Sunday Morning Single Reviews: Current Mainstream Singles that I Don't Hate

Country radio is currently going through a ripoff R&B phase that is ten times worse than Bro Country ever was, which is horrifying. At the same time, there are more traditional sounding songs breaking through all the time, and this morning I decided to say a few words about the fact that mainstream radio is moving in the right direction.

Tim McGraw's "How I'll Always Be"

Tim McGraw hit a low point with "Looking for That Girl," but has since released one excellent single after another with "Top of the World" being the lone exception, and even that song isn't awful. Current single "How I'll Always Be" has an iconic country sound with a tried and true lyrical narrative. It's not as good as "Shotgun Rider" or "Meanwhile Back at Mama's," but it's almost guaranteed to be a hell of a lot better than the songs you'll hear on either side of it. 7/10

Brett Eldredge's "Wanna Be That Song"

Brett Eldredge has never been a major player in the erosion of country music's stylistic parameters. He is undoubtedly a pop artist, but his songwriting is phenomenal, and if his voice doesn't do anything for you, then you're missing out. "Wanna Be That Song" is the best single he's released in quite some time, and is more than worth a listen. 7/10

Miranda Lambert's "Vice"

I'm really excited about post-Blake Shelton Miranda Lambert. She's releasing double album The Weight of These Wings in the very near future, and lead single "Vice" is very solid. It has excellent lyrics and a great storyline that we can all relate to. 8/10

Blake Shelton's "A Guy With a Girl"

I didn't intentionally put these divorcees right next to each other, but here they are. "A Guy With a Girl" breaks no new ground but is probably the catchiest song on the radio right now and has an arrangement that isn't especially offensive. Blake isn't half the artist that he could be, but when he rarely does get it right, he strikes gold. "A Guy With a Girl" is a great song. 8/10

Chris Stapleton's "Parachute"

Chris Stapleton is a phenomenal vocalist, and routinely lays waste to every other artist on the radio in that regard. His current rise to stardom is completely unprecedented, and is the primary reason that radio is turning back in the right direction. While guys like Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson do a lot of the work in the background, Chris Stapleton has the exposure needed to make real change. "Parachute" is excellently sung and is just one more great song from Stapleton's Traveller. 9/10

Other Standout Singles Currently on Radio:

Michael Ray's "Think a Little Less"

Brad Paisley's "Today"

Chris Jansen's "Holdin' Her"

Josh Turner's "Hometown Girl"

Brantley Gilbert's "The Weeken.....just kidding. Fuck Brantley Gilbert

Craig Campbell's "Outskirts of Heaven"

Amanda Shires Breaks Through With My Piece of Land

It's not fair to Amanda Shires that new fans, like myself, subconsciously associate her with her husband Jason Isbell, and forget about her very impressive career in music. That being said, a new album can change all of that, and allow us to form our opinions of her strictly on her music. My Piece of Land is without a doubt a very good album, and while Isbell is present in the songwriting credits and vocal harmonies on a handful of songs (she has also lent her violin playing and vocal harmonies to his last few albums), it's Shires' identity as a singer and songwriter that comes to the surface before everything else.

The lead single, "The Way it Dimmed," is a perfect way to kick things off, and at just over two minutes, it forges a quick connection with listeners, and displays Shires' sharp songwriting and unique vocal style. Shires explores her past in the song, with great lines jumping out of the speakers over and over again. "The Way it Dimmed" is a standout already as it is, the only song on the album that's shorter than two and a half minutes.

The instrumental arrangements vary throughout the album, with steel guitar making appearances on only a selection of songs. There's a peppy, positive sound to other songs, even when the lyrics dive into heavier material. I was reminded of Sam Outlaw's Angeleno on multiple occasions, and that's a good thing. Electric guitar and violin make appearances on a few songs, as well. While the instrumentation is fairly low key for most of the record, each song has something unique in the arrangement.

That is what I find most impressive about My Piece of Land, that each song sounds drastically different from the last, and yet the album is still able to establish a sort of cohesion, anyway. As a traditional country and bluegrass fan, I found myself gravitating toward the songs that featured Shires' excellent violin playing, like "My Love (The Storm)," which I think is the best song on the album. Lyrically, it's a lesson in metaphor. "I am the storm/at summer's end/watch the willows mourn/watch the branches bend" might be one of the best lines I've heard all year.

As far as singing is concerned, I find Shires' voice to be very pleasant and unique. The only real criticism I have is that when she's singing softly, a raspy, breathy tone surfaces at times. It's not a huge issue, by any means, but some listeners will be turned off by it. "Mineral Wells" is a perfect example of this sound that could be considered an issue, and yet it's still a great song.

