Brad Paisley Truly Hits His “5th Gear” On New Album

Brad Paisley – “5th Gear” (Arista Nashville)

 

Brad Paisley has had an amazingly consistent rise to his current stardom.  His first four albums all went platinum (with the last two releases “Mud On The Tires” and ”Time Well Wasted” having gone double platinum), he’s had eight number one hits (the lastest being from this album, but more on “Ticks” later), joined the Grand Ole Opry and won awards from the Country Music Association and, most recently, the coveted Male Vocalist of the Year from the Academy of Country Music.  All of this sets the stage for what is shaping up to be a huge year for Paisley (with the birth of his son being the obvious high of the year). 

 ”5th Gear” starts off with

For The Love: Tracy Lawrence Finds Out Who His Friends Are

 

With a simple, instantly relatable song like “Find Out Who Your Friends Are” it was inevitable that country radio would notice Tracy Lawrence again. An artist who’s sold millions upon millions of records, long with two dozen or more hits singles, Lawrence has been put through the wringer as of late when the last two record companies that he recorded for (Atlantic and DreamWorks) were swallowed up by their corporate ‘brothers.’ While Warner Brothers and Mercury/UMG Nashville did release one record each for Tracy, they didn’t exactly give him much of a promotional push, something that even stars need once in a while. Just as Tracy was about to sign up Sony Nashville, it too merged with RLG Nashville (BMG). Fed up with all the corporate BS, Tracy decided to start his own label with the founding of Rocky Comfort Records.

The first album released under the Rocky Comfort banner is “For The Love.” “Find Out Who Your Friends Are” is the lead-off single from the record and after almost a year at radio, Tracy became the first artist on his own label to score a number one with their first release. The song serves as the perfect reminder of Tracy’s talent. With twangy guitars and delicate fiddle and steel guitar fills, Tracy sings a lyric about being down and out and having friends who ’step up to the plate’ and deliver in his time of need. It’s a situation I’ve been in as I needed someone to tow me (not once but twice) from a car accident. Some people may not have much money but they will give you the shirt off of their back and that’s what “Find Out Who Your Friends Are” is about.

“You can’t hide redneck, ‘neath a 3 piece suit, no starched white collar gonna keep it from bleeding through, ya might as well forget it, it’s gonna find it’s way out, no you can’t hide redneck, might as well be proud.” This chorus (from “You Can’t Hide Redneck”) tells a story of people returning to their ‘backwoods’ hometown for their high school reunion. If you’ve been to one then you will instantly relate to people who try to prove how much they’ve changed and are different from the past they’ve tried to runaway from when deep down they’re not. I may not have been to such an event yet but I have seen people try to do such things and on a certain extent, it’s human nature to try to ‘change for the better’ even if we’re still innately the same people on the inside.

The title track is interesting because it features 3 Doors Down’s lead singer Brad Arnold. “For The Love” is a duet that tells the story of people who sacrifice their lives to give to others, be it as a singer or a more ‘true hero’ type of person (a police officer is the example given in the song). Arnold acquits himself quite nicely on the uptempo song as he harmonizes with Lawrence. Perhaps 3 Doors Down will be crossing over to country like Bon Jovi. I know there’ll be a few rock fans who wouldn’t mind that at all (while there are quite a few country fans who would). The traditional steel guitar drenched (gasp! there’s a solo even!) “As Easy As Our Blessing” is followed by the shuffling, fiddle-laced “Speed Of Flight.” Fans of Tracy’s 10-year old hit “Texas Tornado” will enjoy the similar melody.

Always a sucker for a well-sung piano/vocal song, second single “‘Til I Was A Daddy Too” grabbed a hold of me before I even really listened to the lyrics a couple of times. While not a father, I can relate to the lyric because it’s the love that I see dad and mother have for me as I cavort throughout the world (despite one of their objections). As a fan of songwriter/artist Billy Yates, I just love that Tracy has recorded a song of his. “You’re Why God Made Me” is a sweet, cute, ‘wish I could write that’ type of country love ditty. It’s the kind of traditional country song that the silky-voiced Lawrence really digs into. The record ends with a ’star-studded bonus version’ of “Find Out Who Your Friends Are.” It’s an interesting convergence of three of country music’s most popular male artists of the last 13 years. Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney join Tracy as they swap lines of the song. While the song has absolutely no chance of being a radio hit (as an officially released version of the single), it’d make for an interesting video at least.

