Single Reviews – Page 101 – Country Universe

Trailer Choir, “Rockin’ the Beer Gut”

July 3, 2009 Leeann Ward 8

“Rockin’ the Beer Gut” is a somewhat intriguing, but mostly, repulsive title and theme for a song. While I’m all for singing for the working class, I can’t say this aspect of it needed much coverage in a country song or any song for that matter.

A song like this at least needs a catchy melody, unique production or riveting lyrics. Instead, the melody and production are painfully predictable and the lyrics are inane with no redemptive cleverness (which not so coincidentally name check’s the group’s label boss, Toby Keith).

If I felt like stretching, I could credit Trailer Choir for embracing women who aren’t afraid to rock their “beer guts” and wax philosophical about society’s unreasonable body image expectations, but I’m just not feeling quite so generous today. Furthermore, I don’t quite believe this song is the one to get the discussion rolling.

Larry Gatlin and The Gatlin Brothers, “Johnny Cash is Dead (And His House Burned Down)”

July 2, 2009 Kevin John Coyne 3

As song titles go, “Johnny Cash is Dead (And His House Burned Down)” doesn’t have quite the eloquence of “The King is Gone”, does it?

Not that subtlety would suit anything about this record anyway, which is as bluntly written and performed as you’d expect from the combination of title and artist here. Plenty of other late stars are name-dropped along the way, including Marty Robbins, Waylon Jennings, and Chet Atkins, with predictable lamenting that the “empty cowboy hats” of today can’t replace those who we’ve already lost.

Gary Allan, “Today”

July 2, 2009 Leeann Ward 12

I’ll say it again. Gary Allan has one of the most interesting and compelling voices in country music right now. Furthermore, he is able to convey emotion with an ease that should be the envy of his peers. Thankfully, he has also been particularly good at selecting equally engaging songs that have been worthy of his gifted talent. Unfortunately, “Today happens to rank among the few songs that do not rise to the challenge.

With a moody piano to serve as the foundation for the swelling strings and over all dramatic angst, Allan sings of the pain of loosing his former lover to another man. He knows that his chance has officially passed as he laments her wedding day: “Today is the happiest day of her life./I should be happy for her today./So, tell me, why are these tears in my eyes?/I know I should be happy for her./But I lost everything/I lost everything I ever wanted today.”

Sara Evans, “Feels Just Like a Love Song”

July 1, 2009 Kevin John Coyne 38

Sara Evans is an excellent singer in desperate need of a better production team. She sings the fire out of a fairly decent pop-country song here, but the arrangement is an overwhelming distraction, with far too much clutter in the mix.

It’s to her credit as a vocalist that she’s not drowned out completely, but she’s ill-served by the production philosophy that bigger is better. The opposite is true with both pop and country music, so it never ceases to amaze me how difficult that concept is to grasp for too many of those who make pop-country records.

Whitney Duncan, “Skinny Dippin'”

June 24, 2009 Leeann Ward 18

As a former Nashville Star, Whitney Duncan has been seriously struggling to break through as a Warner Brothers recording artist for some time now. Out of the somewhat inferior material that she’s released so far, her third single, “Skinny Dippin’”, has the best shot of becoming a minor hit due to its sultry melodic structure and summertime timeliness. As an actual song, however, “Skinny Dippin’” suffers from some glaring flaws that could keep it from being the break through hit that Warner Brothers and Duncan are counting on.

Charlie Robison, “Reconsider”

June 17, 2009 Leeann Ward 3

While I’m always interested in learning the story behind a song, I generally insist that a song must be able to stand on its own without the support of a back story to prop it up. In that vein, I typically balk against unconfirmed assertions regarding motivations for a song as a justification for the song’s existence. With that said, it would be remiss of me to deny that a confirmed story behind a song often positively helps to inform an artist’s performance of the said song.

