Some good efforts this week.
“I Pray I’ll Be Seeing You Soon”
Ron Pope
Written by Ron Pope
Jonathan Keefe: What’s most striking about Pope’s latest is its simplicity: As a paean to romance and longing, its message is all the more effective and touching because of his plainspoken language. It’s difficult to write a new song that genuinely sounds like an old-timey standard, but that’s what Pope has done here. Really, the only nod to a more contemporary songwriting POV is the line– a great line, incidentally– about how he’s losing his mind for bothering to curse at the sky.
Beyond that, this single is a testament to the power of traditional song structures and production styles. The fiddle on this record is just utter perfection, and there is just enough grit to Pope’s vocal timbre to keep the record from sounding almost too pretty. What shines instead are Pope’s sincerity and his mastery of songcraft. A
Kevin John Coyne: The simplicity is so important in this record, for sure, and I think that the intimacy of the presentation takes it to a higher level.
This sounds exactly like what it is: a man being separated from the woman he loves and missing her while he travels on the road. It sounds like it was recorded straight to tape in a moving vehicle. That’s a compliment! B+
“Heavens to Betsy”
Jackson Dean
Written by Benjy Davis, Jackson Dean, and Driver Williams
KJC: “If you’ll let me.”
Sometimes it just takes one line to transform the meaning of a song, and this is one of those times.
The song doesn’t cover new lyrical territory, as deaths caused by alcoholic parents go back at least as far as “Drunken Driver.” At least in this case, it’s the dad who dies from his own vices, and it’s too late for him to make amends on earth with his daughter:
I bet you’re just as surprised as I am
They’d ever let a sinner like me in
And I know I didn’t do
Enough watching over you
But I will until I see you again
If you’ll let me
I’ve grown weary of the Jelly Roll genre of saved sinners, where we get so caught up in the redemption narratives that the victims of living recklessly fade into the background. This song was one line away from being one of those songs.
He was a terrible father who drank himself to death, but reasons unknown even to him, he made it into heaven. He’s posthumously accepting responsibility for watching over her from heaven, but he is making clear that even God’s forgiveness doesn’t obligate his daughter to also forgive him when she gets to heaven herself. And even if she does forgive him, it might take all eternity for him to forgive himself.
There are some narrative gaps and unnecessary production flourishes that place this squarely in “developing artist” territory. The flash of brilliance that is “If you’ll let me” suggests great potential down the road. B+
JK: [Me, seeing the title of this:] “This is going to be about a dead woman named Betsy, isn’t it?”
[Me, one line in:] “Oh my God.”
The wordplay of the title doesn’t even work as syntax the way it’s being used here, to say nothing of the absolute eye-rolling cringe of it all. And Dean gravel-belts his way through this with a constipated-sounding attempt at Big! Feelings! that makes it just ungodly over-the-top.
If not for Lainey Wilson’s “Whiskey Colored Crayon,” this would be the most contrived attempt at unearned sentiment I’d heard all year. But at least Wilson’s song is just an album track for now. This will probably end up being a radio hit, and good God almighty. F
“Fortune”
Hannah Juanita
Written by Hannah Elizabeth Herrod
JK: Hannah Juanita has stated that “Fortune” was inspired partially by George Jones’ “Choices,” and I am not such a hard sell from there. If the upstart singer-songwriter doesn’t quite ascend to the lofty heights of one of Jones’ finest moments on record, it’s to her credit that she has the taste and skill even to try.
If some of the imagery here is too familiar– sands through the hourglass and whatnot– Juanita does make use of those images in effective ways. What’s interesting about the record is the tension between how Juanita’s narrator takes ownership of her poor decisions while also appealing to “fortune” as an external source of agency. She knows she needs at least a little bit of help to get herself upright, and there’s a vulnerability in that admission.
This is the first I’m hearing of Juanita’s work, and it’s clear that she’s got some exceptional foundations on which to build. She’s learned the right lessons from genre legends, and she’s well on her way to figuring out how to use that knowledge for good. B+
KJC: I was moved by this record in a way that feels connected to becoming middle aged.
“Fortune” captures the way that a life’s journey slowly replaces dreams for the future with the choices of the past, until those choices have cut off the path of many dreams. It really does feel like fortune favors the young because of this, even though it’s really just that they haven’t made as many choices yet.
So color me impressed that this song was influenced by “Choices,” a song that was overshadowed at the time by a very poor choice that George Jones made around the time of its release. I remember thinking at the time that the celebration over Jones’ survival from his drunk driving accident and the white hot fury over his truncated and ultimately rejected CMA performance slot that year would’ve looked very different if he had hurt an innocent person that day.
So maybe fortune and choice are more intertwined than we realize. I don’t get the impression that Juanita has made any choices that she can’t take back, but the excellence with which she executes every element of her performance here suggests that fortune favoring her would also favor the rest of us. A
“New to Country”
Bailey Zimmerman
Written by Tim Galloway, Jacob Hackworth, Austin Shawn, Heath Warren, and Bailey Zimmerman
KJC: Not every spectacularly bad record can double as the death rattle for an entire subgenre, but “New to Country” can serve a purpose if it buries these autotuned bro country anthems for good.
Because pitch correction software is no substitute for singing well and down home authenticity is no substitute for talent. This is one of the worst records I’ve reviewed in twenty years of writing about country music. An unmitigated disaster from start to finish. F
JK: Absolutely not. Zimmerman’s the bottom of the current barrel, and this manages to be both the worst song and worst performance he’s released thus far. F
I do think for me Bailey Zimmerman has some talent as I do like a few of his songs “Holy Smokes”, “House On Fire”, and “Warzone” I really like. Nothing amazing but ballad wise he is good enough for me.
But “New To Country” is straight up ass, and hopefully that song never sees the light of day on country radio.
Good lord, that Zimmerman song makes Jason Aldean sound like George Jones. Love the Pope and Juanita songs! The Dean song is okay, don’t love it or hate it really, but have to laugh once more at the discrepancy between Kevin and Jonathan on this roundup.
..in hannah juanita’s case her professionel effort and talent beats the one(s) of her tattoo-guy by quite a margin. every time two fools collide, springs to mind looking at that picture of hers an the ones on her.
..you have to hand it to bailey zimmerman, putting locash to shame ain’t done that easily.
…intriguing stuff from ron pope. for his well-being, i just hope she’s gonna be there.
…heaven to earth most likely still doesn’t work any better than the other way round, although, jelly roll might make you wonder. this could be a hit for jackson dean , i feel however. yet, i couldn’t nail it why exactly.
I do appreciate the LoCash shade. Their quick descent into obscurity was well-earned.
Pope says he wrote this song for his wife of 17 years while he was on his last tour; safe to bet in their favor, I’d say!