With 11 well-recorded and vocalized songs Tracy Lawrence really has created perhaps his best record since his “Lessons Learned” record that was released seven years ago. There isn’t anything on the record music wise to suggest that “For The Love” is anything but a professional, well-made, album (as some country indie records have felt/sounded like). The cover artwork could’ve been more thought out (it seems cheap looking to me) but the tray liner and liner notes are fine. When all I can truly gripe about a record is a shoddy album cover then the artist must be doing something right.

Spend a few Moments with Emerson Drive

 

In 2001, a likeable group of young twenty-somethings came to the States from Canada and were signed to DreamWorks Records in Nashville. They instantly had a couple hits (“I Should Be Sleeping” and “Fall Into Me” were both Top 5 at country radio) and sold a bunch of copies of their self-titled debut album. When it came time for their 2nd album, the band lost their charm in layer upon layer of Richard Marx’s ‘pop’ production. DreamWorks tried to work the album at radio but programmers found it too glossy so Emerson returned back to Canada (where the record was a hit) and parted ways with the label (which later folded). Emerson Drive resurfaced in late 2006 as the flagship artist for Midas Records Nashville.

Produced by Alabama’s bassist Teddy Gentry and longtime Nashville producer Josh Leo, “Countrified” is, while still thoroughly modern, a country album without any glossy production. One of the things that has set Emerson Drive apart from the beginning was that this was a band that demanded to play on their records (something few bands do in Nashville) and here the band sounds better than ever. Guitarist Danick Dupelle, keyboardist Dale Wallace, drummer Mike Melancon, bassist Patrick Bourque and fiddle/mandolin player David Pichette capably back up vocalist Brad Mates, who is one of the best male vocalists in the genre of country music. The band plays arrangements that fill in the right places and each instrument is given equal volume.

First single “A Good Man” served as a good reintroduction to radio for the band. With a melodic piano/fiddle combination opening up the song, Emerson Drive found the perfect song, with lyrics that show the value of family, to serve as a bridge from the older poppier style to their new, more confident and organic countrified pop. With sterling fiddles and rhythmic vocals, “Testify” comes off sounding like a modern version of a Charlie Daniels Band song. Written by Mates with his producers and Ronnie Rogers, the song goes further to prove that Emerson Drive does, indeed, want to be taken seriously as a country band as it’s miles more ‘country’ than any of their previous songs were. From the moment I heard “Moments” last summer, I knew that it would do very well at country radio. And like any good song man, I was right.  The song just became the band and Midas Records’ first number one hit. It tells a touching story of a man who, while down on his luck, saves another man (Mates’ narrator) from suicide. It’s the kind of story song that works so well in country music. The goofy ditties may get people to buy a record (physical or digital) but it’s songs like “Moments” that make them worth listening to over and over again.

Singer/songwriter Jeffrey Steele has written so many hits the last few years (about 80% of Montgomery Gentry’s and the first three singles from Rascal Flatts’ current album) that it has become easy to spot a song written by him. “Sweet Natural Girl” has a rough, slightly rowdy country/rock sound to it that screams Jeffrey Steele. Emerson Drive take the song add in their very good country chops and let loose at the end of the song with Dupelle and Pinchette fantastically playing off of each other. “Lucky Man” is a song that reminds me of something that Collin Raye might have sang in the past and Emerson Drive does well with the song. That being said, since Montgomery Gentry currently has a single of the same name (but a different song) there’s not really much of a chance the song is released as a single. The title track, “Countrified Soul” serves a double purpose, aside from being a good song, it also reminds people that the band is a country band, not some pop band masquerading as one.

Dupelle and Mates co-wrote “Boy Becomes A Man” with their label boss, songwriter Keith Follessé and it tells a story much in the same way that “Moments” does. It’s soft, tender and showcases the human condition. The band ends the record with a rousing and spirited remake of Charlie Daniels’ classic “The Devil Went Down To Georgia.” Mr. Daniels himself even guests on the song for a fun little fiddle duet. The song plays out basically the same as the original however the band melds a bit of their personality in the accompaniment of the main fiddle playing melding in licks of classic hits in there towards the end as well.

In the end Emerson Drive has made out a lot better recording for a smaller ‘indie’ record label than they did for the bigger DreamWorks label. Gone is any semblance of gloss and in its place is a fine mixture of contemporary country tunes that hit all the right notes. Fans of previous records will like it but fans of organic, harmony driven country music should check the record out as well. It is, by far, the band’s best effort and one of the finer albums to be released in 2006.

