Holly Williams - "Gone Away From Me"
From The Highway
The most beautiful song on The Highway,
Williams' anguished voice here is a force to be reckoned with,
observant and detached one moment and emotionally wrought the next; she
also employs her falsetto to nuanced and powerful effect. This is a
terrifically sad story song about family, death, and the passing of
time, sung by a woman who comes from a family who knows a thing or two
about singing a good story (and death for that matter; Hank Jr.'s her
father, Hank Sr.'s her grandfather). Little vignettes like this really
push the song into the realm of great and timeless: "They always made
us kneel by Grandpa's grave/ Mama was wailing asking God if he was
saved/ I never liked to see my daddy cry/ I guess I'll never know how
Grandpa died." (Jackson Browne contributes on vocals, too.)
City and Colour - "Two Coins"
From The Hurry and the Harm
I love everything about this song. The melody, the voice, the lyrics--especially the refrain: "I've always been dark/ with light somewhere in the distance." Dallas Green, the man behind the moniker, can damn well sing. If you've ever heard of every church youth group's former favorite Christian rock-pop-rap band DC Talk, his voice reminds me of Kevin Max. (The guitar sounds fantastic on the solo acoustic version below.)
Steve Martin & Edie Brickell - "Love Has Come For You"
From Love Has Come For You
I honestly didn't expect to enjoy this song (and the album) as much as I do. Steve Martin's banjo picking compliments rather than calls attention to itself. I'd never heard of Edie Brickell before but she has a great and unique voice. Nothing showy or flashy here, just beautiful, simple music. More albums please, you two.
Camera Obscura - "This Love (Feels Alright)"
The Scottish band creates a kind of pop that is ethereal and alive. The opening hook on this song instantly piqued my interest and pulled me in. I mean, it's cool to like Scottish pop, right?
Phosphorescent - "The Quotidian Beasts"
From Muchacho
I only discovered Phosphorescent and its sole member Matthew Houck's blending of atmospheric indie rock, country, and americana this year. Anyone who has the taste and appreciation to do a Willie Nelson covers album, as Houck did with 2009's To Willie, is worth considering by more than a select few "indie-only" music fans. Even those who may find some of the songs on this year's Muchacho too experimental, it's hard not get down with the melodies and Houck's downtrodden yet passionate voice on "Quotidian." And in general, it's hard not to get down with a song this catchy that uses the word "quotidian" in its title.
The Mavericks - "Lies"
From In Time
This jam just doesn't let up. "Let's do one more," says lead singer Raul Malo. Malo still has that soothing croon and The Mavericks can still hit those sweet harmonies and their songs still have that quality that almost makes you want to get up and do the twist. Just in case you were wondering. One more, indeed.
John Moreland - "Your Spell"
From In The Throes
Moreland's entire album is chock full of soul-baring, heart-on-sleeve, heartbroken, ruthless authenticity such as this. This lyric gets me: "You were the queen of my condition, I was the king of the ignored/ Talked just like east Texas, looked like an angel from the Lord." That about says it all.
George Strait - "You Don't Know What You're Missing"
From Love Is Everything
George Strait outclasses and outshines every male who's popular in mainstream country music, so much so that it's weird even to think of Strait as "mainstream" anymore. He is still the king and standard-bearer, cutting songs because he thinks they are good and have something to say and not because they cater to radio's annoying party-all-the-time culture. This song tells the story of two guys sitting in a bar. One guy won't stop complaining about his life and the other guy kind of wishes he (still) had that life. I'm glad Strait is still going to continue recording after he retires from touring; I don't want to miss out on gems like this. (The song was co-written by Chris Stapleton, unsurprisingly.)
Jimmy Eat World - "I Will Steal You Back"
From Damage
Sure, it's more of the same from Jimmy Eat World. But they do what they do so well and I know of no other bands still making this kind of music. "I Will Steal You Back" sounds like one of their songs you might have heard on modern rock radio in the late 90s or early 2000s, and I don't see a damn thing wrong with that.
Dailey & Vincent - "Steel Drivin' Man"
From Brothers of the Highway
This bluegrass jam is what you call a barn burner. You have top-notch tenor singing from John Dailey (who also wrote the song), and it's a wonder how he keeps up with the speed and ferocious picking of the rest of the band. It's the kind of talent you can find only in a bluegrass group comprised of musicians and singers at the top of their game. I highly recommend seeing them live if you get the chance. (The music video below captures their stage energy and sense of humor quite well.)
