Well, this month’s playlist is definitely a good one. If you haven’t checked out Brandi Carlile, Wade Bowen, Caleb Caudle, Mike & the Moonpies…well, here’s your chance. It was a strong month for singles, and we’ve got some promising new songs from Willie Nelson, Kacey Musgraves, Ashley Monroe, and Red Shahan. There seemed to be something for everyone in February, from Americana to Texas country to the mainstream. And if you’re shocked that a Cole Swindell song made our list, well, deal with it. Thanks as always to Zack for supplying the Spotify version, and my apologies in advance for the lack of Courtney Patton on that platform.
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I don’t know why this Ruby Boots album is being marketed as country, or why outlets are citing this Australia native as an exciting new country artist to keep an eye on, because this isn’t, and she’s not. It’s most definitely rock, and as Michael Rauch of The Cheap Seat Report recently pointed out on Twitter, people are really afraid to call a project rock these days. Maybe that’s because the term appears outdated, and country seems to be the cool thing to label your record in these times. I don’t know, but despite what Rolling Stone or Apple Music says, this is certainly and proudly a rock effort. It’s also quite a good one and an obvious choice for my first non-country spotlight of the year.
Because it’s rock, it’s not going to blow you away with well-crafted lyrics or astounding melodies, and that’s why it’s harder for me to speak about as primarily a country reviewer, and why I ultimately chose to spotlight this. Rather, the strengths of this album are its instrumentation and production. It’s the style that sells you on this album and artist, from the opening moments of “It’s So Cruel” to the atmospheric sound of “Believe in Heaven.” It’s the way distortion is used to greater effect on songs like “Somebody Else.” It’s the way the vocals move from one side to the other across your stereo on “I’ll Make it Through” to add a really cool vibe. Stylistically, it’s much like something that would have been on rock radio thirty years ago, and it’s really refreshing to hear someone doing this so well in 2018.
And Ruby Boots has the power and intensity to match these songs and style as well; in fact, her weakest moment on the whole album comes when she tries to hold back for the tender “I am a Woman.” It illustrates that her strength lies in more intense music, that she’s more at home belting out among screaming guitars than trying to sing something more stripped back. That said, she does pull this more emotional side off well on “Break my Heart Twice,” which is also the closest cousin to country on this record.
The current state of rock music is even worse than what we’re experiencing with country right now; indeed, the complete implosion of the format is probably why many artists are afraid to associate themselves with the title. But just like Joshua Hedley recently said about country, rock is not a dirty word. To that end, artists keeping that sound and spirit alive today should be proud. Ruby Boots is keeping that sound alive and doing it well.
So yeah, I really enjoyed this. Fans of rock music, particularly that from the late 80’s or so, check this out and get to know Ruby Boots.
Standout Tracks: “It’s so Cruel,” “Believe in Heaven,” “I’ll Make it Through,” “Don’t Talk About It,” “Break my Heart Twice”
