Single Reviews – Page 91 – Country Universe

Single Review: Rascal Flatts, “Why Wait”

August 13, 2010 Tara Seetharam 24

Maybe it’s a product of their new home, Big Machine Records, or maybe it’s their way of responding to the monster success of Lady Antebellum – but the Flatts boys are back on their game.

For five years and three albums, we’ve heard only a watered-down brand of Rascal Flatts: their signature tight harmonies have been masked by overblown production, and their typically well-crafted melodies have seemed stale. Their music as of late has generally lacked the spark that turned their early 2000s hits into gems.

Single Review: Sugarland, “Stuck Like Glue”

August 11, 2010 Kevin John Coyne 42

I could write a few paragraphs about why I love this song, but what’s the point?

They don’t sing the praises of Bubble Yum and S’Mores in Food & Wine magazine, but boy, do those treats taste good.

So you’ll have to look for the country connoisseur perspective elsewhere. All I have to say about “Stuck Like Glue” is this:

Single Review: Taylor Swift, “Mine”

August 11, 2010 Dan Milliken 85

Where do you go from the top of the world? It’s a question all kinds of music icons have had to answer, but it’s hard to imagine most of them facing Taylor Swift’s level of pressure. Consider her standing: an American Sweetheart adored by young people and respected by their parents, staple of multiple radio formats, winner of commercial music’s very biggest awards, but facing sharp backlash for embarrassing live vocals, for a narrow songwriting perspective, and all in the most media-pervasive climate ever, a fame minefield where one bad move can mean national embarrassment – and all, of course, before she turns twenty-one.

Single Review: Brad Paisley, “Anything Like Me”

August 10, 2010 Leeann Ward 26

A common element that runs through Brad Paisley’s songs is a style of conversational storytelling. To many it seems simple and authentic while others just feel it’s simplistic without real depth. Depending on the song, either opinion is relevant or in some instances, both views are valid within the same song. “Anything Like Me” just may be one such song, but leaning closer to the positive than negative. The song is written in the trademark conversational tone, but the personal sentimentality of the subject matter is strongly present.

Single Review: Sunny Sweeney, “From A Table Away”

August 5, 2010 Leeann Ward 22

Due to lack of mainstream attention, not enough people know about Sunny Sweeney’s debut album, Heartbreaker’s Hall of Fame, which was nothing short of a pure honky tonk delight. Her crisp nasal voice sounds as if it’s only meant to sing country music, which is probably, somehow, underselling her range of talent, but good for the prospect of permanence in the genre nonetheless.

For better or for worse, the first single from her sophomore album, this time produced by Brett Beavers (Dierks Bentley), has a slicker sound than that of her first album. As one can expect from a big name producer, the record is tighter both in instrumentation and vocal performance. Of course, these factors are hardly criticisms, but merely something to become accustomed to as someone who thoroughly enjoyed the looser nature of her more relaxed independent project.

Single Review: Gwyneth Paltrow, “Country Strong”

July 30, 2010 Kevin John Coyne 12

A moment of honesty, please. Just by listening to “Country Strong”, would you have any idea that this was recorded for an upcoming film by a Hollywood-born star who grew up in New York?

There’s nothing substantively different about Paltrow’s new single and all of the other “country and proud of it” songs that are out there. If it was recorded by any other new female singer that didn’t have an established public persona, it wouldn’t even raise an eyebrow.

Single Review: Darius Rucker, “Come Back Song”

July 23, 2010 Tara Seetharam 11

There’s a small pool of mainstream country artists whose careers I watch intently, patiently awaiting the day their material catches up to their incredible talent. Darius Rucker falls into this pool, but if “Come Back Song” is any indication of his sophomore album, due out in October, it’ll be another few years before he hits that magic moment.

Single Review: Joey+Rory (feat. Zac Brown Band), “This Song’s for You”

July 18, 2010 Leeann Ward 26

I’ve written it before, but full disclosure requires me to reiterate my biased stance toward Joey+Rory. Their debut album with Sugar Hill Records was organic and delightful. They were my first and only (so far) interview for Country Universe.

Anyone who is aware of the down-to-earth couple can instinctively assume that they were genuine and gracious and made the experience one of the highlights of my Country Universe tenure. Therefore, I will not feign detachment regarding the trajectory of their career. I simply want them to succeed and I make no apology for my steadfast position on the matter.

Single Review: Kenny Chesney, “The Boys of Fall”

July 17, 2010 Kevin John Coyne 11

Chesney’s made a career out of nostalgia trips like this one. Here, he’s reminiscing for the glory of being on the high school football team. He’s been down this road before, more times than I can count at this point.

But I dare say this one’s just a little different. Chesney sounds older, much older. Not wiser, mind you. Just older.

Single Review: Danny Gokey, “I Will Not Say Goodbye”

July 13, 2010 Kevin John Coyne 30

There’s the core of a good song idea here. Really. And he’s singing from the heart, clearly addressing this song to his late wife. It’s hard not to feel guilty criticizing this record.

But I’m gonna have to do it anyway. If I didn’t already know Gokey’s back story, I’d think he was just trying to imitate Rascal Flatts. Listen to the chorus, which he sings like it’s a carbon copy of the verse from “What Matters Most.” In that hit, it was “I’m not a-fraid to cry, every now, and again, even though, with going on, with you gone, still upsets me.” In this song, it’s “I will laugh, I will cry, shake my fist, at the sky, I will not say goodbye.”

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