Jason Isbell - "Live Oak"
Isbell is one of America's greatest living songwriters. If you follow him on Twitter you are aware that he's an avid reader of fiction which may help explain why many of his songs have the feeling of being (really) short stories in and of themselves. If you like "Live Oak" and its anxious, verging on paranoid narrator, you'll love Southeastern. Great line: "Well I carved her cross from live oak and her box from short leaf pine/ buried her so deep she touched the water table line."
10) Shooter Jennings - "The Real Me"(released in May, did not chart) From the album Family Man Songwriter: Shooter Jennings
His calling out of John Mayer this past year on Twitter was rather pointless, and came off as someone who thinks they should be more popular whining about people who actually are. But Shooter Jennings is not some talentless guy trying to ride his father Waylon's coattails. You cannot listen to one of his albums with realizing the amount of raw and eclectic talent that was obviously passed along from his father to him; quite literally, it's in his blood, and "The Real Me" is proof positive of this. It is a song with a great sense of humor, tongue planted firmly in cheek, about whiskey and the devil and the transformation that happens when they take over. It is 100% traditional country but is still different in enough ways that modernize it and make it appealing to an audience for today. There are hard rock elements, southern rock elements, massive changes in tempo. After the first chorus--a chorus that is frenetic both musically an lyrically--when he settles back into the verse with the sweet ring of a steel guitar, it's a thing of a beauty, and it was the point I realized this song was something special. Read the lyrics of the chorus and tell me you don't want to hear how he fits all these words into a couple bars of music:
And I'm a double-talkin', chicken lickin' Meaner than the dickens, sick and wicked Hole-diggin', pickin', son of a gun And I'll love you like the devil Bite you like a snake and then forsake And break everything I don't take before I am done
The pre-chorus is just as good, but I will spare you those lyrics and just let you listen for yourself. Lastly, I can't help but love a song that begins with the line, "I wake up with my children, right around the crack of noon."
9) Zac Brown Band - "The Wind"(released in June, peaked at #11 in September) From the album Uncaged
Songwriters: Zac Brown, Wyatt Durrette, Levi Lowery
It is no surprise that "The Wind" was Zac Brown Band's first single not to crack the top ten on the Billboard Country charts. With its ferocious picking, breakneck lyrical delivery, and a sound unabashedly and heavily influenced by bluegrass music, it's a small wonder that it reached number 11. The song moves so fast that it's over before you know it, like a gust of wind that blows your hat off or your skirt up before you know what happened. The bizarre animated music video made by Beavis and Butthead creator Mike Judge is also worth a watch.
8) Kacey Musgraves - "Merry Go 'Round"(released in September, currently at #20 Airplay and climbing) From a hopefully soon-to-be-released album Songwriters: Kacey Musgraves, Josh Osborne, Shane McAnally
Who would have thought a song that is the antithesis of small-town romanticism would be one of the most talked about singles of the year, and would actually wind up being a mild success (a huge success actually, for a song like this; it's #20 and still climbing) on mainstream country radio? I certainly didn't think so. Musgraves' voice is often compared to Miranda Lambert's, but I don't think such comparisons give enough credit to Musgraves. Not to say her voice is definitively better than Lambert's, but on "Merry Go 'Round" she's able to vocally conjure up frailty and jadedness in a way I've yet to hear from Lambert. Which is a good thing, especially when you have cynical--what some would call "downer"--lyrics such as:
If you ain't got two kids by twenty-one You're probably gonna die alone At least that's what tradition told you
And...
Mary, Mary quite contrary We get bored so we get married And just like dust we settle in this town
And...
Mama's hooked on Mary Kay Brother's hooked on Mary Jane Daddy's hooked on Mary two doors down
It takes a truly talented singer to sell such lyrics, not merely as bleak, but as realistic and heartfelt, painful though it may be for Musgraves and her co-writers to hold up such a broken mirror. The wonderfully understated production (softly plucked banjo, weeping steel guitar, simple percussion) compliments such lyrics perfectly (Nashville producers would do well to learn that even lyrically mediocre songs become instantly better when they're not loud wall-of-sound monstrosities). I look forward to the full-length album from Musgraves that hopefully releases sooner rather than later.