John Berry’s Hits

When John Berry arrived on the country music scene in the early half of the 1990s (a.k.a. country’s boom time) he instantly set himself apart from the pack with his unique, textured tenor voice.  John also had spent years touring the Athens, Georgia club scene and had released several albums before Capital Records snatched him up.  After a solid 8 year run with Capital, John parted ways with the label with a “Greatest Hits” project.  After releasing a few records on his own (a live album and a romantic themed cover project among them), John set about re-recording his Greatest Hits.  Instead of seeking out Wynonna Judd to re-do their duet “We Can’t Unmake Love,” John instead chose to record “When A Man Loves A Woman” for the re-branded “Hits.” 

The album is sequenced exactly the same as the Capital version.  In fact, upon listening to the two discs back to back, it’d be hard to spot any differences.   Berry is still one of music’s best and emotive vocalists.  The fun romp “Kiss Me In The Car” was the second single from his self-titled debut record.  While only a top 20 hit, it did set John up very nicely for his first single, the smash hit “Your Love Amazes Me.”  As romantic and classic a ballad as you’ll ever find, the song, to this day, is John’s signature tune.  Poetic lyrically, the song has been covered by many other artists but nothing compares to John’s slow-building vocal on the song.
 
John’s sophomore album “Standing On The Edge of Goodbye” churned out a few hits with the most notable tracks being the Grammy nominated, number one hit title track and forlorn ballad “If I Had Any Pride Left At All,” a song which John previewed acoustically on the 1995 CMA award show.    “You And Only You” appeared on both of John’s first two records and it remains a personal favorite with the steel-drenched vocal and acoustic guitar backing a fiery vocal from John. 

The third and final album from the Capital years was “Faces” and that record was an interesting release because the label issued numerous ‘faces,’ or covers of it (they did a similar thing with Garth and Deana Carter around the same time).   While John’s song often had traditional instruments, he often received criticisms about his ‘pop-leaning’ voice.  “I Will, If You Will” challenged such opinions with it’s Floyd Cramer like piano intro and traditional arrangement.  The great Patty Loveless originally did the harmonies on the song and it’s probably the one thing I miss about this re-make (although John’s wife does a fine job taking Patty’s place).  John’s third (and so far last) number one hit was the wonderful up-tempo “She’s Taken A Shine.”  It is, perhaps, my second favorite single from John’s capitol days behind “Your Love Amazes Me.”  It’s a Lee Roy Parnell-like track with punchy drums setting a cool tempo while the guitar fills in the melody.
 
As previously mentioned, John chose to add “When A Man Loves A Woman” to the record for two reasons.  One, it gave his extremely loyal fans a reason to purchase the record while secondly replacing the lone song that wasn’t a hit on the original compilation.  John’s rendering of the classic hit isn’t much different from the oft-covered song but for what it lacks in originality John more than makes up for with his personable, powerful vocal.  It also serves as a good primer for John’s previous album of romantic songs.  While there’s not any strong reason (aside from the new track) to pick-up this record if you already own the original Capital compilation, if you’re one of those who liked the radio hits of the 1990’s but never bought a John Berry record, then you’ll wanna pick it up.  It gives John more support (he receives all the royalties, minus songwriter royalties, from the sale) while also giving you a sturdy collection of 1990’s hits. 
 
Note: I purchased this record through eMusic.com.  It’s available through that site, iTunes, or in physical CD form at www.johnberry.net. 

Discover Hidden Gems at eMusic.com

In the growing market of legal music downloading services, Apple Computer’s “iTunes” has set the industry standard while other sites like Urge (MTV Networks), Rhapsody, Napster, and Wal-Mart struggle to find innovative ways to compete.  In the indie music world there’s another music option.  At eMusic.com one fan find a dizzying array of tunes from a wide range of artists.  The downloads are a-la-carte like iTunes (no annoying ‘rental services’ like Rhapsody or Napster or new player Zune Marketplace) but eMusic was the first legal site to offer DRM-free music that works with any digital music player.  The site has a pre-paid structure where for 10 bucks a month you get 30 tracks (or, in country music terms, roughly three albums). There are “Plus” and “premium” packages currently available as well. 

 What most people don’t know about eMusic is that the website is actually the second largest legal service behind Napster and contains well over two million tracks.  There are country music albums from numerous artists including the catalogs of newer Nashville labels like Big Machine Records, Lofton Creek Records, Midas Records Nashville (Emerson Drive) and stuff from self-releasing artists like Steve Azar and John Berry.  Traditional artists are on the site as well.  I picked up Dayrle Singletary’s latest album from eMusic.  It’s a great site that deserves love from country music fans all over.  

