Bomshel, “19 and Crazy”
At the intersection of Taylor Swift’s present-tense teenage angst and Kenny Chesney’s trademark “those were the good old days” rememberings of carefree youth, you’ll find the new Bomshel single.
They’re old enough to be looking back on being 19 and crazy, but aren’t quite so old that those days seem completely idyllic. There’s a refreshing perspective here that those days were just stepping stones toward becoming who they are today. While they seem to say that they’d love to be 19 and crazy forever, the fact that they’re already figuring out how to explain that tattoo to their future children suggests that they’re not quite so eager to turn back the hands of time.
The song has an incessant driving beat that straddles the fence between urgency and just plain annoyingly fast. Also, like just about all the B-list singles out there these days, there’s far too much going on in the production. It would be nice to see more producers in Nashville show their confidence in the artist and the song by easing down on the clutter, but you’d have to be 19 and crazy to think that has a chance of happening.
File this under great moments of incongruity:
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.
I’ve been working my way through the Beatles Remasters that were released earlier this week, thoroughly enjoying myself in the process. As I listened to Help!, I heard Ringo Starr doing his best Buck Owens imitation as they covered “Act Naturally.”
One of the albums that I’m anticipating most this year is Rosanne Cash’s album, The List, which comes out on October 6. Anything new from Rosanne Cash is eagerly welcomed by me, but this project is bound to be particularly special. The album will be comprised of 12 classic songs culled from a list that her father, Johnny Cash (obviously), gave to her as essential listening back when she was eighteen-years old. Since she had to choose only 12 songs out of a reported list of one-hundred, it’s pretty safe to assume that these 12 choices are among her favorites of the list that was lovingly compiled by her father, even if she did not fully appreciate them at the young age of eighteen. 
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.
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.