7) Kellie Pickler - "100 Proof"(released in April, peaked at #50 in May) From the album 100 Proof Songwriters: James T. Slater, Leslie Satcher
A song about 100 Proof love, not liquor, the title track from Kellie Picker's 2012 album seems to me a good representation of what the young stars of today could do to "update" traditional country music for today's mainstream market. Not that traditional country music needs that, but let's be honest: Country radio programmers are most assuredly not going to play songs that sound like "Mama Tried" or "Stand By Your Man" in today's market. Well... umm... it turns out they aren't going to play songs like "100 Proof" either. The mix of traditional instrumentation and lyricism with classic vocals and pop sensibility (in terms of it being immediately catchy), this song still wasn't enough to impress programmers and listeners. It starts out with a killer first line (of which, if you've read this blog more than once, you know I am a huge fan of): "Ain't no rain as cold as the look she just gave him." A melody plucked on an acoustic guitar guides the verses to a soaring steel guitar-soaked chorus ending with, "We got love, 100 Proof." Essentially, it's a song about two different kinds of relationships. One is where the couple likes to go out and party and have a good time very, very often, the night usually leading to drunken fights, the man usually the arbiter of wanting to stay out later and later and get drunker and drunker, the woman begrudgingly staying by his side. The other, of which the narrator is proponent and part of, is the kind where the love is built on a more solid foundation; it's a relationship that's strong, solid, and healthy, a "beautiful truth" they get to wake up with every morning. It's a love that "ain't in no shot glass, no bottle." The song is a nice twist on what the title makes you think it's going to be about.
To give you hope about the state of mainstream country music: Pickler was dropped from her label after dismal sales of the traditional-leaning album 100 Proof and the disappointing radio performance of its subsequent singles. That pretty much sums up where we are. Pickler, an American Idol alum of all things, has proven herself in 2012 to have more balls than the hyper-masculinity of Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan (well, let's not get crazy labeling his schtick "masculine"), Brantley Gilbert, and "Truck Yeah" combined, which honestly isn't surprising seeing as Pickler was all but made a commercial outcast for doing her part in trying to bring integrity back to the airwaves.
6) Kix Brooks - "Bring It On Home"(released in September, peaked at #39 & #44 Airplay in October) From the album New To This Town Songwriters: Rhett Akins, Kix Brooks, Dallas Davidson
While Ronnie Dunn was getting nominated for Grammy awards, Kix Brooks somewhat quietly released a few singles that are much better than I expected, especially this one. It shouldn't have been surprising though, with one of my favorite Brooks and Dunn songs being "You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone," one of the few on which Brooks assumes lead vocal duties (and absolutely kills it, by the way). In this video, Kix calls "Bring It On Home" a tribute to his wife. It tells the oft-told story of a traveling musician who misses home, but Brooks so nails this particular version of that tale that originality simply does not matter. I heard this song on the radio about five times within the span of a week driving around in a box truck. I had no idea who it was singing the first time, I just knew that it stuck out like that guy at the party you remember was drunker than everybody else. A healthy does of steel guitar, a few splashes of mandolin here and there, and an emotionally invested yet fun vocal by Brooks truly make "Bring It On Home," and it is immensely re-listenable. The deal-sealer for me is when the "All my life" part kicks the chorus off. Great stuff.
5) Tim McGraw - "Better Than I Used To Be"(released December 2011, peaked at #5 in June) From the album Emotional Traffic Songwriters: Ashley Gorley, Bryan Simpson
Despite
releasing in late 2011, I first heard "Better Than I Used To Be" some
time in May, and I honestly could not believe it was Tim McGraw. Even more surprising is that it's a track of his last and seemingly infinitely-delayed album for Curb Records, Emotional Traffic, which was released after many public scuffles with the label over artistic freedom and their releasing of countless "greatest hits" packages that were not McGraw-approved. Perhaps yet more surprising than that is it came after several flat-out bad singles over the course of a few years from the usually solid veteran: "Last Dollar (Fly Away)," "It's A Business Doing Pleasure With You," "Still," and the abysmal "Felt Good On My Lips." McGraw's strength has always been as a ballad singer, and "Better Than I Used To Be" is one of his best. Co-written by progressive bluegrass band Cadillac Sky's former front man Bryan Simpson, and Ashley Gorley, who co-wrote one of Trace Adkins' best singles, "You're Gonna Miss This," this is a song about the lifelong pursuit of trying to become a better person.