Overall, My Piece of Land is another great album released in 2016 and fans should be excited for the future of Amanda Shires' music. 8/10

*Written by Kellen Dobmeier, edited by April Dahlgren

Standout tracks:
"The Way it Dimmed"
"Slippin'"
"Harmless"
"Pale Fire"
"My Love (The Storm)"
"When You're Gone"

Single Review: "Seein' Red" is a New Low for Dustin Lynch

Few things irritate me like an artist who breaks onto the scene with a traditional sounding first single only to sell out as hard as possible shortly thereafter. Dustin Lynch is a classic case of this situation, and his most recent single "Seein' Red" is without a doubt the worst release of his career.

Gone is the Dustin Lynch who released "Cowboys and Angels" as his debut single in 2012. He could just as well cut it from his concert set list if he isn't going to show respect to what that song represents with his future releases. It's one thing to have an openness to modern trends, but to allow oneself to be sucked into them so completely is a complete indictment of his character as an artist. I want to like and support Dustin Lynch because I've heard his better material. From the aforementioned debut single to fantastic album tracks like "Hurricane" and "Your Daddy's Boots," Lynch has displayed an understanding of traditional country, as well as the ability to compose interesting, tangible stories in his songwriting.

Let it be no surprise that Lynch's name hasn't been in the songwriting credits to any of his singles in recent memory, and not since the first two singles from his debut album (and one of those songs was the terrible "She Cranks My Tractor," mind you, so his writing isn't infallible). "Seein' Red" is just the latest installment in this pattern of atrocities and hopefully it doesn't gain much traction on radio.

The song begins with an an awkward mix of multiple genres clashing in the arrangement, none of which happen to be country. A muffled, distorted guitar line takes center stage and fails to do anything other than be present. This continues throughout the verse of completely thoughtless lyrics linked here:

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=Dustin+Lynch-+Seein'+Red+Lyrics

Do I really need to say more about the lyrics? Talk about clumsy. Once the chorus kicks in we hear a faint flicker of steel guitar, which apparently qualifies this as a country song in today's modern mainstream. It's just one more blatant attempt by the suits in Nashville to squeeze as much money as possible out of this obnoxious R&B phase that they're going through thanks to annoying hacks like Thomas Rhett.

"Seein' Red" is truly awful, and represents a new low point in Dustin Lynch's trajectory. I, for one, hope he can see the light and make amends in the future, but when an artist is willing to cut something as bad as this song, that doesn't give me any confidence. 0/10

Single Review: Jon Pardi's Atrocious "Dirt on My Boots"

Some songs are bad by nature, poorly-written and full of knock-off cliches and keywords meant to trigger excitement in the minds of brainwashed music fans. In other cases, a song can be bad simply because the artist in question has done so much better before. That is the case with Jon Pardi's laughable new single. "Dirt on My Boots" isn't some songwriting feat, either, written by Rhett Akins, Jesse Frasure, and Ashley Gorley. Coincidentally, the song is the lone cut on Pardi's California Sunrise where these three names appear in the songwriting credits. If the mere fact that Jon Pardi recorded this song wasn't a hint of label pressure, the songwriting credits should undeniably give it away.

Premise: the narrator has dirt on his boots, and will take them off outside before he enters the house to get laid. Creative! 

As you can see, the lyrics aren't even worth discussing. They lack imagination and effort, sabotaging the integrity of the song long before the first verse is finished. As far as the arrangement is concerned, Pardi and his band try to salvage this mess with fiddle, but to no avail. Where one thing makes this song tolerable, something else steps in to wash that progress away. I think I even hear some pitch correction at the beginning of the chorus, but I could be wrong. One thing I'm not wrong about, though, is how truly horrible this song proves to be. I skip it every time I listen to California Sunrise, and despite the fact that I am damn near positive that Jon Pardi did not want to record this song or release it as a single, it's still disappointing. What about the success of the staunchly traditional (by today's standards) "Head Over Boots" gave any indication that Jon Pardi's fanbase wanted to hear something like "Dirt on My Boots" as the follow up single?

Here's to hoping the eventual failure of this single doesn't cripple the career of a promising young artist. Sorry Nashville, but the majority of Jon Pardi's fans lean in a more traditional direction, and they aren't going to tolerate this nonsense, and this single isn't likely to be a success. 3/10

Everything About Garth Brooks' "Baby, Let's Lay Down and Dance" is Terrible

As a 90s country kid, it pains me to criticize Garth Brooks too heavily. I understand that he brought distorted guitar into the mainstream to a higher degree than artists had previously, but he also regularly recorded songs deeply rooted in country music tradition. There was always more good than bad with Garth Brooks' music.

At least that was the case until Man Against Machine was released in 2014. It wasn't a sellout record. It wasn't pandering to lyrical tropes or production trends. The songs just weren't very good and, quite frankly, the production on the album left much to be desired. Lead single "People Loving People" sounded like it was recorded in a pole barn, while second single "Mom" made no noise on radio and was so overly sentimental it stumbled into melodramatic nonsense and and stubbornly stayed there. There are several good non-singles on the album, but much like "People Loving People," the quality of the recording failed the songs long before they had a chance to make their full impact.