Steve Azar Returns With Indianola

This review originally appeared at Epinions.com

“Way Back” in 1995 Steve Azar came out with a promising debut album that proceeded to go nowhere. While a bit overprocessed to get ‘hits,’ “Heartbreak Town” announced the arrival of an important artist (at least to me) with good tunes (even if he has now disowned the record). Steve became just one of many who got churned through the major label system. I considered the record a hidden gem. Fast forward to 2001 and, much to my surprise, Steve had resurfaced. Not on a small indie label but big Mercury Records. Unlike last time, though, Steve had an ace of a single. “I Don’t Have To Be Me (‘Til Monday)” became a huge Top 10 hit for Steve and I thought that he’d finally get the mainstream success he so deserved. Country radio, again, thought otherwise. Steve and Mercury eventually parted ways (after about four more tries at a hit single) in late 2005.

Following the footsteps of other Nashville artists (or perhaps just fed-up with label politics), Steve Azar decided to open up his own label, Dang! Records, to release “Indianola.”  With a swampy steel guitar backing up electric guitar filtered through a wah-wah pedal, “Crowded” instantly announces that Steve Azar is very much in his own groove. With a witty lyrical cadence, Azar and his co-writers (Trick Pony’s Ira Dean is one of them) have managed to create funky country. It actually has quite a similar vibe to something that Mark McGuinn, one of my favorites, might do. Steve segues into track 2 with a fine slice of mainstream country/pop “You Don’t Know A Thing.” Co-written with Radney Foster (another favorite), this philosophical song almost cracked the top 30 for Azar.

Foster and Azar again team up to co-write “You’re My Life.” Featuring a driving back-beat with touches of Hammond B-3 organ, “Life” lays out a lyric that says; “You’re my passion, you’re my home, you’re the hope that I hang on, you’re the wheel that keeps us going through it all, you’re the second wind I always catch when I’ve got no breath left…that’s why you’re my life.”
It’s a catchy piece of country pop that manages to make an oft-covered theme into something that could be a hit for numerous artists, if not Steve himself.

If I were the guy picking songs for late 20s-early 40s artist, I’d pick “Still Tryin’ To Find My Way Around.”  No matter who’s singing it, the song is a hit. It has a progressive slide guitar laced melody backing strong lyrics about enjoying life despite not having any concrete plan of where we’re going. Based on a dream that Steve’s father had, “Empty Spaces” kind of sticks out on this record. A traditional country gospel number, it is the kind of song that Josh Turner’s made his career with and, to be fair, could probably knock out of the park. I also think George Strait could cut this bluegrass-y track.

For the latter third of the record Steve takes us to the Mississippi Delta. “Prelude” serves as the introduction but the rollicking delta blues of “Flatlands.” The bluesy slide-guitar riffs are stellar, Steve’s swampy vocal delivery does the Delta proud. Fans expecting a country music ‘work-out’ won’t find it here. This is pure, unadulterated, funky blues number that serves as a loving tribute to an area that was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. The fact that the band gets to flesh out their muscle on the track is pure gravy. “Bluestone” is another blues-rock number, complete with harmonica and duet vocals from Steve’s co-writer bandleader Jason Young. The song is miles better than any faux-blues strut Clint Black’s ever tried to do and actually it reminds me of something that the Neville Brothers might record. The title track “Indianola” romanticizes the small-town life that you leave when you leave the sleepy little backwoods towns all over the country. Since I’m a guy who’s lived through such a situation, I can really relate to the lyrics. A couple of great hidden tracks end the record on a high note.

Steve Azar may never win many awards or sell millions of records but he can have a long career with a small, but loyal, following. With the internet, Steve’s one of a growing number of artists that are able to release their own records and earn more profits from selling thousands than they’d ever see from selling a million albums. As a record, “Indianola” is a diverse treat that fans of multiple genres can enjoy. I certainly have.

Note:
Originally slated to be co-released through new indie Midas Records Nashville (who would act as promoter of the record and work Steve’s singles to radio) in January, the record was pushed back while Steve decided what to do. Currently the record is available at Steve’s shows and on www.emusic.com. It should be in retail stores and iTunes soon.

Blogs I Read

While this is a newer blog in the blogsphere I’ve been reading a few others for the last couple of months.  They’ve helped me with my decision to join in on the fun.  Here are the three I read most often (since the news blog “www.countrynation.com” seemingly has gone on hiatus). 

The “AboutCountry” site is packed full of country music news, interviews, reviews, polls and more and if you’re not reading it, you should be.   The main page is a blog of the site’s recent activities.  Shelly’s and her team of writers are all good people who genuinely care about what they’re writing about (isn’t that why the ‘net is great?)

Kevin’s “Country Universe” is chock full of opinionated goodness.  He recently scored an interview with Pan Tillis that’s a great read.

