahan’s “Waterbill,” the best album opener of the year so far and an absolutely fun, infectious tune that’s been one of my most played in 2018. It’s also got one of the best lyrics this year with: “you ain’t livin’ unless you’re livin’ life broke.” It’s impossible not to smile when you hear this song.

Sarah Shook & the Disarmers: “New Ways to Fail”

From Years

Another fun tune, and probably the most honest, relatable song you’ll hear for a long while. I can’t say anything else about this, I can just assure you that you’ve felt like this at some point in your life, and that relatability is what makes a great country song.

John Prine: “Lonesome Friends of Science”

From The Tree of Forgiveness

John Prine is a songwriter like no other, and we’re blessed to still be getting great, thoughtful songs from him at this stage of his life. He can create empathy for anyone or anything, even “poor planet Pluto,” who was demoted and uninvited by the other planets, as he explains in this song. And what a great way to live, thinking it doesn’t matter if the whole world ends today because this place is not really your home.

Ashley Monroe: “Orphan”

From Sparrow

Overall, I did not care for the overly polished sounds on Ashley Monroe’s latest effort, but this autobiographical sketch of an orphan is beautiful, and it’s made even better by the lovely strings supporting it. This is a story only Ashley Monroe can deliver, and it might be the best song of her career thus far.

Old Crow Medicine Show: “Look Away”

From Volunteer

In a world where Southern culture is being forsaken and eradicated at an alarming rate, “Look Away” uses lines from “Dixie” and embraces everything that is good and cherished about the South. This is a five-minute case for why Southerners still have things to be proud of, and why so many people embrace this land and its rich heritage.

American Aquarium: “One Day at a Time”

From Things Change

The best songs come from a place of honesty, the ability to release a part of your soul out into your music. BJ Barham gives us that in “One Day at a Time,” detailing his journey getting sober. And “you see the man left holding the pen controls how every story ends, and truth becomes a martyr for the sake of the song”–that line is just brilliant.

Jason Boland & the Stragglers: “Hard Times are Relative”

From Hard Times are Relative

The first time I heard this, I declared it the best song of the year so far. I don’t know how that will hold up, but this is an excellently crafted story song and a reminder to us that when we think our lives are tough, these people in times past had it far worse.

Honorable Mentions

  • Blackberry Smoke: “I’ve Got This Song”
  • Brent Cobb: “Come Home Soon”
  • Ashley McBryde: “Livin’ Next to Leroy”
  • Courtney Marie Andrews: “Border”
  • Kayla Ray: “Rockport”
  • Brandi Carlile: “The Mother”
  • Dierks Bentley ft. Brandi Carlile: “Travelin’ Light”

Album Review: Dierks Bentley–The Mountain

Rating: 8/10

A little over a year ago, after Brad Paisley returned to his natural self on Love and War, I wrote a piece detailing which artists I’d like to see follow his lead and just get back to being themselves. Dierks Bentley was first on that list–right up until Black, he was a beacon of hope in the mainstream, managing to blend the traditional and contemporary sounds and themes in a great way to make him one of the best in mainstream country…then we got “Somewhere on a Beach,” and it all went downhill from there. It seemed that Bentley was selling out, and he didn’t even need to do so–he had carved out his own niche perfectly and was seeing airplay and mainstream success without venturing down this road. He was making an album for the wrong reasons, and that was especially disheartening when he’d been such a strong mainstream artist previously.

With The Mountain, we have seen him return to form in fine fashion. “I don’t care how you buy it, or listen to it. I’m making the record for me,” he said of this project, and that’s not only the right way to approach an album, it’s the way Bentley has always been, and the part of him that took charge when he decided to do something different with Up on the Ridge a few years ago. It’s just a recipe for good, heartfelt music, and that’s what Bentley delivers on this record.

He knew he needed to get out of Nashville in order to make an album like this, and the mountains of Colorado were the perfect backdrop. You’ll hear references to Colorado often, even if the song isn’t about that state at all, as well as to the landscape, and the title track here is all about climbing through the mountains of life one small step at a time. But the thing that captures this album’s mood the most is the production. Just as Marty Stuart set the desert to music last year with Way out West, and Brothers Osborne made Port Saint Joe an album that literally sounded like a weathered, forgotten coastal town, Bentley’s album captures that wildness and beauty of Colorado in a really special way. It’s the way the solos only seem to intensify during the outros of songs; instead of fading out, many times we hear the instruments gain in strength as the songs come to an often abrupt end, running free and uninhibited. “The Mountain” goes out on a wave of fiddles and rock guitars, and the otherwise softer, more sedated “You can’t bring me Down” features some mandolin at the end that just comes alive and takes over the whole thing. It’s all so vibrant and fresh, and it takes you to that place in your mind, where you can imagine the snowcapped mountains in “Gooddbye in Telluride” and picture the stars shining through the window in the record’s one characteristic sex song that has become a mark of Bentley’s career, “Nothing on but the Stars.”

