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Review: Runaway June’s Self-Titled EP

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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.

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Random Reflections

Reflecting on: Ashley Monroe–Satisfied

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In honor of Ashley Monroe’s fourth album release Friday, it seems fitting to discuss her long-lost debut, Satisfied. I could have chosen Like a Rose, which is one of my three favorite albums of all time, but this one has been overlooked and mishandled since its conception, so it’s this one I’ll highlight.

Style: traditional country

People Who Might Like This Album: fans of Like a Rose, fans of Lee Ann Womack, and just generally people starving for that traditional sound in modern country music

Standout Tracks: “Used,” “Hank’s Cadillac,” “Make Room at the Bottom,” “I Don’t Wanna Be,” “Let me Down Again”

Reflections: If you’ve read more than one of these, you’ll immediately say: “Why no release date?” Well, I’m looking at this album on Apple Music now, and I’m confronted with three different versions of Satisfied with three different release dates and yes, three different track listings. The original, limited release of this came out in 2006, and even that isn’t one of the three listed here, as that contained the single “I Don’t Want To” with Ronnie Dunn; if you got that version, you’re lucky because that song seems to not exist anywhere for purchase now. (And someone please correct me if I’m wrong about that because I’d really like a copy of “I Don’t Want To,” by the way.)

Ashley was dropped from her label in 2007, and the album was largely unreleased. It became available again in 2009 as a digital download. That version has a twelfth track in place of “I Don’t Want To” called “Promised Land,” and that version is probably the most well-known. There’s the original minus “I Don’t Want To,” as well as another version with a twelfth track known as “I Can’t Unlove You.” You see why I say this record has been mishandled–in fact, in 2013, when Monroe’s career had been revitalized after the success of Pistol Annies enough for her to be signed and release Like a Rose, some called that album her debut. It reflects both ignorance about the artist and perhaps embarrassment that such a talent was forsaken in this way. I’ve even seen Sparrow referred to in places as her third album, and I just think it’s a travesty to let this debut go unrecognized.

It was ignored and Ashley was dropped partly because it was so traditional, but more so because of the depth of emotion reflected in her songs. Monroe talks of taking “Used,” a song about literally being used like a worn-out, faded dress where “the fabric has been torn,” to radio stations where she moved DJ’s to tears, some even saying they wished they could play it, but it wouldn’t fit with the format. Thankfully, a different version of “Used” was recorded for Like a Rose, so that song has seen the wider reception it deserves. Monroe was only nineteen, but she’d lost her father six years prior to the recording of this debut, and much of it reflects that sorrow. It’s only someone who has lived through heartbreak who can make a song like “Make Room at the Bottom,” a pretty simple track lyrically, come to life because of the depth of emotion in each syllable. That same sorrow is displayed on “He Ain’t Coming Back” and in a different way on “Hank’s Cadillac,” as she expresses that she would have kept Hank Williams Sr. from dying if she’d been there that night. She’d have helped him to sober up and played his songs on the radio, and the world wouldn’t have lost him so early.

There are lighter moments here as well, like “Pain Pain” and the Dwight Yoakam duet “That’s why we Call Each Other Baby.” I don’t want to paint Monroe or this album into some sort of dark, depressing corner. But it’s her ability to express pain because she lived it that makes her special as an artist, that came out on these songs and ultimately hurt the performance of this album, and which still survives today on this forgotten record and deserves to be heard. I’m sorry Nashville treated this album so badly, but at least it’s in our hands now, and we can hear the debut from an artist many of us have come to love.

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Random Reflections

Reflecting On: Dwight Yoakam – Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc. Etc.

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It was only a matter of time until I turned to classic country for my Random Reflections. I love lots of older artists and songs, so I’m extremely excited to be able to talk about them here. Today, I thought I’d feature one of my top favorites, Dwight Yoakam’s debut album, Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.

Release Date: 1986

Style: Traditional Country

People Who Might Like this Album: Fans of fiddle and traditional country with faster tempos

Standout Tracks: “Honky Tonk Man,” “South Of Cincinnati,” “Guitars, Cadillacs,” “Miner’s Prayer”

The opening guitar of “Honky Tonk Man” is some of the catchiest I’ve ever heard. It immediately gets you in the mood for the faster tempo of the song. It’s about a man who constantly hangs out in the bar, only to want to go back home when he’s out of money. In addition to fun songs, there’s the classic “South of Cincinnati”. This is one of Dwight Yoakam’s best songs in my opinion. It tells the tale of a woman who writes letters to her ex saying that if he ever returns south of Cincinnati, she’d go back to being with him. The thing that makes this a classic is that she writes these letters for fourteen years and puts them in her Bible, never sending them. Then, you have the title track. It’s a deceptively upbeat song wherein he sings “guitars, Cadillacs, hillbilly music, is the only thing that keeps me hanging on”. I love it because it’s fun, but there’s also the emotion behind it, as the girl he loved ruined his naivety, and now he’s hanging on to what he knows. Lastly, there’s “Miner’s Prayer”. Dwight Yoakam is from Kentucky, so the fact that he did a song about a miner wanting to escape the mine was no surprise. However, I do love this song with its banjo and Dwight’s expressive vocals.

This album is still one of my favorites from Dwight Yoakam. He still plays many of these songs live today, and they have become some of his biggest hits. There are a few fiddle solos on this album too, and I love them. If you have never heard of or checked out Dwight Yoakam’s music, there’s no place to begin like the beginning.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT2sdgBtAW8