If you’re going to go for pure contemporary country escapist fun, I say this is the way to do it.
Just to be clear, I’m aware that the excuse of the narrator’s girl loving up on him would not get a guy out of a ticket if he were pulled over for erratic driving in real life. But the thought sure does make for an enjoyable song.
“All Over the Road” soars with an airy, infectious melody, and a delightful fiddle and steel-friendly arrangement recalling the country music of the nineties. Corbin’s warm, inviting vocal delivery coasts along on the catchy melody with the same breezy abandon that made “Roll with It” so lovable. The song hits all the right stops to create the perfect feel-good jam, with the cheeky-sounding guitar licks and the “Little bit o’ left, little bit o’ right” hook almost seeming to mimic the movements of the swerving vehicle.
Ultimately, the song’s success boils down to its capturing of that certain intangible spark that makes a great ditty connect. So many artists attempt to capture it, and so many fail, but with “All Over the Road,” all the right ingredients combine in just the right way. The chemistry ignites, and it creates something special.
Of course, what makes great ear candy is very subjective, and there’s no one flavor that’s going to hit everyone’s sweet spot. But for me, the bottom line is this: “All Over the Road” is a song that makes me want to turn up the volume, sing along, maybe even do a little dance if no one else is around, and then replay it over and over again, and on today’s country radio, there are precious few songs for which I can say that.
Written by Carson Chamberlain, Ashley Gorley, and Wade Kirby
Grade: A
Listen: All Over the Road
…the perfect soundtrack to a country-bikini clip or that scene, when megan fox wriggles around a little inside bumblebee. easton corbin’s laid back approach to country music just waitin’ for the back of the camaro’s seats to follow. if that was intended, surely this try landed right where it was supposed to: smack-bang in the middle of the earworm endzone.
still, as much as i like the breezy lightness of much of corbin’s material, the label and he mustn’t get carried away by the easiness of his success. every once in while, you have to put some weight behind your effort in order not to end up in a mould too deep to get out of in style again. i just hope, it won’t be a sad tractor song in a backroads environment that’s hitting us next from the guy, who makes even george strait appearing almost a little strained.
Today’s country music is much like this songs title, all over the road. At least in terms of consistency as a total presentation. You don’t usually mix gasoline grades. However, on today’s country radio when you’ve got a song like this followed up by a “She’s Country” or “Over” the low-grade is often interchanged with the premium in terms of musical selection and production.
Easton Corbin though has not been all over the road. He has been the premium grade in our musical tanks. He’s been going straight down the road, driving out consistently good country music records. Single after single and now album after album. I have no doubt that he will keep producing good contemporary country records that I enjoy. I just hope the pothole that is FM radio doesn’t give him a flat. Someone please tell FM radio though that I’ll fill up on their dial more often if I can get more music like this!
I’m loving this song. Easton Corbin has the laid-back vocals perfected.
http://thisiscountrymusic.weebly.com/1/post/2013/01/5-second-single-reviews1.html#comments
I have loved Easton Corbin’s sound since he first broke out with “A Little More Country Than That” in 2010. I find his latest album a bit underwhelming compared with the first one. But this title track is one of the more enjoyable and fun tunes of the entire album.
To everyone their own, surely, but I can’t get behind this due to the lyrical content, with all due respect.
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Distracted driving is only a whisker apart from drunk driving. In fact, an estimated fifteen people are killed, as well as more than 1,200 people injured in crashes that were reported to involve a distracted driver.
What a dangerous precedent when someone employs as an excuse for reckless driving on the interstate: “Sorry, officer! You’ve gotta understand it’s just……….hard to drive when my baby won’t stop flirting with my knee! As long as that’s happenin’, she’s outta my hands, sir! She’s a crazy, horny woman!”. How irresponsible.
Matters do not improve by the second verse. He utters: “How am I supposed to keep it between the lines…”, for instance. Then do yourself a favor, promptly head over to your nearest Department of Motorized Vehicles, and revoke your own license!
Then he says: “I’m trying to get her home as fast as I can go…” Yeaaaaaahhh, sssssssurrrrrrreee you arrrrrrreee! ;)
Finally, he begs the officer: “Have a little mercy on me!” No, I believe I’ll instead have mercy on the 32,310 Americans who were killed in any number of highway accidents in 2011, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration………..and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for their incredible service in helping bring 2011 rates to the lowest in recorded history, whose efforts may unfortunately be tested by the likes of irresponsible folks like Easton Corbin, Ashley Gorley, Wade Kirby and Carson Chamberlain!
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Note that I do respect your reviews as always! But this is simply the most fiercest instance we have disagreed on any given release to date, and I simply had to be honest of my conflicting take here! I would have given this a C- (the production keeping it from being an utter failure).
I admire your review, regardless! =)
Noah, I applaud your comment. Distracted driving, be it from those distractions described in this song, or texting, holding a cell phone, etc., is only a whisker away from drunk driving.
Reminds me of that irresponsible piece of garbage from TK, get drunk and be somebody.
“We’re just average people, in an everyday bar,
Driving from work in our ordinary cars,
And I like to come here with the regular Joes,
Drink all you want, be the star of the show”
Uggghhh, I remember that Toby Keith release too, unfortunately! =P
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Don’t get me wrong here. Sometimes, a satisfying production can prove a saving grace for songs with even worse-than-mediocre lyrics on occasion. And the reason I wouldn’t have given this an F is because the production is indeed appealing.
Still, there are mediocre lyrics, there are worse-than-mediocre lyrics……..and then there are irresponsible lyrics. “All Over The Road” would be filed under the latter column.
Just because any given song has “traditional sounds” does NOT make it ANY more worthy of default praise than its counterparts that are decidedly without “traditional sounds”.
I think it is exactly for this reason why I’ve fond myself more outspokenly disappointed with Corbin’s sophomore album than the general consensus. Because it is the quality of any given song on its own merit, regardless of how traditional or modernized its sound is, that tops my judging criteria. And while I recognized in my review that Corbin does indeed have plenty of traditional sounds present on this record, I nonetheless simply couldn’t get my head around the fact that beyond that facade, there is a startling lack of substance and artistic ambition that permeates “All Over The Road”, with a few exceptions, with this title track being the most egregious offender.
I don’t blindly latch onto a bandwagon or place one release higher up the critical totem pole than another just because the former has more pedal steel and fiddle. Songwriting is most important to me, and this is a debacle in terms of lyrics…………and for that reason why this isn’t worthy of my support. Unlike say, Jana Kramer’s latest, which is BOTH flourishing with traditional sounds AND is appealing lyrically.
Really??
Get a grip guys. I make my living driving and pride myself on my safe driving record. Nothing annoys me more than distracted drivers and the several issues they cause,…..BUT, it’s a song not a drivers education lesson. Get over yourselves and enjoy the song for its fun upbeat content. Her pretty little lips on my WHAT??!!?