Tag Archives: Runaway June

Review: Runaway June’s Self-Titled EP

Rating: 7/10

It seems like forever since Runaway June burst onto the scene in 2016 with “Lipstick,” bringing excellent harmonies and a decidedly pop country blend to a mainstream that was most definitely pop. Certainly most male and/or less country-minded artists would have an album out by now and might even be working on a second. Runaway June, a group of three women who have the audacity to include actual country instrumentation like fiddle, steel, and twangy piano in their music, not to mention actual intelligent songwriting, have of course had to wait two years after their first single to release a project; and even now, we’ve only been granted an EP, a format that’s systematically ignored and undermined by the whole industry. It’s as if Music Row has collectively decided that projects containing any roots or substance must be limited to a certain number of songs so that the casual listener thinks this invasion of quality must be a fluke and continues to buy the endless amounts of uninteresting, recycled bullshit these labels mercilessly churn out, and God forbid this quality music come from women, that’s only another strike against it.

So a five-song EP is all we’ve been allowed from Runaway June even after this long wait, but it’s still new music from a promising trio in the mainstream and should not be overlooked. This is firmly in the pop country realm, so the stricter traditionalists probably won’t have much to enjoy here. But this is pop country, not straight pop, and this is for the mainstream listener who is tired of the lack of substance on radio and streaming playlists, the modern country fan who is still disenchanted with just how far the genre has slipped in recent years.

Opening this EP we have the fun, instantly re-playable “Buy my Own Drinks,” an anthem of singleness announcing that this narrator can move on by herself after her breakup. She doesn’t need the guy in the bar to buy her a round. She can pay her own tab and have a good time by herself. It’s a great message to women that we don’t need men to define us, but that’s an undertone–the song itself is lighthearted and delivered in a fun way, just saying that she can get over him and be fine on her own. “I Am Too” is sort of this song’s antithesis, as once again, our heroine is in a bar getting over an ex, but this time, she’s vulnerable, blaming herself for the things that went wrong in the relationship and admitting her mistakes, wondering if he’s somewhere drinking and thinking about her. It’s a bit hard to make an overarching statement on a short little EP, but these two songs together really do a good job of showcasing two equally valid reactions in the aftermath of a relationship.

Another angle of complicated relationships comes out in “Got Me Where I Want You,” as the narrator sings of wanting a man that she knows she shouldn’t. It’s not really clear why she shouldn’t, and this song could have done a little better at painting this picture, but it’s written well, framed around the hook, “you only want me when you got me where you want me, and you got me where I want you tonight.” This track is accentuated by some lovely piano and enhanced by the harmonies of Naomi Cooke, Hannah Mulholland, and Jennifer Wayne. Their harmonies also serve to make the next song, a cover of Dwight Yoakam’s “Fast as You,” work; It’s risky and arguably inadvisable to make one song a cover on such a short project, and I had my doubts about this, but it’s the strongest selection here. They manage to find that perfect balance between staying true to the original while making this song their own, and also, to the ones that came to country from the bros and Sam Hunt, this introduces an actual country artist, and with a song that’s fun and catchy and makes “true” country seem, for lack of a better word, cool.

The EP closes with “Wild West,” a version of which I reviewed when it first came out in 2017, and although this version is more contemporary, and I prefer the other, this is still the best original track here. Steel guitar can still be heard in this version, even if it is buried deeper in the mix, and that fiddle solo is defiant and prominent. After all the relationship troubles, this song manages to give the EP a final thought, a happy ending where so many sad ones had preceded it. Again, it’s hard to make a cohesive statement in five songs and sixteen minutes, but having “Wild west” as the closer helps to do so and makes the EP a little more complete.

This is a solid debut from a promising group. Not for the traditionalists, but a good blend of country and pop for the more pragmatic, contemporary listeners. There’s substance in the songwriting, and the harmonies are strong and well-defined. These harmonies add a uniqueness to Runaway June’s sound as well. I only wish we had more music to listen to from these ladies, but this is certainly a fine start.

Buy the Ep

Single Review: Runaway June’s “Wild West”

Rating: 9/10

For those who haven’t yet met Runaway June, I invite and encourage you to check out their debut single “Lipstick,” which unfortunately didn’t perform well on the airplay charts but could have probably been a breakout hit for them a few years ago. Now the group, composed of Naomi Cooke, Jennifer Wayne, and Hannah Mulholland, are back with their second single, “Wild West,” and once again, they are bringing something different and promising to the mainstream.

“Wild West” is a nice love song where the woman invites her lover to “steal my heart like Jesse James” and, in a self-described tip of the hat to Jennifer’s grandfather, “come in guns blazing just like old John Wayne.” It’s the type of song a lot of people will be able to relate to, with a nice western theme that so many enjoy. Still, there’s some deceivingly deep imagery and metaphors in the lyrics too; “keep me by your side all night, hold me tight like a pearl-handle .45, and just let me be the whiskey on your breath, love me like the wild, wild, wild West.” There’s something understated in these lyrics that really brings out the romance in this song in a way that a lot of modern mainstream songs can’t get right–it’s either lost in a ridiculous barrage of pickup lines (any bro country anthem you want to insert), or encapsulated in some sort of needy, clingy, creepy sentiment (Brett Young, “Sleep Without You.”) There’s a subtlety in this that says more than the directness in many of today’s songs, yet it’s still quite relatable and somewhat radio friendly-ish.

The (friendly-ish” is not just because of “Lipstick’s” failure and the fact that Runaway June consists of three females, but also because of the instrumentation. For those of you who don’t know, and have been introduced to country by “Body Like a Back Road,” those things you’re hearing–that’s a fiddle, and that’s a steel guitar. This is still modern-sounding and in say, 2005, even 2009, it might have done really well on radio. Hopefully it can manage to somehow do that in 2017, or at least sell well enough to get their album released. I am really excited about this group, and a debut album from them cannot come soon enough. For now, go listen to “Wild West.”

Written By: Jennifer Wayne, Justin Lantz, Billy Montana

Note: at the time I wrote this, this was on Apple Music but not Spotify, it may be changed now.