Single Reviews
Lee Ann Womack, “Solitary Thinkin'”
One of the saddest things about the infamous “soccer mom soundtrack” mentality driving Music Row – whereby most singles are picked specifically because they require no real cognitive processing on your drive home from work – is how it scares most artists away from attempting any stylistic variety.
Thank goodness Lee Ann Womack is not one of them. In an era where “Stay” and “More Like Her” are considered risky radio releases simply for being un-chipper acoustic ballads that aren’t by Taylor Swift or a dude, Womack has gone ahead and picked a slow-burning lounge number about holing up in a bar and feeling sorry for yourself. Atta girl.
Carrie Underwood featuring Randy Travis, “I Told You So”
What a fascinating collaboration. Both Randy Travis and Carrie Underwood have recorded distinctly different but equally compelling versions of “I Told You So.”
Travis was all tortured uncertainty in his version, like a nervous inner monologue made public. It was only on the chorus that he truly sang, as the verses were practically spoken.
Underwood chose to sand down those rough edges in her spin on the classic, expanding the hook into a power note and crafting a smooth melody out of the jagged verses.
Each original recording played to its artist’s strengths, but how can such disparate performances come together to make one cohesive record?
Toby Keith, “Lost You Anyway”
Toby Keith is such an ace ballad singer that he can make a totally lame ballad still sound kind of cool. That’s pretty much the story with “Lost You Anyway.”
The song attempts to flesh out a relationship which has presumably been doomed from the beginning, but reveals frustratingly little about why that is, content to linger in one-dimensional self-pity instead. The chorus is especially annoying, as the strong melody gets neutered by a barrage of lazy, vague lyrics (“could’ve tried just a little bit harder…dug down just a little bit deeper.” Are we talking about the relationship or the songwriting?)
But the vocal performance is strong as ever, and the production does the country-arena rock hybrid thing better than most of its ilk, with a repeated electric guitar fill that manages to not sound obnoxious. I doubt anyone is going to remember this five years from now, but as skip-it radio filler goes, it’s palatable.