It’s hard not to at least mildly enjoy “How Far Do You Wanna Go?”. It’s catchy. It has a feel-good vibe, and the authentic kind that’s missing from many of the upbeat singles released by mainstream country artists these days. It pulses with a palpable energy, making the song quite infectious – and very appropriately complementing the “let’s leave this town and never look back” storyline.
It’s always disappointing when a good song is tainted by mundane lyrics, and I fear that’s the case with “That’s How Country Boys Roll.” Like most of Currington’s singles, the song –lyrics aside– is charming and endearing, and the vocal performance rich and distinct.
But we come away from the song learning what, exactly, about country boys? That they like fishing, suped up cars and working real hard? Granted, there are a few deeper messages in the mix, but none are expressive enough to actually paint a picture of a multi-dimensional country boy.
Sing for the common man and heaven help the working girl. Country music is full of songs about the working folk. The ones that work a 40 hour week for a livin’, the ones that worked all night in the Van Lear coalmine, the ones who did what they had to do because they didn’t want to let Mama down. Hey, even a girl named Fancy has gotta pay the bills.
In honor of Labor Day, I’m putting y’all to work. What are you favorite songs about working?
I’ll go with one of the somewhat Billie Jo Spears classic “Mr. Walker, It’s All Over,” a #4 hit from 1969. Check it out after the jump, and add your own favorites in the comments!
It’s been well established by this point that Carrie Underwood’s eighties pop/rock runs deep in her musical roots. Being part of the MTV generation, this isn’t surprising, as the days of country artists who were only exposed to country music are long gone.
Underwood draws on those roots more than she’s ever done on a traditional single, but fans from her Idol days will have flashbacks to her star-making performance of “Alone” when they listen to “Cowboy Casanova”, as Carrie does her very best to channel Ann Wilson and often pulls it off. I have to say that the verses are catchier than the chorus, though, and if you’re going to do eighties power pop, you need a stronger, bigger chorus.
It’s hard to fault Craig Morgan for recording yet another “we’re a bunch of rednecks having a good time” anthem. Such songs have been his bread and butter.
But it’s quite easy to fault him for taking a page from the Jason Aldean playbook and screaming the whole song. Morgan is not a country-rocker, and can’t even pull of being a wannabe country-rocker. His charm has always been his too country twang, a vocal style that you can usually only hear on the bluegrassiest of bluegrass records. When he sings a song like “A Little Bit of Life” or “Redneck Yacht Club”, you can actually hear his big goofy grin.
In lesser hands, “To Say Goodbye” could have been hopelessly maudlin. But Joey + Rory deliver a heavy message with a light touch, without any bells and whistles in the production or the vocal. The end result is that the stories of a woman who loses her husband in a plane crash and of a man who tends to his elderly wife who has lost her memory don’t focus on the tragedy. Rather, there’s an emphasis on the quiet emptiness left in the wake of these events.
Both characters have already accepted their difficult circumstances and are beyond the wild pangs of grief. They’ve moved on to simple regret, and are now mourning that they don’t have one more chance to express their love and ongoing devotion to their partner who can no longer receive it. By going the route of understatement, the record leaves us with a far more potent impact that lingers after the last note has played.
Somewhere underneath “Everywhere I Go” is a great song, but to find it, you have to dig a little too deep. The song’s pleasing melody and bittersweet lyrics –Vassar sings of haunting, lingering memories of a lost love– are coated with layers of dramatic, distracting production. Even the conviction Vassar brings to the song starts to feel slightly artificial when he pushes his vocals over the top in the chorus, the most off-putting aspect of the song.
When you’re a teenager, parents can give you all the advice in the world, based on their wealth of experience, because, after all, they were once teenagers too. But will you listen? Is it really possible to separate parents’ advice from parents’ perceived restrictions? It’s a rare teen who can.
So, Taylor Swift’s advice to 15-year old teens, though specifically targeting an age, is likely a godsend for parents, as Swift’s young age is much more relatable to the high school demographic than they can ever hope to be. As Taylor has comported herself very respectably so far, she has become an ideal role model for teens experiencing the angst of high school life. She’s been there, not so long ago, and she has done a remarkable job of remaining relatable to the population to which she sings. Therefore, she likely feels much more relevant than the parents and other well meaning adults who are forced to speak from somewhat distant memories.
Poor choices lead to a lack of cohesion on the latest Kellie Pickler release. There’s such an incongruity between the softly sung verses and the bombastic chorus that it’s hard to get a handle on how she’s asking the titular question. Is she angry? Sad? Disappointed? Disbelieving? Take any twenty seconds of the song, and you might get a different answer.
The song would’ve been more effective if they’d picked one approach. Simply removing the overwhelming backup singers in the chorus would’ve made a huge positive difference, as they destroyed the intimacy that Pickler’s performance had established in the first verse. Alternatively, they could’ve some backup singers or a tougher-edged production in the first verse to properly build up to the blowout chorus. Either approach would’ve been better than the confusing mishmash we’ve been given here.
Apparently, Kenny Chesney really believes in his new single, “I’m Alive.” Not only is it one of the new songs on his Greatest Hits collection, it can also be found on his previous album, Lucky Old Sun. Furthermore, it was already recorded by Willie Nelson for Moment of Forever, the album that Chesney co-produced with Buddy Cannon.
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