“Famous Friends”
Chris Young and Kane Brown
Written by Cary Barlowe, Corey Crowder, and Chris Young
Let’s get the obvious out of the way first.
This song is essentially a rewrite of Miranda Lambert’s “Famous in a Small Town.” Same core concept, with the focus more on individual people than on the town as a whole. It works. I like the way they incorporated the home county of each artist, then finished it off with their current home of Davidson County, which could use some love after the last twelve months.
It’s also been well established that Chris Young is one of the few singers out there that has some twang in his voice and doesn’t drench himself in autotune, so no need to dwell on that.
I’d rather use this space to make an overdue observation: Kane Brown is a great singer. I love how he sounds on this record, with Young’s influence on his style shining through. But you know what? I also love the record he did with Swae Lee and Khalid, and how that twang was there, too.
As I reengage with mainstream country music, I’m going to have to take some ownership over how I wrote many artists off because I just assumed they were part of the bro country wasteland, which remains frustratingly vast. Most of my assumptions have been validated, but Kane Brown is a glaring exception to the rule. He’s pretty damn good.
Grade: B
Kane’s “For My Daughter” was the song that made me first take real notice of his country capabilities and his voice.
As for Young, he established himself with his voice and country cred. His fans have had to become apologists for his later work.
I really like Kane Brown! I’ll check that song out next.
There is just something about Kane’s voice that I don’t care for. It’s almost as if he’s singing through clenched teeth or something. I did enjoy “For My Daughter” well enough.
Not real keen on most of Kane Brown’s music that I’ve heard, but I agree that he has a really good voice.