Introduction
Though I am temporarily a Midwesterner, I am a Southerner by birth and raising. I had ample opportunity to listen to country music but, to quote Patterson Hood, "I came of age rebelling against the music in my high school parking lot." And like him, I came to appreciate the music of my people as I got older. Even though I listen to a bit of everything, I am going to use this space to cover a niche that doesn't get as much attention around here: country.
And by country, I do not mean exclusively Nashville pop music (though there could be some of that, too), but all the music that falls under the original use of that term. Looking at my charts it will be obvious that I favor alt-country and southern rock. I expect I'll cover a decent span of genres, but I am going to confine myself to things that fit under my broad definition of country.
Last edited by zdwyatt on 03/29/2016 16:39; edited 10 times in total
I listened to it back when it came out, thought it was good but not mind-blowing, and never revisited it. To quote samistake2ice:
Quote:
I think I want to like it more than I actually do... [T]here is something that doesn't quite resonate with me, and I fail to ever really connect emotionally.
But then I saw this performance on Wednesday, which has to be the best thing that's been on the CMA stage in years. I felt like I was hearing a totally different Stapleton than the one on the album.
I've now listened to it again and I am going to reluctantly suggest the problem is the much-celebrated producer, David Cobb. He's the go-to guy for Nashville outsiders, most notably Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson. But between them, I'm seeing a common problem: he fails to capture the raw energy those guys have when they play live. The albums are good, but they just lack something.
With that in mind, my opinion on this album has improved. Stapleton has had a long career as a songwriter and the positive response to his first solo album is much deserved. Whatever it lacks, I do think this is one of the strongest country releases this year. If nothing else, I am happy to see this style of country getting so much attention from within the Nashville bubble. Maybe there's hope for that struggling enterprise after all.
This one isn't in the BEA database and I won't be the one to add it.
I was excited to check this out after Rolling Stone Country called these guys the "best up-and-comer" at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Bands that these guys are supposed to sound like include Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Allman Brothers, Black Crowes, and Rolling Stones. I love all those bands! But this album is just not very good.
Their big hit single, "Smoke," is decent. And I also enjoyed "Sunday Morning," which is the closest they get to Black Crowes. But there's also "Southernality" and "Trailer Trashed," which are pure bro country, which I want no part of. The rest of it is competent but forgettable mainstream country fare.
To cleanse my palate, I'm listening to this for the hundredth time. This has been battling with Jason Isbell's Something More Than Free for the overall spot on my 2015 chart. I think Isbell is going to beat her out, simply because of the depth of his songwriting. But this album is right up there.
Musically, the album is wonderful; she writes nice melodies and has a lovely voice. I just love the sound of this album. Lyrically, there's a definite lightness that I think is pretty clearly a call back to 60/70s female country artists. Unfortunately, her tendency towards clever phrases slightly weakens the overall impact for me. But I like that she writes about more than just heartbreak, which puts her ahead of pretty much ever other young, female country artist. And when she does do something more weighty (e.g. "Die Fun"), it absolutely kills.
She's dancing on the edge of being a really strong storyteller. My hope is that in a few more years she'll embrace that style of songwriting, at which point she'll be unstoppable.
I've now listened to it again and I am going to reluctantly suggest the problem is the much-celebrated producer, David Cobb. He's the go-to guy for Nashville outsiders, most notably Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson.
This is an interesting view, I had never thought that the fault might lay in Cobb's hands. Metamodern and Southeastern were my favorite records of the year respectively, but now that you bring my attention to Cobb's shortcomings, I'm more inclined to think that those records might have simply shined regardless of producer. I personally think "Something More Than Free" was a big step back for Isbell (though its still in my top 10) and my feelings on Stapleton's "Traveler" are on record. I believe Cobb also produced Houndmouth's latest album, which I enjoyed quite a bit, and think it certainly captures the energy of the band.
I still think Cobb is one of the major talents in the genre, but I'll be looking at his upcoming releases with a keener eye. (or listening with a keener ear).
Back to the topic at hand, I recently compiled my top 20 country albums of the year. Traveler checks in at 9 and Pageant Material misses the list all together. I'll listen to it again later today, but I'm surprised to hear it's competing for your #1 spot. You mention the "clever phrases". That is what totally took me out of the album the couple times I listened to it. _________________
Kiki wrote:
You're chart is sooooooooo american. It's like a diner in here.
Pageant Material misses the list all together. I'll listen to it again later today, but I'm surprised to hear it's competing for your #1 spot. You mention the "clever phrases". That is what totally took me out of the album the couple times I listened to it.
I didn't like her first album for that reason. I remember there being a lyric that played on Mary Kay, Mary Jane, "Mary two doors down." I just had a visceral, negative reaction to that and I started noticing that in every song. I am not sure why this one works for me. The sound of the album must be a big part of it because that stands out every time I listen to it.
I also watched a series of videos in which she discusses each song and it made me appreciate the album more. On the one hand, you can see the influence of her songwriting partners and how some of those annoying turns of phrase get injected into otherwise good songs. On the other hand, you see that there's often a real-life origin for what makes it into a song. For example, I didn't care for the phrase "dimestore cowgirl," because it just struck me as a bit maudlin, even for a song that's meant to be self-deprecating. But then I watched the video about the song, and she talks about some pageant stage mom calling her that because of how she wore her hat. That perspective totally changed my opinion on the song.
Although a sub-genre purist would call this folk or, better still, Piedmont blues, for purposes of this diary it fits under my sonic notion of country. As far as I can tell, Parr is an somewhat obscure figure, though he is much celebrated in the region around his home of Duluth, Minnesota. I saw him live last year and was absolutely floored. This song in particular stayed with me for weeks:
This latest album is representative of his style (finger-picked acoustic guitar) and is a fine collection of tunes. There isn't anything that's gripped me the way "Cheap Wine" did, but I love the place the album takes me to. It just feels like the mountains of North Carolina.
This one starts and finishes really strong. "Ashes" and "Half Moon" are both great songs, but the album loses steam about halfway through the cover of the Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody." The songs in the middle are still good, but I don't feel compelled to listen to them again. I do like her sound; she has a lovely voice, with a singing style that is not all that common in country. She calls to mind a young Emmylou Harris, if Harris were really into Nina Simone.
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