The production, though often this album’s greatest asset, can bring it down at times. “Living,” a song featuring lines about finally noticing the birds on the branches and the sunrise, and celebrating those special days when we feel especially alive, would have been better without the drum loops. “You Can’t Bring me Down” feels too pop-leaning as well, particularly with its themes of ignoring Nashville gossip–you’d think it’d also ignore the more mainstream sounds. And “Goodbye in Telluride” is a really cool song lyrically, as the narrator is begging his girlfriend to wait until they leave that magical place before she leaves him, so that his favorite place won’t be ruined by that memory, but the poppier production just really doesn’t go with this song at all. Sometimes, these songs just needed a wilder feel, like the excellent opener, “Burning Man.” That song just explodes and grows more intense as it goes along, and Bentley and Brothers Osborne, who are featured here, do a fantastic job capturing the theme of the record right away. Incidentally, this song is one of the standouts of the whole album.

In addition to the country rock selections and the more mainstream-sounding tracks, Dierks also provides two ridiculously country songs to close the album in “Travelin’ Light” and “How I’m Going Out.” First of all, thank you, Dierks, for showing everyone in the mainstream what exactly “featuring” means and what exactly it means to feature an actual country woman instead of another pop star. Brandi Carlile absolutely soars on “Travelin’ Light,” a track about laying down your past and burdens, and I know it’s a revolutionary concept, but she’s actually got a whole solo verse! Dierks Bentley should be commended here for doing the right thing and picking Carlile to sing on this song; also, they sound outstanding together. “How I’m Going Out” is a reflection on his time on Music Row and an acknowledgement that one day, his star will burn out. He vows to take this gracefully, unlike many who haven’t–Keith Urban, anyone? These two songs are straight-up, three-chord country, and “Travelin’ Light” even displays some bluegrass influence. Together, they form a nice “f off” to the whole establishment and prove that there is still room left in mainstream country for these types of songs.

Fellow fans of Dierks Bentley, this is the Dierks we’ve all come to know and love. This is him being himself, a refreshing blend of styles, from traditional country and bluegrass to modern country rock, and sprinkling in enough mainstream elements to make him accessible to those fans as well. It’s 90% Colorado and 10% Nashville, in that way that only Bentley can deliver. This is everything you want in a mainstream country record in 2018, and although not a perfect album, it’s a damn good one and one which will have staying power. I can’t stop playing this record, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that 8 looks entirely too low by December.

Buy the Album

Walking the Line Between Being a Critic and a Music Fan

This is something I’ve been thinking about for awhile, but which was most recently inspired by Zack, of about a thousand outlets but currently of The Singing Wilderness, as one of his main focuses there, after being more of a “critic” with The Musical Divide, is now to step back and be a “music fan.” It’s a question I’ve thought about at different times and once felt it was a difficult line to walk, and it’s probably different for each reviewer/critic/blogger/etc., but for me, I think the key is to be both. I don’t think they have to be separate, and indeed, separating them results in dishonest, unhelpful criticism.

There is a statement on our About page specifically saying I am not a critic with ideas of what country “should” sound like, but rather a music fan disheartened by the lack of substance and country sound in the country genre. Although that was written in 2015, and my thoughts about the genre thing have changed quite a bit, the point is still the same. I am a music fan, and that’s what prompted me to begin this journey. I was a disenchanted country fan, and I was discovering all these cool underground/independent artists that needed more attention, that needed to be exposed to people like me who felt they were losing the music they loved. It’s as a fan that I was disheartened by Zac Brown’s change of direction on Jekyll + Hyde, and as a fan that I was comforted by the sound of him returning the band to their roots on Welcome Home but was ultimately underwhelmed by it. It’s as an unapologetic Ashley Monroe fan that I can say Sparrow is a disappointing album because the problems can be summed up in the fact that the style doesn’t flatter the Ashley Monroe we’ve all come to love.

