It’s better than the first one on his new label, that’s for sure. Gonna take more listening and familiarization before I can recommend it, though.
Here is the most enjoyable record I’ve yet heard by the son, all because it’s build on his daddy’s signature bass line. Waylon wasn’t the first to use it, but he used it the best. Like any young man, Shooter’s been enamored with some loud guitars and hard rock noise, which ain’t done us much good on this side of the fence. This is what he needs to do, I think, this is where he belongs. This is a Country record to make his daddy proud.
One them confessionals, it is. Pretty good one, at that. Up to a point. He wakes up from a drunken haze, feeling sorry for himself, thinkin’ maybe he’s gonna get on the wagon and change his life. Now if he swore he was actually gonna do it, it would make for a better story. Problem is, he confesses he ain’t really willing to pull it off. Nobody much wants to spend time with a hopeless alcoholic, so I’m doubtin’ this’ll be a hit.
It starts out real nice and I can see this growing on folks. But then I can also see it as a dud. Parts of it are boring me already. Zac’s trod this path before and with hotter heels. Now I just luvvvs me fiddles, you know. But not this one. The bridge has a violin, not a fiddle (there is a difference) and the sound does not engage me. In fact, I want it to be over. Zac has tremendous good will with our listeners and for good reason. We love hearing his smooth, relaxed voice. He sounds like one of us, whomever we are. I’m pretty sure that alone can carry it to Top 20 in airplay. I’m just wishing I was hearing something that felt Top 10.
The last I looked, I think she was up over a third of a million units sold with the album this is from. Forty weeks after release, it’s still #2 on the Bluegrass chart. Big market Country stations never play her because the boxed-in thinking is She’s a Bluegrass act forgetting that virtually EVERY core Country fan attests that they like at lease some Bluegrass and think a bit of it ought to be included in a mainstream Country mix. With that fact in mind, if a PD decides it’s a good tactical move to put some on the playlist, then it follows that the smartest thing to do is to put the Queen of the genre in there. Especially when she gives us one this classy. Be not surprised if you don’t see this on the national airplay charts. Be not surprised if you get some phones ringing with requests. Everybody likes a bit of Alison Krauss in their ears.
This is just pure entertainment. I’m all time talkin’ about how we need us some more banjo and fiddle in the arrangements, those touchstones that clearly communicate to the casual listener that he/she’s got a Country station tuned in, ‘stead of some pseudo-A/C rigamaroll. Now I don’t know that Rascal did this one just to quite me down for a while, but I’ll take the credit. Ever’body have fun now, ya’ hear!
Hot Mess-Tyler Farr (BNA)
Jan 11
It’s an odd phrase for describing your wife/girlfriend, but one thing for certain, it is definitely Southern. I’ve heard it and used it myself before, but that was about a century ago. It was quite surprising to hear it again. First spin, I didn’t much like it. But it’s beginning to grow on me.
It was released last August. I listened a few times, found it modestly attractive but as the weeks and months went on, it moved further and further down in the stack. I see now in the last chart of the year, it’s slipped into the Top 40 so I pulled it out again for some re-spins. Gosh, I’m liking it more in January than I did back in the hot weather. I don’t want to jump into it right now, bein’s it’s been out all these months with such slow going. But, then if it keeps rolling as we move into the new year, it could be an add.
I really like the first single he gave us. Still wondering why it wasn’t better received by the reporter types. Maybe they just don’t like whistlin’. The second single is a tad more conventional, but still unique with it’s semi-rap lead-in. The guy’s a talent and this may put him up on the top of the charts.
This Josh always feels a bit like a new-age Randy Travis to me; that resonance, that smoothness. He sounds real good here, again, but the outstanding feature is the arrangement. I’ve always been a sucker for a cool intro and this’s got one. And there’s the steady, thumpin’ beat and chugs like Casey Jones on rails. Then, toward the end comes the riffin’ mandolin. Start to finish, a fine piece of work.
