Kane Brown
Different Man
2022
Kane Brown is the promise of nineties country fulfilled, and Different Man is the best mainstream country album of the last twenty years.
It’s clear that Brown is a nineties child. He rightfully claims country as his own identity and home base, which is his birthright. But like Dolly Parton before him, who famously promised, “I’m not leaving country. I’m taking it with me,” Brown is able to incorporate a wide range of musical influences past and present, understanding the power of and over or.
The four No. 1 radio singles from Different Man showcase this unique musical approach. “Bury Me in Georgia” is a Southern rock arena shaking anthem that features a blistering guitar solo worthy of Motley Crue, which then segues directly into a fiery fiddle breakdown that would beat the devil down there all over again. “Thank God” is pure acoustic guitar and familial harmonies, as husband and wife recall Carly Simon and James Taylor as much as Johnny & June.
“One Mississippi” takes the conventions of bro country and turns them on their head, as domination meets desperation during a familiar late night tryst. And then there’s “Like I Love Country Music,” which takes “Chattahoochee”-era Alan Jackson and Come On Over-era Shania Twain and puts the sounds in a blender, at once a celebration of nineties country music and its own little history lesson on it.
The singles are emblematic of how Different Man‘s diversity is its strength, which makes me long for the era of seven or eight singles from a country album. Brown’s country music is joyful and inclusive, paying homage to the genre’s roots, and his family’s for good measure, on pure country ballads like “Pop’s Last Name” and “Dear Georgia.” The intense rock of “Riot” and motivational pop of “Grand” fit perfectly alongside the stone cold country of “Whiskey Sour” and the wavy Caribbean rhythms of “Drunk or Dreamin’.” Any of the other fourteen songs on this album would’ve elevated the quality of country radio as much as those four No. 1 singles did.
Brown’s emergence has me feeling like fans of Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris must’ve felt when artists like Trisha Yearwood and Patty Loveless emerged in the late eighties and early nineties. Brown reminds me of everything that made me fall in love with country music thirty years ago, but with a fresh and contemporary perspective that proves just how timeless that era’s music is proving to be. Here’s hoping that when the next generation of aspiring country stars hits the books, they study up on Kane Brown.
Additional Listening:
Kane Brown’s ability to write a hook and his consistency in uplifting and honoring women in his work have been evident from his first recordings, and each new release has been better than the last, boding well for his upcoming set The High Road, which features the infectious “Miles On It” and his year-end singles list lock, “Backseat Driver.”
Before that album drops in January, be sure to check out…
- Kane Brown, his charming debut that predicts his wide-grinned “I’m a lucky guy” monogamy (“What If”) and his frank discussions of mental health and trauma (“Learning”), the latter of which recounts the horrifying abuse that Brown endured as a child
- Experiment pushes gently at genre boundaries on tracks like the sing-along should’ve been summer hit “Short Skirt Weather” and the haunting indictment of our country’s gun culture on “American Bad Dream;” don’t sleep on the streaming bonus track “For My Daughter,” either, the first of Brown’s many excellent songs about fatherhood
- Brown scored an ACM Album of the Year nomination for his fantastic Mixtape Vol. 1, which features compelling collaborations with John Legend (“Last Time I Say Sorry” and Swae Lee and Khalid (“Be Like That”)
- And because Brown’s the most prolific collaborator country music has seen since Willie Nelson, take the time to seek out his excellent duets with H.E.R. (“Blessed and Free,”) blackbear (“Memory,”) Carín León (“The One [Pero No Como Yo]”) and Brooks & Dunn (“Believe,”) among many others
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