From opening lines "I know how to hold a grudge, I can send a bridge up in smoke" to the climax of the chorus, "I can finally stand the man in the mirror I see/ I ain't as good as I once was, but I'm better than I used to be," McGraw gives an effortless vocal performance. These are the kinds of songs he was meant to sing. Here's hoping not only that McGraw chooses to record songs like this more often, but that Gorley and Simpson choose to collaborate as writers more often. Mainstream country music could use a lot more songs like this.
4) Turnpike Troubadours - "Gin, Smoke, Lies"(released in July, did not chart) From the album Goodbye Normal Street Songwriters: Evan Felker
If you like your banjo tunes to rock, then this is the song for you. I already attempted to put into words how much this song kicks ass back in July, so call me lazy if you must, but I'm just going to copy what I wrote back then here:
I hope to write a little more on this here blog about Turnpike
Troubadours, though no amount of praise, written or shared, that I could
heap on the band would do them justice, not to mention that said praise
would often venture into hyperbole, for better or worse. Quickly to the
point, this is one of the best, if not the best, country bands
making music today. The lyrics are sharp: if they aren't making you
chuckle then they're making you cry (or at least feel like you could).
The musicianship is tight, skillful, and nuanced: I challenge you to
find a band of any genre that uses instrumentation so perfectly to the
degree that each song calls for as well as these guys. The vocals are...
well, I'll just say that lead singer and principal songwriter Evan
Felker has quickly become one of my favorite voices; twangy, earnest,
and emotive (some friends I have compare him to Ryan Adams, though I
enjoy Felker quite a bit more). "Gin, Smoke, Lies" is the first single
from their recent May release, Goodbye Normal Street, and it's as
ferocious a first single as you're bound to hear. Banjo, fiddle, and
heavily pounding drums (think "We Will Rock You") round out the
production, and Felker's lyrics are as biting and sharp as ever: "Well a
spade is made for diggin' dirt/ and an ax is made for choppin'/ Darlin'
my heart's hard as nails they hammer/ in a hardwood coffin/ In a
hardwood coffin." The "coffin" line is sung twice to drive home the
starkly bleak imagery, you know, just in case you missed it. In the end,
it's a stone cold country song that flat out rocks, a cheating song the
likes of which you've never heard before. CMT.com somewhat surprisingly
debuted the video (which I believe was the group's first ever) for the
song earlier this week, and if it catches any sort of mainstream
traction, I can honestly say it might be the best thing to happen to
mainstream country music this century. Turnpike Troubadours are simply
too good not to want the rest of the world to hear. (no chart position...yet)
Unfortunately, "Gin, Smoke, Lies" still did not chart in the latter half of the year, but I'd be willing to bet mainstream commercial success isn't high on this group's list of goals. They still had great year, with the album Goodbye Normal Street debuting high on the Billboard 200 back in May, and that collection of songs going on to become album of the year on many year-end lists, including mine.
3) Chris Young - "Neon"(released in March, peaked at #23 in August) From the album Neon Songwriters: Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne, Trevor Rosen
"Neon"was one of my favorite songs of 2011, contained on his album of the same name and of that same year. Back then I wrote of the song: "If Young's label doesn't release this as a single in 2012, it will be a country music travesty." Well, the label did release it, and the result was probably more of a travesty than it would have otherwise been as an overlooked gem of an album cut. But as it stands, "Neon" is the first single of Young's not to reach number one since "Gettin' You Home (The Black Dress Song)" hit the top spot back in October of 2009. Hell, it didn't even crack the top twenty. I mean, it had a super cheesy-ass music video and everything (the performance at the Opry embedded below is a much, much better video to watch). The single's commercial failure is pretty historic in my opinion. Young has for years been one of country music's fastest rising stars, but he released a neo-traditional drinking-song classic, and it caused his career's momentum to have the proverbial rug pulled out from under it. "The light at this end of the tunnel is neon," or at least it used to be. Now the light more closely resembles fake tans or bleached teeth or the headlights of a truck driving out to the backroads where they build the campfire and blare Nickelback over the speakers. Boom, boom.