It’s also as a music fan that I wrote about the latest Brothers Osborne album–I can see the criticisms with it in a technical sense, and I could have written a review like that, but it wouldn’t have been an honest assessment of my thoughts on the music. I love that record, and even now, I’m wondering why I gave it an 8.5 only when I can see nothing wrong with it as a listener. It will be one of my most played albums of the year, and if I’d been totally honest with myself, I would have rated it even higher. Honesty is the bedrock upon which Country Exclusive was founded–because traditional country, pop country, Texas country, Americana, all of them lack a shocking amount of honesty right now–and that was one time I didn’t follow my own advice completely. But ratings are nothing more than a helpful tool anyway, and my review reflects how I felt; I love that album despite the technical flaws that exist. We should all strive to write as music fans first because it makes us more honest, it reflects a true diversity in opinions about music, and it’s boring to live in an echo chamber. It makes a “critical consensus” more impressive if we seek to write and review this way because if we all end up agreeing, we know the music has to be incredible, rather than knowing we all agree because of some ill-conceived mindset where we feel like we have to do so and share the exact opinions of everyone else.

That said, why does writing or talking about music as a fan need to be different from being a critic? Whether we write a lengthy review or record a YouTube reaction, or whether we just sit down and listen to an album as a fan of good music, we’re all critics in a sense. Yes, we’re all critics, you read that right. When you put in the aforementioned Ashley Monroe record and think, “I don’t like this polish,” whether you write down a thousand-word review on it or not, you’ve made a critical assessment about that album. This goes back to the recent article about reviews and artist’s mental health, and the ultimate reason that article is ridiculous is that everyone listens to music with a critical ear. We all gravitate toward certain sounds and styles, and none of us think everything is good or enjoyable. If we eliminate critical reviews, all we’re doing is lying to ourselves because music fans are making critical decisions on their own just by listening. Not everyone is ever going to like everything you record, and music criticism by reviewers is simply a more in-depth opinion given by one listener. The value of criticism itself is something I could write a whole other piece on, but the tag line of this blog best illustrates it–“the most destructive criticism is indifference.” The worst criticism you can give art is to ignore it, especially in today’s cluttered marketplace, and moreover, calling everything good and giving participation trophies only creates an echo chamber where nothing is praised and rewarded for its quality–the other half of this quote, originally from RC Edwards, was, “that’s a recipe for bad art” in response to a tweet that condemned negativity in reviews. Again, that’s a different tangent entirely, but the truth is that we’re all critical of music if we’re listening to it beyond meaningless, disposable background noise and treating it like the wonderful art form that it is, and to deny that reality is a lie and cheapens the value of music.

Writing and talking about music, though, does tend to make you a more open-minded listener and a better critic, or at least it should. It broadens your perspective and allows you to see what others see in things, even if you can’t see those things yourself. It allows you to go from, “I don’t like this polish” on Ashley Monroe’s record to really understanding why you don’t; it’s as a fan that I can say it doesn’t suit Ashley Monroe, and as a critic that I can understand the appeal for some–the songwriting on that record is superb, and if you’re a fan of the style, you might really enjoy it. It’s as a fan that Brandi Carlile’s latest hasn’t held up for me, but as an open-minded critic/reviewer that I can see its appeal. As a music fan, Gretchen Peters’ latest album is too depressing for me, but there’s not much inherently “wrong” with it. It will end up being featured in Memorable Songs because I have nothing to say as a reviewer other than, “this album depresses the ever-loving hell out of me,” but I can understand how many would love it, especially if they’re in the right mindset. Critic and music fan are really just two sides of the same coin–if I write a glowing review about Peters because I feel like I have to, it’s not honest and erodes my integrity, but if I write a scathing indictment about how it’s bad because it depresses me, this is unfair to the quality of the art, as well as to the people who may really enjoy this. I said I wanted to use this outlet to promote deserving artists, and if I exclude Brandi Carlile and Gretchen Peters from this because of a matter of taste, that makes me nothing more than a fan promoting my favorite artists.

At the end of the day, we all became reviewers/critics because we were music fans. We’d have to be in order to have any desire to listen to all this music, much less to write about it or talk about it at length. If you lose sight of that as a critic, you need to step back and think about who you are as a listener and why you’re doing this in the first place. At the same time, as fans, we are all automatically critics, and this is displayed in our tastes in vocals, instrumentation, lyrics, or which of those elements matters to us most when we listen to a piece of music. We cannot be one without the other, and this is how we should talk about music. If you can’t admit to liking something despite its flaws or what the rest of the echo chamber thinks, you’ve lost sight of the love for music and the unique perspective your opinions bring to the table. If you’re so close-minded that you can’t see past your own perspective and can only view music through the narrow lens of your personal tastes, then you’ve lost sight of the value of music and its ability to touch different people in so many different ways. I used to think that being a critic and being a music fan were different, that you could choose to write or talk about music in one way or the other, and that it could be a hard line to walk. But the truth is that they go hand in hand, and only when you realize that can you be both completely honest and open-minded as a listener, and really, that’s the ultimate goal with all of this, to become better music listeners. It’s not about being a critic versus being a music fan, it’s about being yourself, which is ultimately both, and doing this for the love of the music.