The lead single from Jason Aldean’s upcoming album is everything that you expect it to be.
He’s a country boy from a small town, taking his girl out for a spin in his Chevy. Little details sprinkled in here and there, like pretty pink toes on the dash, that paint a specific picture, generic as it may be.
It’s all entirely functional, indicating that Aldean’s newest effort is likely to be in the same vein as the previous one. Maybe there will be more interesting singles down the line.
As for this one, if you don’t already go crazy over his small town anthems, or you need a more interesting presentation of them, a la “Dirt Road Anthem”, this isn’t going to do anything for ya.
Written by Dylan Altman, Rodney Clawson, and Jim McCormick
Grade: C
Listen: Take a Little Ride
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIqYkjlhUaU
I don’t hate this song, I don’t love this song. It’s just there. I’m sure I will catch myself singing along with it when I get the full CD, but I won’t be buying that disc for this song. His more interesting stuff normally surfaces in the later singles anyway.
The song about a small town production and assembly line will be working overtime on the new Jason Aldean album if this single is any indication. We’re going to have a manufactured country star singing a plethora of songs about a manufactured lifestyle it seems.
Specific to “Take a Little Ride”, I hope all his singles aren’t absent a fishing reference like this one was. The next time they change over the single assembly line in Nashville, I hope the machinery makes it so his next single has a fishing reference.Had they put in a fishing reference here in “Little Ride”, I’d be hooked! However, I can’t grade this song any higher than a D+ without one.
As for the review, I really enjoy most of what all of you do on Country Universe, this one is no exception. However, I’d like to see an even bigger spotlights on the neo-traditional songs and artists out there. Newcomers Greg Bates and Dustin Lynch respectively have cuts “Did It For the Girl” and “Cowboys and Angels” out there that I’d love to see get more attention from the blogosphere. Hopefully reviews are in the works.
:P
he: ride this chevy, ride this chevy!
she: it’s a truck, yeah?
acc goes motown on a dirt road.
It’s the most uninteresting release from Jason Aldean for me. And no matter how I try, I just don’t love the hook/melody of the song. Oh, well.
Okay, so here is one of two artists that release decent music that I’ll buy regardless. Shameless? Maybe. Do I care? Heck no! I don’t know why I give Aldean a pass, but I do, and I’ll be damned for it. I enjoy the hook and it’s definitely a fun sing-a-long jam. As others have said, he’s bound to have more in depth, thought provoking singles down the line. This song fits in well at country radio and is in perfect time for summer. Oh yeah, the other artist is Luke Bryan. No surprise I’ll be seeing them in Sacramento in September. Thanks for the review Kevin. You’re spot on, I just have a soft spot for his music.
When Jason Aldean releases a new rockabilly anthem, I feel like we could have just kept listening to the one that came before it. His ballads have an inviting sensitivity and even a touch of originality here and there, but these reiterations of “Hicktown” have really gotten old for me. This song is basically a clone of “My Kind of Party.” A C may be too generous, IMO.
Jason Aldean will probably be another Kenny Chesney…..radio will just keep rewarding them for the same old copy cat song over and over. They will throw in a good song accidently at times and radio will think..their back, and then the cycle starts over again….sorry, but that’s the way it looks to me. Can you tell I’m so sick of country radio. It use to be fun and enjoyable, but what happened?? Did I get too old or have I read too many reviews?
What is perhaps most depressing about these, what I tend to refer to as, “faux-country” anthems is not that they get recorded and released, but that the country audience willingly swallows them whole, all the while knowing that they all seem to sound the same after a while.