2) Eric Church - "Springsteen"(released in February, peaked at #1 in June) From the album Chief Songwriters: Eric Church, Jeff Hyde, Ryan Tyndell
This is the song that will be looked back on as the one thattook Eric Church to a different level of success. It's not totally country but sounded totally unique on country radio; I mean that in a really good way. I wrote a full review of the song here, and though a bit wordy, it's been the most viewed post at Abundant Ramblings since this blog's inception. Here's an excerpt:
"Springsteen" is a glorious testament to the fact that Eric Church
understands music to be a powerful and emotional force rather than a
commercial and formulaic one. In the musical atmosphere of country
radio, such an understanding feels like a minor miracle. With Church,
music's power is more than just lip service, and with "Springsteen," he
does a service to fans of music everywhere, helping us to understand
that though we are struggling human beings living in an insane and real
world, music has the power to keep us young in spirit and at heart,
which may just--in the long run--not only help us to find our way, but
help us to survive.
1) George Strait - "Drinkin' Man"(released in April, peaked at #37 in July) From the album Here For A Good Time Songwriters: Dean Dillon, Bubba Strait, George Strait
I have hope that George Strait won't go the way of Alan Jackson and fall completely out of the good graces (somehow) of country radio. But if the chart performance of "Drinkin' Man" is any indication, the end is nigh, my friends. It's not a happy song. It's not an upbeat song. There is no silver lining at the end of the song. There is only the silver lining that comes with going through the struggle that this song is about; the silver lining is in the journey of the fighting. Here's what I wrote about the song last summer:
It's nearly unforgivable the way radio has treated what is the best
single of the past five years from country music's elder statesman.
"Drinkin' Man" tells the heartbreaking story of one man's lifelong
struggle with alcohol, starting at the tender age of fourteen. We
sympathize profoundly with the narrator because he talks about how he's
tried to quit and how he knows his reliance on drink is hurting those
closest to him who love him the most. Take, for example, this
chill-inducing line: "Stayed sober once for nine days in a row, I quit
cold turkey/ Damn near almost made it ten/ But that's a hell of a lot to
ask/ of a drinkin' man." In a similar way that Wade Bowen sings a
different tune about Saturday nights, George Strait sings a different
tune about alcohol. Many songs on country radio (and pop radio for that
matter) glorify night after night of drinking to excess, but "Drinkin'
Man" trades glory and good times for something a little more poignant,
dangerous, and real. And it doesn't matter that it's sung and co-written
by King George; radio programmers wouldn't touch something this
authentic with a thirty-seven foot pole. And they didn't.
I still can't get over that "Damn near almost made it to ten" lyric, one of the best lines of the year, to be sure.Strait sings this song not only with the respect it deserves, but with the yearning its narrator feels compelling him toward change. By the end of it the listener realizes that quitting is going to be a lifelong struggle for this person, full of false starts and giving up and pain. And Strait and his co-writers give us no promise at the end that the narrator will ever totally conquer the demon. Perhaps the only appropriate response after hearing this song for the first time is, "Damn." Even if it's something you've never gone through personally, sometimes a song just hits you when it delves into subject matter that's dark and real. As with Kacey Musgraves' "Merry Go 'Round," sometimes it's painful to hold up a broken mirror, but that doesn't mean someone shouldn't still hold it up.
It's no surprise that many of the best songs released to country radio fail to make a blip on the charts. Even when some of country music's most popular stars release a song that's a little "different" for mainstream audiences (read: sad, authentic, or tells a heartfelt story), radio programmers and the powers that be tend to shrivel up in fear and refuse to play it. It's not "what the audience wants to hear." What they are really saying, however, is that the song wasn't churned out by "a few bros" before lunch on Monday morning over a cup of coffee, sent to production and compressed to smitherines, and made bereft of all possible soul and genuine emotion, all in the name of not offending the "target audience." There are, of course, a few exceptions. The following songs display a strength of songwriting that is rarely present on the airwaves, and that's why they were not or most likely will not be played. I'm sure I missed a few of the best (I couldn't find a composite list of singles released to country radio in 2012), but these are some of my favorites.
