Single Review Roundup: Vol. 3, No. 30

Here are our takes on six current releases.

“The Ride”

Rick Trevino

Written by Alan Miller and Rick Trevino

Jonathan Keefe: What an interesting year it’s been for 90s country artists who should’ve been bigger stars. George Ducas dropped a fantastic album that’s getting some airplay at Americana radio, Shelby Lynne’s second career reboot is being managed by Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild, and friend-of-the-blog Joseph Fenity showed up with a camera and a ring light at Joy Lynn White’s house. And now here’s a lovely new single from Rick Trevino. My teenage fanboy is having a hell of a good run.

Trevino was always an expressive vocalist, but time has weathered his voice just enough that he’s able to bring a real gravitas to “The Ride.” This is a song on which Trevino is conveying wisdom, and he makes every bit of it sound like it’s been earned from a life that’s been well-lived, if not on the A-list. As much as I’m loath to claim “authenticity” as any kind of artistic virtue, it’s the right word for what he brings to this record and how he fills in the gaps on a few underwritten lines.

The production favorably recalls the hits of his commercial heyday: I caught myself anticipating a crescendo leading into a proper middle eight, and sure enough. There may not be any surprises to the aesthetic or the narrative here, but it’s a record that feels like reconnecting with an old friend. A-

Kevin John Coyne: The gold rush of the nineties led to some fantastic talents getting their shots at the brass ring a little too early. 

Rick Trevino exemplifies this. He is a talented singer with a rich, expressive voice that he hadn’t fully grown into yet during his run on Sony, even though it produced some big hits. The label had the opportunity to lean into his bilingual roots and continue releasing albums in English and Spanish, but they pivoted away from that critical part of his musical identity by his second album, stripping much of his music from his naturally appealing personality and musical creativity.

So how wonderful to hear a grown and mature Trevino reflect on the journey of life with wisdom and grace, giving counsel to the young ones out there now getting their own shots at the brass ring. It doesn’t quite reach the emotional heights of “Separate Ways” a few years back, but it doesn’t need to. His lived experiences are so valuable that they can be delivered with a whisper of warm support.  Welcome back, Rick. A 

 

“She’s Somebody’s Daughter”

Drew Baldridge

Written by Drew Baldridge, Cameron Jaymes, and Jimmy Yeary

KJC: My back went up when I saw the title because there are few things that annoy me more than appealing to treating a woman well by saying she’s somebody’s daughter or wife or sister or mother or girlfriend. It drives me crazy because so many men have violated those relationships with their own family members, while plenty others have no problem at all denigrating other women while treating those in their lives like queens.

But Baldridge takes this idea to completely different territory, appealing to a sense of decency but delivering that appeal with clear expectations that if you’re dating a woman, treat her with respect. When she gets hurt, so do the people who love her.

It’s a bit simplistic and underdeveloped, but the sentiment is a good one, and further evidence that the bro country era is in the rear view mirror and the men coming out now take their cues from recent superstars like Chris Stapleton, Kane Brown, and Luke Combs, all of whom honor the rich tradition of loving and respecting women in country music. B 

JK: I vaguely recalled a song with this title from five years ago for the reasons Kevin stated– a reflexive shudder at what I’d just assumed, unfairly, the song was likely referencing in the midst of the #MeToo movement. It’s interesting to see how Baldridge has, per a cursory bit of research into why Kevin flagged a half-decade-old single for review this week, independently re-released this to country radio to capitalize on its viral connections on TikTok.

Call it yet another exhibit in the case against country radio’s relevance in the year 2024. And good on Drew Baldridge for reading the room.

As for the single itself? Sure, I’m happy enough to find that it’s not the problematic “Women only have value as humans based on their relationships to men” screed I’d expected. At least not entirely. And, as another interesting note of how tides have turned somewhat, a song that takes a “Women! They’re people!” stance failed to become a hit in the country milieu of 2019 has found a new life at a time when the genre’s better men are being less overtly misogynist.

Baby steps. I don’t know that Baldridge’s half-rapping and post-Bro production will make this something I’ll revisit, but I’m not mad that this has turned into a hit. B-

 

“Lonesome and Then Some”

Shawna Thompson and Leslie Satcher

Written by George Ducas, Marv Green, Keifer Thompson, and Shawna Thompson

JK: As half of Thompson Square, Shawna Thompson had a brief turn in the limelight, as did Satcher as one of the go-to songwriters of the late 90s. Their collaboration on this killer trad-country throwback– surprisingly, Satcher didn’t have a hand in co-writing it, but here’s my second George Ducas shout-out of the week– might be the best either of them has ever sounded on record.

So far this year, it’s been relative newcomers who have been mining vintage country sounds in the most creative ways, but this duet from two artists moving into their “second acts” shows all of the upstarts how it’s done. The songwriting is clever without falling over itself, and the production is mindful of genre conventions while still taking full advantage of crisp modern recording techniques. It’s the perfect setting for Thompson and Satcher to shine, and they take full advantage. A

KJC: Speaking of nineties artists that deserved a better shot at the brass ring, we’ve got two more here: Leslie Satcher and George Ducas. Satcher burst onto the scene with three cuts on Pam Tillis’ Every Time album, including the lead single, “I Said a Prayer.” Soon just about every woman with good taste was cutting one of her songs, and she had her own deal with Lyric Street.

