“Let It Rain” kicks off with Nail’s cheating character claiming he’s more crushed by the pain he’s caused his wife than by his own feelings of shame – but does anyone really believe that? The chorus is nothing if not a pity party, centering on a singular theme: “She don’t love me anymore.”
But it’s an effective pity party. Nail delivers the song with tortured self-loathing, using the shades of soul in his voice to wring out his emotion. His character may not garner any sympathy (“When the shades start coming down/The guilt you feel’s the last thing on your mind”), but his pain is believable, in a pathetic sort of way. Sarah Buxton’s earthy background vocals serve as a gorgeous complement to the rawness of his plea, though they’re a little difficult to make out against the bombastic production.
Then again, sweeping self-pity is exactly the kind of thing that calls for a dramatic, Gary LeVox-style arrangement. A power ballad with a purpose? I’ll bite.
Written by David Nail & Jonathan Singleton
Grade: B
Listen: Let It Rain
Good review. I agree about Buxton’s vocals – they’re my favorite part, especially at the end where she gets to cut loose a bit. I like Nail’s voice and the sound of this single, but just find the chorus melody annoying. It draws out the nasal sound in Nail’s voice to bad effect, IMO. Still, I prefer his take on the Rascal Flatts approach to Rascal Flatts’.
He’s one of the most gifted vocalists in Nashville and I like that he teamed up with Singleton (who wrote “Red Light”) to make this song. The RF-ish chorus will likely kill this song for others, but the grade given here is right in line with my thoughts on the song and one other thing, if anyone’s heard “Missouri” off of David’s CD, they’ll know that he does do self-loathing pretty well.
It’s a shame that David hasn’t taken off at radio, with the exception of “Red Light.” I love his first album, in fact it was my favorite album of 2009. I hope his follow up is as good, if not better. He definitely has the vocals and his first album proved that he’s got the songwriting, but I think he’s a little too moody for mainstream country these days.
David Nail can do no wrong in my eyes. I do wish they’d brought the high pitch of the chorus down a notch, but I’ll still listen to this song a million times, and then a million times again. Love him.
I love David Nail, and its ashame that he hasnt been recognized for his talent more! His voice is amazing and he can sing anything in my eyes! I love his first album and listened to it over and over and never got tired of it! I hope his new album is as great as his first and that he takes off! Hes one of the best out there today! Hes amazing in concert as well!!
I really liked “Red Light” and checked out some of his other work online and thought it was pretty good. Then I asked him to sign his cd while he was standing around at his first cd release “party” and the guy was a total jerk. Suffice it to say, I actually threw away the cd cuz this Nail is a complete tool.