Last year Nashville Scene asked me to participate in its year-end country albums and singles, so I started separating country singles from my big chart. The following blurbs amalgamate original and published The Singles Jukebox material.
Dierks Bentley – “Say You Will”
This sirloin with asparagus on the side used to disappear beside the other cuts of bro meat until “5-1 5-0” actually rocked a few years ago and 2014’s “Drunk on a Plane” teased with one of the wittier arrangements in recent country. Co-written by wunderkind Shane McAnally, “Say You Will” coaxes Bentley’s best performance on a ballad.
Thomas Rhett – “Crash and Burn”
Of course it’s the “Chain Gang” hook but also the whistling and how the “doooowwwn” part alludes to Fastball’s “The Way.” Thomas Rhett
Cam – “Burning House”
Like “Crash and Burn” and “Girl Crush,” airplay did wonders for this single by a performer best known for penning songs for Miley Cyrus. The chorus suggests an honest “Bleeding Love.”
Little Big Town – “Girl Crush”
Thanks to the arpeggios, the first verse is brazen and lived-in, worthy of Rosanne Cash’s great same-sex valentine “The Way We Mend a Broken Heart,” which makes the bait and switch of the second verse after the chorus way too clever by half. I don’t believe the scenario. I don’t believe the narrator could make the leap and limn an erotic same-sex scenario that’s supposed to be transgressive. I believe the narrator could imagine herself into her rival’s shoes. Points, though, for concentration and brevity. And unlike other tunes its popularity helped.
Maddie & Tae – “Shut Up and Dance”
Salmon shorts and a white V-neck — yum. The girls and I share tastes in man-flesh. A sense of humor and for hot call and response guitar licks too. And the title variant on the greatest closing line in American film comedy (delivered by a cool Shirley MacLaine) comes after the girls have snarled their way through a response to a come-on that would’ve been the climax in lesser hands. Now this is Saturday night.
Keith Urban – “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16”
He’s a joker, a smoker, and an all day power broker of trends, past and present. For too long Urban has epitomized a sunbleached blandness, offering a country experience that’s the equivalent of a weekend at Universal Studios. This time, although he’s traveling down a boulevard of broken dreams he’s riding a John Deere and remembering the Johnny Cougar he grew up with. No one at The Singles Jukebox much liked it.
Brantley Gilbert – “One Hell of an Amen”
Gilbert’s affected croak suggests he’s struggling to register something meaningful about the people he’s loved and lost, and when the effort defeats him those Ritchie Sambora riffs lift those guitar necks heavenward (and the lick garnishing the chorus’ lyrical twist echoes “Summer of ’69,” of course). Those repelled by the labor of distinguishing bro country’s gradations of kitsch won’t find anything novel here. Me, I hear someone pushing at the limits of his abilities — and empathy.
Luke Bryan – “Strip It Down”
The “old school beat” he reveres is ’90s R&B: Vandross and Babyface without the acoustics, oddly. The little bare feet by the cowboy boots recall courtly love nonsense that a singer with a voice not so gormless could make me believe. I still can’t stand most of his other singles.
Sam Hunt – “House Party”
The talk-singing in “Take Your Town” sounds like an even worse idea in November than it did last spring, but this zipped-up party up anthem has the glint of modern chart pop (scratches!) and Hunt restrains the smarm.
Gary Allan – “Hangover Tonight”
What the hell — a George Benson arrangement? The rest doesn’t measure up — it tries hard for that swampy, smokey vibe — and the conceit/pun is muddled (give me 2013’s simpler “Pieces”). The arrangement mirrors the wil-he-or-won’t-he.
Reba McIntyre – “Going Out Like That”
I love the idea of a woman like Reba in an awesome dress, “so tired of being tired,” dancing like she doesn’t give a fuck.
Humanizing The Vacuum 