Lyric Street really seems to lead the pack in terms of “country” acts who don’t sound particularly “country”, huh?
Their new rising act on imprint Carolwood is another three-piece boy band who sound like they paid a lot of attention to 80’s/90’s pop-rock and care deeply about the inner yearnings of suburban teens between the ages of 11 and 17. If you’re like me, you’ll play the first two seconds of this and marvel that it’s climbing the same charts that once featured the late Vern Gosdin.
But alright, I’ll admit it’s a catchy little thing. I don’t know that music gets a whole lot blander than this – even in fantasizing about ditching town and a paying job, they still sound as safe and neutered as can be – but it’s competent, pleasant pop-rock whose only real artistic fault is just that it’s not nearly as edgy or exciting as it would clearly like to be.
Written by Robert Blackledge, Stephen Barker Liles & Canaan Lee Smith
Grade: C+
Listen: Runaway
Buy:
I heard this song and I honestly thought one of our country stations had switched to a new frequency- that’s a new level of non-country-ness.
“If you’re like me, you’ll play the first two seconds of this and marvel that it’s climbing the same charts that once featured the late Vern Gosdin.”
And if you’re like me, you’ve never even heard of Vern Gosdin, and that’s why I can probably bear this a little more easily.
Dan,
These guys do have great harmonies, particularly live and they do write most of their stuff as well. The production might be what’s muddied up the song for you as live and acoustic the song is pretty damn good.
Heard this song for the first time tonight.
First, let me be clear…it is NOT a bad song. I caught it about halfway through as I was scanning the dial, and ended up listening to the rest of it, and I actually kind of liked it.
But it is amazing what some people try to pass off as country music these days. George Strait, Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Travis Tritt…these are the country singers I gree up with. I even like more modern singers like Brad Paisley, Kenny Chesney, Trent Willmon, and Chris Young.
But this belongs on a pop station, not a country station.
My brother hates country music, but when I first heard “Runaway,” I thought “Jon would probably like this.” The only country quality it had was a barely audible mandolin during the chorus. The rest of the song sounded just like the stupid punk trash that my brother listens to.