 The team behind “The 9513” have a features-packed blog of news, reviews and interviews.  If there’s one thing you get with their site it’s an honest assessment with all that’s great (or bad) with country music.   

 I stumbled upon my old friends at Take Country Back  and Laurie and AnneMarie are two of the best champions for traditional country music that you could evah find. 

Lost in a Moment of Stupidity? Almost.

“Country music without prejudice” flag-bearers Big & Rich have made a career out of being that wacky, wild brother who can ‘walk-the-line’ but chooses to instead pursue other pathways in life. “Horse of a Different Color” announced the arrival of a new breed of country music ‘outlaw’ who mixed multiple genres into an appealing yet flawed amalgam of genres. The duo’s song “Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy” propelled them to superstar status and their second album “Comin’ To Your City” kept the duo of Big Kenny and John Rich there. While not featuring any huge hits, the record featured great songs with fantastic videos. All of this set the stage for Big & Rich’s third album, “Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace.”

Leading off the record is the duo’s first genuine Top Ten hit. “Lost In A Moment” manages to become the summer of 2007’s first wedding anthem while not diverting to vomit-inducing lyrics. If there’s one thing that Big & Rich have always excelled at, it’s the ballads. Sure, the ass-kickin’ songs put butts in the seats and sold the records but the ballads are what showed to country labels and, more importantly, radio that the duo is for real. Also what helps sell the song is the fact that John Rich sings all the lead vocals and the high-low vocal delivery that the duo has was left to the chorus.

Breaking with traditional country music album structure (of leading off and alternating a record with ‘up-tempo ravers’ and ballads), Big & Rich have placed five ballads (and two song intros) in the first half of the record and left the ‘ravers’ for the 2nd half (or as Big Kenny puts it, “Side 2”). The title track “Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace” is a pure Big & Rich, MOR balladry but the duo has strong lyrical acumen (Big Kenny wrote Tim McGraw’s “Last Dollar (Fly Away)” while John Rich writes for virtually every hit making artist these days) that, serves the duo well. “Faster Than Angels Fly” is a slow-paced ballad with beautiful fiddle breaks and U2-ish guitars while John Legend (yes, that John Legend) provides an a capella intro into the pretty piano-based love ballad “Eternity.” It doesn’t re-write any book about love songs but the pop-based melody (written by Big Kenny and fiddler Jonathan Yukdin) helps present a compelling future radio hit.

“Radio” begins the ‘tempo portion of the disc and it features a fiddle playing guitar parts while the lead guitar (played by co-writer Adam Shoenfeld) gives the song a distinct 1980’s hair band feel. But, just to make sure people know that this isn’t some retro act the duo sings “We like our fiddles and guitars loud.” And, indeed, they do as the fiddle and guitar both manage to snare instrumental breakdowns before Beatles-esque piano backs the bridge. It’s a sugary pop-rock song that should’ve led off the record. One thing the duo could stop doing though, is to leave out their names in any songs they do. “You Never Stop Lovin’ Somebody” is a co-write between Lyric Street recording artist Marcel and Big & Rich and it could very well be the ‘up-tempo’ hit from the record. Marcel is a witty, hip-hop-like writer in that he can put rhymes and words together painlessly while Big Kenny and John Rich know how to make intricate genre bending melodies. Still, somehow, this up-tempo ballad ends up being the most middle-of-the road radio ready song either of the three may have ever come up with. With a progressive, toe-tappin’ melody, Big and Rich manage to make a song that has a mandolin (of all country instruments) take the lead guitar parts on the song and helps create an emotional center of “High Five”. “Please Man” features an awkward guest vocal from Wyclef Jean that is just out of place, even on a Big & Rich record. Sure the humorous refrain of “Please man, don’t call the police man” helps pick the song up a but if Willie Nelson proved anything, Reggae and country music don’t mix. The cover of AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long” should’ve worked but somehow the straight-up, traditional country reading has me thinking that Big & Rich listened one too many times to the Hayseed Dixie version. It’s horrid and these two songs help drag down what was an otherwise enjoyable record. “Loud” does find B&R heading back into their metal-leaning ways (with wah-wah lead guitars and all!) but it, too only works for a live, concert setting.When it’s all said and done, Big & Rich has created a record that’s not unlike their other two releases but the fact that the record was placed into two decided halves only hurts the pacing of the record. It’s as if the duo realizes that they are, indeed, a better ‘singles’ artist and that the track placement of the album doesn’t really matter. Still, there’s enough here to recommend but it isn’t gonna convert many of the duo’s detractors to their side of the fence.