Totally. Also, "Should've Been a Cowboy" has always been one of my guilty pleasure Toby Keith songs that I actually like, so its cool having a version Im not slightly embarrassed to listen to haha.
That one is great, but for me it's Heads Carolina, tails California..was somehow a perfect fit energy wise.
I'm vibin' with the new Thomas Rhett album; nothing new or original per se, but he does this particular sound well
Yeah the lyrics are nothing original or inspired; the whole album basically panders to country farm kids, but from a music and singing standpoint I think it's not bad.
The music in any song is the #1 thing I pay attention to by far, way more than lyrics, which leads to my overall opinion of this album being not bad
I say this as someone who really, genuinely loved the last two Thomas Rhett albums, which are bizarre, adventurous, subversive, wildly fun pop/country/rock/a-million-other-influences jukebox records: his new one...kind of sucks? He's still one of the sharpest hook writers in the mainstream country game, and even here there are some GREAT songs ("Heaven Right Now" is a true gut punch). But goddamn, he panders SO hard on this record, and it's extremely off-putting to me. Every cliche country trope in the book: hunting, fishing, church, singing about country music, beer, backroads, etc. etc. I've read so many articles and tweets from country bloggers/writers/fans dinging him for "not really being country" over the years, and I guess he was reading those too and took them to heart. I could almost forgive the lyrical content if the album still had that wide-eyed, omnivorous-music-fan energy that his past couple records had, but it's pretty staid and samey throughout. It seems like he really internalized a lot of the bullshit that exists around this genre and decided he needed to make a cookie-cutter Jason Aldean album to get his "country cred" back. He's said Side B is a little more adventurous, so here's hoping.
This one is out today, I think some around here might enjoy it. Also new albums from The Deep Dark Woods, John Andrew’s & The Yawns, and a new Blitzen Trapper demos album.
I know he was always the main creative force, but is Blitzen Trapper just Eric Earley now? Did the rest of the band leave???
Willie Nelson's Outlaw Music Festival Tour Announces 2021 Dates This article has a breakdown of who is on which dates. Stapleton is only on the first few it looks like.