Josh Thompson - "Comin' Around" - With production that contains both banjo and steel guitar front and center in the mix, "Comin' Around" follows Thompson's minor hits "Beer on the Table" and "Way Out Here." A little ironically, the first lines are, "It was like nails on a chalkboard when Daddy played his kind of music/ If you'd have asked me then I'd have said it was borderline abusive/ But I'm gettin' to where I don't mind it now/ I'm comin' around." The way Thompson felt about his father's music back then is how I feel about many songs on today's country airwaves. And anytime there are rumblings of a coming change underneath the surface, something is put out there that makes it evident radio isn't coming around at all. (Peaked at #31)
Wade Bowen - "Saturday Night" - Another product of the Texas music scene, Wade Bowen had the audacity to release a song about how going out on Saturday night can sometimes suck. According to current mainstream "country" culture, if you don't write a song about how going out and getting wasted is always so much damn fun, and instead write a song about how a lot of the time it ain't that damn much fun at all, you are bound to be taken for a crazy person. Of course, this is ultimately a song about heartbreak, which certainly colors the way the narrator feels about this particular Saturday night. But still. (Peaked at #39)
Kellie Pickler - "100 Proof" - I have listened to the songs from her latest project of the same title (though not yet thoroughly) and, well, it's pretty clear from even one listen that the album and singles released from it were not destined to take the mainstream by storm; it's simply too old-school. Granted, that would have been great, and I'm sure that's ultimately what Pickler would love to have happened. But even though she's a fairly household name due to her appearance on and subsequent fame garnered from American Idol, country radio simply did not give Kellie Pickler a chance this time around. This particular song just sounds good, with steel guitar and Picker's twangily strong vocals heavily featured; it's a traditional, or at least neo-traditional, song pleasantly updated for today's mainstream audience with it's soul more than intact. Unfortunately, soulless is what's popular. (Peaked at #50)
The Mavericks - "Born To Be Blue" - Those unmistakeable jangly guitars are back and they haven't lost a bit of the sound or urgency that made them temporary successes with the mainstream back in the 90s. I remember really liking every single they released in those days. Though I couldn't come close to putting my finger on it back then, looking back now I realize there was always something different about them; they stood out, even to my young ears. "Born To Be Blue" picks up right where The Mavericks left it when they split -- the Roy Orbison-esque vocals of Raul Malo, the driving percussion, the heartbroken lyrics mixed with the light-hearted-good-time-jangly-downright-danceable instrumentation, executed by the members of the band with considerable skill and cohesion. It's yet to be seen whether signing with an offshoot imprint under the umbrella of label Big Machine Records (the new kings of Music Row) will translate to success in the format once again, but either way it's good to have them back. (Currently at #49)
Josh Abbott Band - "Touch" - I really need to listen to more of this group. They have been mighty popular in the Red Dirt/Texas scene (are you noticing a trend here?), and even tasted mild country radio success with the beautiful mandolin-soaked number "Oh Tonight" in the summer of last year (the single reached #44). Abbott's vocals bear a striking resemblance to another of Texas country music's finest, and one of my favorites, Randy Rogers. Lyrically, their latest single "Touch" is your pretty standard telling of a love gone wrong (though the line "Can't stop starin'/ My eyes keep takin' off what you're wearin'" does stand out), but it's so passionately sung by Abbott and played by the band that the emotional payoff is extraordinary, which isn't the easiest thing do to with a fiddle- and organ-laced country rocker. If this one doesn't crack them into the mainstream consciousness in a similar way that Eli Young Band's "Crazy Girl" did for that group, then hopefully the next track released off their Small Town Family Dream album will do the job. (Currently at #41)
George Strait - "Drinkin' Man" - It's nearly unforgivable the way radio has treated what is the best single of the past five years from country music's elder statesman. "Drinkin' Man" tells the heartbreaking story of one man's lifelong struggle with alcohol, starting at the tender age of fourteen. We sympathize profoundly with the narrator because he talks about how he's tried to quit and how he knows his reliance on drink is hurting those closest to him who love him the most. Take, for example, this chill-inducing line: "Stayed sober once for nine days in a row, I quit cold turkey/ Damn near almost made it ten/ But that's a hell of a lot to ask/ of a drinkin' man." In a similar way that Wade Bowen sings a different tune about Saturday nights, George Strait sings a different tune about alcohol. Many songs on country radio (and pop radio for that matter) glorify night after night of drinking to excess, but "Drinkin' Man" trades glory and good times for something a little more poignant, dangerous, and real. And it doesn't matter that it's sung and co-written by King George; radio programmers wouldn't touch something this authentic with a thirty-seven foot pole. And they didn't. (Peaked at #37)