Now we have the atrocious "Baby, Let's Lay Down and Dance." Once again the production is disastrous--I honestly wonder where and how they recorded this, because every instrument gets lost in the mix and Garth's voice has no power at all. When listening to this song, I feel like the source of the music and I are sitting at opposite ends of a long tunnel. 

Unfortunately, that's just the beginning of the long list of problems with this song. It's boring lyrically, goes absolutely nowhere, and has no lasting impact. I had to listen to this song 3 times because it was so boring my mind kept wandering. If a song can't grip you upon first listen, that's usually the first sign that there's nothing special about it. 

Swing and a miss, Garth. 3/10

Quick Hit Reviews: Cadillac 3, FGL

I've decided to add another format to my review process. When albums aren't particularly good and don't hold my attention, I'm going to post what I'll call Quick Hits, and most of these Quick Hit posts will feature more than one album, and at times will include single reviews, as well. This is an easy way for me to make sure I don't bullshit readers in any way--when albums don't grab my attention all that much, it's hard to truly evaluate them. Rather than forego those reviews altogether, I've decided to convey my impression with a quick paragraph or two.

Bury Me in My Boots by The Cadillac Three

The Cadillac Three are just a cheap mainstream knockoff of modern Southern Rock bands like Whiskey Myers. This album has a handful of good songs but it's mostly formulaic, chest-thumping nonsense. For some listeners, the Cadillac Three might find the balance between trendy and interesting, but for listeners who are more well-studied, they'll come off as shallow and transparent. They aren't incapable of recording good songs, like standout "Runnin' Red Lights," but they don't do enough of it to justify any kind of recommendation from me. Bury Me in My Boots is instantly forgettable.

Dig Your Roots by Florida Georgia Line

I'd like to give Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelly credit for trying to have some more substantial material on Dig Your Roots, but it just isn't executed very well. There is one great song in "While He's Still Around." Surprisingly, Kelly takes lead vocals on this tune, and has more of a vocal presence on the album, in general. This decision is a breath of fresh air, because I maintain that Tyler Hubbard's singing sounds like the slow death of a large mammal. Their most recent single featuring Tim McGraw isn't bad at all, but it's nothing special, either. Don't get me started on lead single "H.O.L.Y." I've never been so bored by a song in my life. Overall, Dig Your Roots isn't terrible, but it's not much of an improvement, either.

Reckless Kelly's Sunset Motel

Reckless Kelly is one of many independent artists to flirt with the line between Texas country and roots rock. One song can be full of distorted guitar, the next a country sounding lament about lost love backed by acoustic guitar and fiddle. In spite of the sonic differences from song to song, Reckless Kelly always find ways to create cohesive, excellent albums, and new release Sunset Motel is no exception.

Lead single "How Can You Love Him (You Don't Even Like Him)" kicks things off on the country side, and Willy Braun's penchant for witty, backhanded lyrics takes center stage on this funny but oh-so-relatable song. Most of us have been there before, either with a friend who won't remove the rose-colored glasses or with a romantic interest that simply isn't going to pan out (and we all seem to need to learn the hard way). Call it what you will, but "How Can You Love Him (You Don't Even Like Him)" is certainly representative of human experience, and that is something that has always made Reckless Kelly stand out among similar artists. 

On the rock side of things, Sunset Motel features two very important protest songs in "Radio" and "Volcano." The former is Reckless Kelly laying waste to the way Nashville neuters artistic integrity in order to produce their precious pop stars. "You gotta get on the radio/It doesn't take a lot of talent, but nobody knows" Braun sings during the second chorus. Protest songs over the state of modern mainstream country aren't exactly unprecedented, but I thought Reckless Kelly's perspective on the matter was quite interesting. On the other side of things, "Volcano" is an environmental protest song. "Well, we can't save the whales/we've got some bigger fish to fry/Can't waste no money growing trees/With this election to buy," says it all. It's Reckless Kelly's way of telling us to start focusing on the right things.

Once listeners digest the surprises on Sunset Motel, they'll be happy to find songs that fit right into the band's wheelhouse. "Sad Songs About You" could have come from any Reckless Kelly album and is just as cuttingly emotional as standards like "Wicked Twisted Road." Willy Braun has always displayed an ability to convey complex emotions with simple, witty lyrics that, for lack of a better description, tell it like it is. "I don't know why I write all these sad songs about you/'Cause I'll have to sing 'em somehow, for the rest of my life/I don't know why I write all these sad songs about you/I guess they just hurt a lot less than another goodbye," Braun sings during the chorus, describing an all-too-real feeling for anybody who's had to stop themselves from revisiting a relationship that just doesn't work.

Other highlights include "One More One Last Time" and "Forever Today." Like many artists, Reckless Kelly are at their best when they tone it down and let the lyrics take center stage. Overall, Sunset Motel is another great addition to Reckless Kelly's discography, and has plenty of important things to say. 9/10

Standout Tracks:
"How Can You Love Him (You Don't Even Like Him)"
"Sunset Motel"
"One More One Last Time"
"Forever Today"
"Volcano"
"Sad Songs About You"