Single Reviews
Single Review: Eric Church, “The Outsiders”
A fun and catchy anthem for rebels who aren’t rebelling against anything in particular.
If Eric Church is anyone’s successor these days, it’s probably Hank Williams, Jr. There’s no specific ideology or established enemy in Church’s latest single, but it’s such a barn raiser that it’s very easy to side with him anyway. “The Outsiders” taps into that quintessentially American desire to champion for the underdog, and it does it quite well.
Single Review: Jake Owen, “Days of Gold”
It sounds like even Jake Owen got bored singing songs about girls and trucks and summer days and nights.
How else to explain the rapid fire delivery and fierce banjo and guitar on “Days of Gold”, which has him spitting out every country summer song cliché as quickly as he can get them out of his mouth?
Single Review: Zac Brown Band, “Sweet Annie”
Zac Brown Band’s laid back approach can make it easy to miss when they are actually digging deeper with their lyrics.
Their music often sounds designed to fade into the background, particularly on their radio singles, which usually land somewhere between faceless and mildly interesting, but rarely compelling in any meaningful way.
Single Review: American Young, “Love is War”
There’s a country radio station in NYC proper for the first time in nearly twenty years. The last one went off the air before I was old enough to drive, so when I found out it existed, I immediately checked it out.
Then I immediately checked out. It’s not listenable to me. It’s playing all of today’s hits and those from the past couple of years, and sometimes a song that I like will come on, but it’s always sandwiched between filler that hurts my ears.
Single Review: Chris Stapleton, “What Are You Listening To?”
Best known as the former frontman of The SteelDrivers and a prolific songwriter, Chris Stapleton is carving out an impressive niche on country radio, far from the band’s bluegrass sound. His first single blends blues and soul, nodding to the record era with Tony Brown’s subdued, crackling production.