Turnpike Troubadours - "Gin, Smoke, Lies" - I hope to write a little more on this here blog about Turnpike Troubadours, though no amount of praise, written or shared, that I could heap on the band would do them justice, not to mention that said praise would often venture into hyperbole, for better or worse. Quickly to the point, this is one of the best, if not the best, country bands making music today. The lyrics are sharp: if they aren't making you chuckle then they're making you cry (or at least feel like you could). The musicianship is tight, skillful, and nuanced: I challenge you to find a band of any genre that uses instrumentation so perfectly to the degree that each song calls for as well as these guys. The vocals are... well, I'll just say that lead singer and principal songwriter Evan Felker has quickly become one of my favorite voices; twangy, earnest, and emotive (some friends I have compare him to Ryan Adams, though I enjoy Felker quite a bit more). "Gin, Smoke, Lies" is the first single from their recent May release, Goodbye Normal Street, and it's as ferocious a first single as you're bound to hear. Banjo, fiddle, and heavily pounding drums (think "We Will Rock You") round out the production, and Felker's lyrics are as biting and sharp as ever: "Well a spade is made for diggin' dirt/ and an ax is made for choppin'/ Darlin' my heart's hard as nails they hammer/ in a hardwood coffin/ In a hardwood coffin." The "coffin" line is sung twice to drive home the starkly bleak imagery, you know, just in case you missed it. In the end, it's a stone cold country song that flat out rocks, a cheating song the likes of which you've never heard before. CMT.com somewhat surprisingly debuted the video (which I believe was the group's first ever) for the song earlier this week, and if it catches any sort of mainstream traction, I can honestly say it might be the best thing to happen to mainstream country music this century. Turnpike Troubadours are simply too good not to want the rest of the world to hear. (no chart position...yet)
Even though I didn't finish the reviews for the rest of the top 30 last week, numbers 30 through 21 are virtually the same so I'll just pick up right where I left off. I'll start, however, with the lone two additions at #30 and 29:
30."Alone With You" - Jake Owen- This is a song about being addicted to a girl. And I really like it. The song, not being addicted to a girl (well, that's true most of the time). There is no reasonable answer to the question (and lyric), "Why are you the one that I want?" He just does. Said girl apparently cannot make up her mind about said addiction-addled guy, or at least she pretends she can't as to keep him both close and at a distance at the same time. Owen's vocal melody here sounds quite unique for country radio, and you can really sense the emotion in his voice, especially at the end of the song when he almost shouts "Don't say you love me 'cause you know you're gonna love me and leave." Damn. I'm not up to par with all of my country songwriters yet, but Shane McAnally, J.T. Harding, and Catt Gravitt really put together a foundation that Owen could build upon with his strong vocal chops. While the production is pretty standard fare, the song is stone cold country heartbreak in lyrical content, and its uniqueness and vocal performance will make it stand out. Well done, Mr. Owen. (An aside regarding the music video -- and, seeing as there is a gorgeous half-naked woman throughout it, calling this a complaint would be a bit over the top, but: the video essentially reduces this song to being about nothing than a series of addictive booty calls. Had I never seen the video, that would probably not have been high on my list of ways this song could be interpreted. Lyrics such as the above mentioned "you'll just love me and leave me", "I don't see you laugh, you don't call me back, but you kiss me when you're drunk", and "Don't say it doesn't matter 'cause it's gonna matter to me" seem to suggest that something deeper and a little more complex is going on here. Okay, there is that line "Your body's like a pill I shouldn't take." But you should take that line and interpret it within the lyrical context of the rest of the song [see what I did th.....nevermind]. Anyway, the video is sexy, as is the girl in it, and Owen with his overdone mugging and half heartbroken/menacing looks at the camera [blame the director or the record label, not him] I'm sure had a delightful time making it. I just don't think it serves the story of the song well. That's all. Now I'm going to go watch it again to check out that girl.)
29."Love's Gonna Make It Alright" - George Strait - I haven't had the chance to listen to his Here For A Good Time album all the way through yet, but this song starts it out in a classically Strait feel-good way. The king of country radio sings about the all-encompassing power of love to bring us back around to the point of looking at our lot in life with hope again. He takes his woman out on the town and, as could be predicted, they end up watching the sun come up through their bedroom window. This standard country theme is brought to life by a truly upbeat melody that includes a happy fiddle and a little steel guitar lick that pops up from time to time. I wasn't crazy about "Here For A Good Time" (the single), but I didn't dislike it either; there is no apathy when it comes to "Love's Gonna Make It Alright," a song much needed on the airwaves for the long and weary months of winter that lie ahead. Even if you don't have a "love" to make it alright, this song will.