Her album was too sophisticated and mature for the market at that point, arriving a bit late like Shelby Lynne and Kelly Willis arrived a bit early. It’s such a joy to hear her voice again, and on a cut co-written by Ducas, who has an ability to pen songs that recall 60s country without losing contemporary relevance.

Thompson is a vocal and songwriting talent in her own right, and this is as promising as early efforts from Ashley Monroe and Miranda Lambert. I love a traditional vocal, and she nails hers on this track.  I’ve never been a traditionalist for the sake of gatekeeping, but we need more of it these days to connect the genre to its roots. This record gets us there in a way that most radio singles do not.  A 

“Am I Okay?”

Megan Moroney

Written by Jessi Jo Dillon, Luke Laird, and Megan Moroney

KJC:  Yes, you’re okay.  But can we please aim higher than that?

Everything about this record – the songwriting, the arrangement, and the lead vocal – is okay. Nothing about it  rises to the level of good, let alone great.

Her use of language is contemporary and relevant to younger listeners, much like Taylor Swift’s was when she broke through. It was easier to say that confessional songwriting from a weak vocalist with a distinctive point of view predicted the development of a strong adult artist when we were describing a teenager. 

A grown woman signed to a major label is being shortchanged by her A&R department by releasing records that are the equivalent of fast fashion: cheap to make, low in quality, and disposed of when the seasons change.

There simply isn’t an ecosystem for female artists to grow and develop right now within the confines of the Music Row machine. Moroney and her peers deserve better than being held to such shockingly low standards. D 

JK: I can’t really say anything further about Moroney that Nippy didn’t already say better two generations ago.

The only part of this that truly works is how that final hook on the chorus is structured, with the, “Oh my God, am I okay?” refrain delivered at half the meter of the preceding lines and what sounds like a cheerleading squad chanting that question in unison with Moroney to give her performance some of the weight it could never hold on its own otherwise. I’ll concede that it’s a strong hook. Producer Kristian Bush, as he did on Moroney’s debut album, has a knack for masking her limitations at least some of the time.

But beyond that hook? The content of the song finds her already repeating the same narrative trope from “Tennessee Orange” without doing anything to make it any more distinctive. At this point, her writing is one-note, and her singing of that one note is at least a quarter pitch flat. D

“Yodelayeewho”

Willow Avalon featuring Maggie Antone

Written by JR Atkins, Willow Avalon, and Tofer Brown

 

JK: So many of 2024’s best singles have tapped the same specific vein that filters a modern POV through a style that’s pure hillbilly: Melissa Carper, Roberta Faceplant, India Ramey, Kaitlin Butts, and even Maggie Antone’s own “Johnny Moonshine.”

“Yodelayeewho” might just be the best of them all. It’s funnier on the fiftieth listen than it has any right to be, as Avalon and Antone literally yodel their way through an all-timer of a kiss off. I love every second of this record. A

KJC: Sometimes the sequencing of this feature tells the story as well as anything I can write about an individual record.

Listening to this after the Moroney hit brings into sharp relief how important it is to let an artist develop a distinctive point of view and unique personality on record.

“Yodalayewhoo” is bright, funny, and bursting with charm. Avalon speaks with the confidence of a woman who has figured out that she is okay but he is very much not, and she’ll be moving on. 

Avalon is a fully developed artist with joy to spare. Here’s hoping that “Yodalayeewho” enters the vernacular thanks to this winning effort. A

 

“Truck On Fire”

Carly Pearce

Written by Justin Ebach, Charles Kelley, and Carly Pearce

KJC: Enough already with this. Find a way to break up with someone without burning their property or keying their cars, please. It’s been done too many times and it communicates creative laziness, not artistic edginess. 

Pearce remains a strong songwriter with a great ear for crafting records that borrow from the best of the nineties ladies. Most of Pearce’s recent work would’ve been recorded in a heartbeat by Patty Loveless, Pam Tillis, or Trisha Yearwood.  “Truck On Fire” would’ve been a Sara Evans cut at best.  C

JK: Of the songs about arson currently at radio– and not any of the five hundred or so that have been released in the last two decades– I’ll give Pearce’s “Truck On Fire” the nod over Miranda Lambert’s barely-smoldering “Wranglers.” In terms of what sounds like a hit, the production on this one at least foregrounds the hook and highlights the melody, and Pearce sings the song with some conviction.

Listening to her terrific hummingbird set, this was the only obvious pick to try to get a hit record, so I get why Pearce and her team went this route… especially after the non-event duet with Chris Stapleton had a label manipulated top 5 peak followed by a historic plunge off the charts. But “Truck on Fire” is also one of the weakest tracks on that album. 

Which makes it clear that Pearce, like many of the great women of the 90s– the Trisha, Patty, and Pam trifecta Kevin mentioned– she cites as influences, is well on her way to becoming a true “albums artist.” Eventually, she won’t bother recording tracks like this one once her give a damn’s busted for good. C+

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