Therefore, it’s not farfetched to assume that Charlie Robison’s fairly recent divorce from Dixie Chick, Emily Robison, has had a tangible effect on the maudlin “Reconsider”, which was recorded in the aftermath of the highly publicized 2008 divorce. While Robison did not write the song, his emotion is palpable enough to make us forget such a technical detail.

George Strait, “Living for The Night”

June 14, 2009 Leeann Ward 10

It is already well documented that George Strait co-wrote “Living for the Night” with his son along with Dean Dillon, one of Strait’s most relied upon songwriters. With this knowledge, it is nearly impossible not to be curious as to how this song, one of Strait’s very few compositions, compares to the others in his strong singles catalog. Unfortunately, it is a cut below most of his biggest hits, but it’s not a complete throw away.

Strait sings “Every Day is a lifetime without you/Hard to get through/Since you’ve gone.” The days are a painful reminder of his loss. So, he drinks as he lives for the night because it’s the only way he knows how to escape the pain. In fact, he even creates his own night by drawing the curtains to keep the daylight out and waits for the night so that he can “venture out into those neon arms that hold {him} tight.”

Montgomery Gentry, “Long Line of Losers”

June 10, 2009 Dan Milliken 11

What do you know? Coming off of their invitation to join the Grand Ole Opry, Montgomery Gentry release their most country-sounding single in some time. The sound is a nice blend of Alabama, Hank Jr., and 70’s folk-rock, with a chorus ready-made for barroom singalongs and a colorful set of dobro fills.

It’s a credit to the songwriting that it manages to breathe life into a fairly tired theme. This whole “I’m proud of my broken family, gosh darn it” shtick has been done a good deal in recent years, and it’s been done well, with tracks like LeAnn Rimes’ “Family” and Eric Church’s “Sinners Like Me” providing some of the most memorable moments in those artists’ catalogs.

As with those examples, what elevates Montgomery Gentry’s take on the idea is its candor. Rather than try to falsely glamorize the relatives’ imperfections, as so many would-be Redneck Anthems would do, this song just throws them all out on the table, acknowledging them as they really are – not necessarily desirable, yet inescapable. Granted, the family does sound a little bit sensationalized, but the details are at least interesting enough to warrant a momentary suspension of disbelief.

Love and Theft, “Runaway”

June 10, 2009 Dan Milliken 6

Lyric Street really seems to lead the pack in terms of “country” acts who don’t sound particularly “country”, huh?

Their new rising act on imprint Carolwood is another three-piece boy band who sound like they paid a lot of attention to 80’s pop-rock and care deeply about the inner yearnings of suburban girls between the ages of 11 and 17. If you’re like me, you’ll play the first two seconds of this and marvel that it’s climbing the same charts that once featured the late Vern Gosdin.

But alright, I’ll admit it’s a catchy little thing. I don’t know that music gets a whole lot blander than this – even in fantasizing about ditching town and a paying job, they still sound as safe and neutered as can be – but it’s competent, pleasant pop-rock whose only real artistic fault is just that it’s not nearly as edgy or exciting as it would clearly like to be.

Jason Aldean, “Big Green Tractor”

June 6, 2009 Leeann Ward 13

In Northern Maine, where I’m from, there’s something called tooling. You all know it by that term or other names if you live or lived in a small town, but it’s when people simply ride aimlessly around in their cars, up one street and down another with no reason but having “nothing better to do”, which may very well be true in my small hometown at least.

Well, Jason Aldean’s “Big Green Tractor” is the redneck version. Instead of a car, it’s a big green tractor and in the place of small town roads are country pastures and woods. At any rate, it’s the being together that’s the main attraction.
While it seems that Aldean’s more refined sweetheart is all ready for a date in town, he offers a more low key alternative: “We could take a ride on my big green tractor/We can go slow or make it go faster/Down through the woods or out to the pasture/Long as I’m with you, it really don’t matter…We could go to town/But baby if you’d rather/I’ll take you for a ride on my big green tractor.”

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