Muchacho Sanchez and Lainey Wilson are reviewed today.
“Again”
Muchacho Sanchez
Written by Robert Sanchez Alarcon
Jonathan Keefe: On the surface, “Again” is a pretty-good honky-tonk twanger. The steel guitar break on this? Come the whole way on. That’s an easy sell. Sanchez has a solid enough voice to sell the song with sincerity and a clear, if somewhat indistinct, vocal tone.
The subtext here is actually a lot more interesting to me, in how this love letter to his wife runs as a counterpoint to the Manosphere mentality that has taken root in the country mainstream and to the machismo culture that led to such a right-wing swing in the Hispanic population. Here, Sanchez is singing with a real sense of kindness about how his wife is his “best friend” in a way that, in April 2025, sounds far more revolutionary than it should. And it’s that point of view and fundamental empathy that elevates “Again” at least a little bit above its less notable technical virtues. B
Kevin John Coyne: The intimacy of this record is something else.
It sounds like he’s sitting on the edge of the bed with his guitar and serenading his wife, but the rest of the band snuck into the hotel bathroom to provide some backing support without violating the couple’s privacy.
This production approach works because of the direct simplicity of the lyrics. This is a simple and honest statement of love presented without any muss or fuss. B+
“Bell Bottoms Up”
Lainey Wilson
Written by Aslan Freeman, Meg McRee, Kevin Nolan, Matt Nolan, Tommy Scifres, and Lainey Wilson
Kevin John Coyne: Lainey is giving me Wilson vibes of the Gretchen variety these days.
There can be a very thin line between a brand and a caricature, and “Bell Bottoms Up” pushes Lainey Wilson over that line. The song’s central metaphor makes no sense outside the context of her Bell Bottom Country conceit. It’s as if Lainey Wilson suddenly became a lifestyle unto herself, but this isn’t a Kenny Chesney island vibe kind of deal where there’s a larger world that this music fits into.
Because tropical islands actually exist, and Bell Bottom Country does not. What utter nonsense this is. D
Jonathan Keefe: In an absolute sense, this isn’t as absurd as “Whiskey Colored Crayon” from her most recent album, but that’s about the only bar this clears. I’ve been lukewarm on Wilson from the get-go– she can carry a tune better than most of her peers, and she has a few singles that are pretty good but have never once been great– but it feels like we’re past the inflection point with her.
The quality of her music just flat-out doesn’t justify her rapid, unquestioned ascent to the A-list.
I’m just baffled that it took six humans to write this, and I have a very low opinion of the capabilities of my fellow humans these days. As Kevin noted, the central conceit only works on the assumption that the listener is invested in Wilson’s previous album as a lifestyle brand. So maybe this works for her diehard fans.
For anyone else? This is Wilson wildly and fundamentally misunderstanding what Chappell Roan recently said about country as drag. That someone who just doesn’t get it to the extent that they’d release caricatures like “Country’s Cool Again” and now this has been anointed the genre’s standard-bearer is indicative of the dire state of things. D
Jelly Roll is the only thing keeping Lainey from being the most overexposed artist in Nashville these days.
Exactly this.
My first impression was that Lainey’s song was more of a banger than I anticipated, by about two and a half minutes in I was very much over it.
I don’t know, but I like this Lainey Wilson song too. She’s one of the very few mainstream artists that I’m really enjoying. I’d feel some shame, but it turns out that I’m enough of a fan that I guess it is what it is. I I can’t explain why this song has a zillion writers though.
Now, I’m hoping you guys have Blake Shelton’s “Let Him in Anyway” on deck to review! I’ll be cringing for the rest of my life from that song!!
I tend to like Lainey Wilson – this song sounds good, but the lyrics are garbage D+
Curious what you guys think about the new Alison Krauss/Union Station album
Really enjoying it so far! It’s so great to have them back!
The album was included in our weekly album review post last week! Be sure to check that out!
I feel like I would like Lainey Wilson a lot more if not only she had better material, but also had a different producer besides Jay Joyce. Other than some of Eric Church’s earlier records, I’m overall not a fan of his production style and find it too gimmicky and trying too hard to sound “cool”. It’s frustrating because I want to be supportive of newer female artists coming out, and yet the industry finally decides to really push one that I just haven’t been able to get exited much about yet, except for maybe a couple of her singles. A little over a minute into this new single, and I was pretty much out. I liked the melody, but that was about it. Like Kevin said, it’s also giving me a Gretchen Wilson vibe with the gimmicky lyrics, which is not a good thing for me.
I tend to like Jay Joyce productions. I prefer him to someone like Dann Huff, because his choices are are at least interesting to me while Huff’s are bland. I also like his production choices because he doesn’t seem to rely on drum machines and electronic instrumentation like Keith Urban and so many others in mainstream seem to be plagued with in the last 20 years.