19."Storm Warning" - Hunter Hayes - I was fully prepared to hate this song; the cover for his album just looks like he is begging to be accepted as the male equivalent to Taylor Swift. And maybe he is, and maybe that isn't such an awful thing. Now Swift ain't my cup of tea, but I certainly respect the fact that she writes her own music, and often when one of her songs comes on the radio I find myself thinking, "Wow, that is actually not too bad." ("Sparks Fly," the song, I admittedly like a lot.) She has a real gift for melody, and it seems so does Hunter Hayes. He co-wrote this song (also worth mentioning is that he had a hand it writing every song on his debut album); there are some clever lyrics to be found and the melody is decent but not good enough to stand out. On the whole, it's a promising first single, and no doubt this kid is talented, but it's all just a little to cutesy-sounding for me, sort of like Swift's "Love Story." And personally, it's a little hard to relate to someone born seven years after me who is dsinging about the humorous pitfalls that love can take. But I probably won't change the station the first couple times I hear this on the radio. Here's to hoping his voice matures (read: deepens, or at least starts to sound fuller) as does the overall production and sound of his songs. I'm sure we haven't heard the last of the young Mr. Hayes.
18. "I'm Gonna Love You Through It" - Martina McBride - I'm just going to say it: Martina McBride just doesn't do much for me anymore. Maybe it's because her recent output of songs are very topical (see: "Teenage Daughters" - didn't much care for that tune). Looking (pretty far) back, "Independence Day" and "Wild Angels" are my two favorite songs of hers. Obviously, she deserves the respect she gets and her place on country radio, what with her gifted voice and longevity of her presence in the format, I just haven't really enjoyed much of her recent output. Truth be told, "I'm Gonna Love You Through It" is probably my favorite single of hers in recent years, but I think that's more because of it's message and for the fact that it is no doubt touching lives that have been touched by the terrible disease of cancer. The declaration of loving somebody through something so horrible, no matter the outcome, is to be admired. I can see why this has become such a popular song, I just do not connect to it in the slightest on a personal level. With that said, it is unquestionably a good thing that songs like this exist in the world.
17. "I Got Nothin'" - Darius Rucker - I believe this is Mr. Rucker's finest single release since the last two singles from his debut album, "Alright" and "History in the Making." I just didn't care much for "Come Back Song" or "This." "I Got Nothin'" is about a couple whose love has died; they want nothing more than to rekindle it, but the man (the narrator; makes sense) simply cannot find the words to even begin that process no matter how much he prays to come up with something. For better or worse, it is a relationship that is doomed to not be revived. Perhaps nothing "happened" that caused the relationship to get to this point, just the slow and subtle burn of time, and time just was not on their side. Every element in this song compliments the other elements nicely; the production, melody, and lyric really convey the depth of the couple's devastation. It is quite emotional. Rucker's delivery of the following verse is especially heartfelt: "I watch you pack your things, you look down at your ring, slowly slip it off and then lay it on our bed. Maybe I should pick it up and get down on my knees, tell you what you want to hear, and give you what you need." Bravely, the ending does not shy away from the bleakness, it does not offer that tiny ray of hope so desperately needed; she is leaving, that is that, and he says "If you go, I got nothin'." We are meant to believe that she is indeed gone, and that "I got nothin'" has truly become the narrator's truth. Such is the feeling, sometimes, of life. This song entered the charts on June 4th and has been a bit of a slow burn getting up to #17. That's not hard to believe seeing as it's not an easy listen, especially for couples literally going through what the songs speaks to; yet it is an immensely listenable song because it can be felt. Nicely done by Rucker and co-writer Clay Mills.
16. "One More Drinkin' Song" - Jerrod Niemann - This truly is just another drinkin' song. Not that that's a bad thing, it just brings nothing new to the table (or to the bar, as it were). It's Niemann's most traditional sounding single thus far, and would certainly fit nicely on a mix between Alan Jackson's "It's Five O'Clock Somwhere", Garth Brooks' "Friends In Low Places", and Toby Keith's "Red Solo Cup", though it doesn't quite reach those heights (or lows...ahem...as it were). Plus, singing the word "margadaquiriscrewalottaonthebeach" has got to be ten tons of fun to sing when one is well past the point of sobriety. Hell, the drunken back-up singers from "Friends In Low Places" even make an appearance, at one point shouting everyone's goal for the night, "blanking out" Niemann in the process. Naughty guys and gals. Overall, the song is certainly pleasant and easy enough on the ears to sing along to. Or to get-hopped-up-and-make-some-bad-decisions to (you know...as it were).
