*Sigh* ... I had a feeling this might happen. 

I liked Russell Dickerson's debut single, "Yours", probably more than most. In fact, it grew on me more throughout the year. Call it a gut feeling or something else though, but I had a feeling he might be a one trick pony with that song. Hearing his debut album confirmed that (I didn't cover it, but it wouldn't have been pretty), and while his latest single, "Blue Tacoma" isn't the worst offender in his catalog, it still has its fair share of problems. 

Sure, the song dances around typical bro-cliches at times by drinking a different type of beer, name-dropping Shania Twain over Hank Jr., and driving during the daytime instead of the nighttime, but it's still a pretty faceless tune overall. There are too many songs adopting this same theme right now, and unfortunately while it tries to go for different details, it's still lacking in overall depth. 

Then again, a lack of lyrical depth can be excused provided that everything else is good, and unfortunately it's not. The production on this song is terrible, with the loud drum machine pushed way too far to the front of the mix completely swallowing the tune. Yeah, the atmospheric banjo is nice and all, but it's so buried that it feels simply tacked on rather than essential to the song. 

Dickerson is a better vocalist than he'll get credit for, with a surprisingly good range and likable personality, however it's hard to really get excited for a song about nothing at the end of the day. 

Grade: C
Listen: "Blue Tacoma" 

Author: Zackary Kephart

Kelsea Ballerini's "I Hate Love Songs" presents a fascinating, unique problem - a song that sounds confusing and grating in the context of the album it's in sounds great as a standalone song. 

If anything, it might even just prove that albums are never just collections of singles no matter how hard they try. While "I Hate Love Songs" is literally sandwiched in between love songs on Unapolgetically, on its own it's better than I gave it credit for. 

I'm not a huge fan of the waltz craze in Country music right now, mostly because most of the songs adopting it are schmaltzy or bad for some other reason. With this song, the waltz beat has a very relaxing, retro atmosphere to it, creating something that excellently matches the lyrical content. 

Speaking of lyrical content, this song is clever and humorous in the way that it debunks romantic cliches. What I like is that she's so specific about the love-related things she dislikes, and lines like "you'd die if your heart really skipped a beat" or "we were drunk when we met, so we don't know our anniversary" are witty, charming, and overall funny. Despite these cliches though, she loves her significant other because of other elements beyond those cliches, and while this song could have afforded to go more in depth about why she DOES love him (it's the Eric Paslay "Song About A Girl" syndrome, only here the chorus really underwhelms), this is solid nonetheless. 

I won't say that Ballerini is really exuding as much personality on this track as she usually does (the jokes can fly right by you if you're not careful), but she's able to keep a steady flow regardless. 

Overall, this is a solid offering from Kelsea Ballerini that's very witty and tasteful. 

Grade: B
Listen: "I Hate Love Songs"

Author: Zackary Kephart

While I have my doubts that this song will be a comeback hit for Miranda Lambert, I enjoy the fact that she doesn't care about that anyway. 

"Keeper Of The Flame" will not be for everyone, but it's a solid song that shows Miranda Lambert continue to be the artist she wants to be. A song about carrying the torch for the legends who've influenced you and influencing other artists is a song Country music surely needs right now. However, I'm not even sure it's really about that. Lambert isn't really saying that she alone is carrying that torch. Instead, she's essentially saying that she's her own artist, and she hopes to be an example to younger artists looking to follow their dreams. Basically, that flame is about staying true to who you are. 

The song has a very atmospheric, soft-rock vibe to it with the smoother electric guitar, and by the time we reach the chorus, it has this large, anthemic swell to it that helps to reinforce the message. While I think Lambert is holding back a bit vocally, especially on the verses, this song is truly something I think she needed to release. 

Grade: B+
Listen: "Keeper Of The Flame"

Author: Zackary Kephart

If this song proves anything, it's that an artist can have a song that mention a party atmosphere AND include some depth, contrary to belief. 

Granted, it's hard to flag down a lot of information about Travis Denning, but like many songwriters as of late, Denning has finally moved away from writing album cuts (he helped to write songs on the latest albums from Jason Aldean and Justin Moore) to releasing his own music to the world. The result is a song that's very easy to like. 

The song's biggest selling point is its lyrical content. While receiving a fake I.D. to essentially drink yourself silly sounds par for the course on a mainstream country song (especially if we hop back in time to 2014), the focus isn't really about that. While the song does gloat about being able to drink and smoke illegally, the focus is more about being an adult and actually getting to experience something you've never experience before. The song also takes the time to focus on the man that Denning is impersonating, and it's a nice touch to have Denning be so obsessed with reading over the card to figure out who this man is. Honestly though, they could have done a better job than describing Mr. Parker as a "Levis, t-shirt, all-American guy" considering it sounds pretty faceless, but overall, it's a cool perspective on being integrated into adulthood in a way that's more fun and engaging than boring. 

While I wouldn't call Denning a distinctive vocalist, he's got a healthy amount of charisma. He does a great job convincing me how excited he is just to experience something all the adults do, and considering that the lyrics never tilt into anything obnoxious like most songs in this vein, I'd say he's got a very likable personality as well. 

The production here starts off too compressed, with that echoey drum machine taking up too much room. Once the chorus hits, the sweeping electric guitar helps to give this song somewhat more of an edge. 

Overall, I'll be interested to see what else Travis Denning can do, because he's off to a solid start with his debut single. 

Grade: B
Listen: "David Ashley Parker From Powder Springs"

Author: Zackary Kephart

​I've been blogging for three years, and this is ironically the first time I've reviewed a Florida Georgia Line song ... and a Bebe Rexha one for that matter. 

Any external discussion surrounding this song's claim to fame will be dealt with in due time, because for as many articles that I see written regarding this tune and the artists involved, I've rarely seen an actual discussion on the song itself. 

Yes, it's by a Pop artist, but as far as this particular song being the furthest thing from Country music's roots is concerned, all I can say is, Walker Hayes says "hell no" to that. In fact, at worst, "Meant To Be" is simply boring. After a handful of listens, my only assessment is that at worst and best, this is just a half-baked version of Florida Georgia Line's "H.O.L.Y" with chintzier production. 

In fact, sonically I have a hard time distinguishing the two. The drum machine and fake snap percussion adds a layer of grayness rather than color. There's some weird sounding steel meets electric sounding instrument during the verses, but you can just basically chalk that up to the producers wanting to add a "Country" element to this. Admittedly the piano carrying the melody does add flavor, and it's nice to see that instrument appearing in more mainstream country singles (now if only we could get the fiddle back!). However, the entire mix just eventually drowns out the song as it goes on, especially during the unimaginative chorus. 

On that note, "unimaginative" is the perfect word for the lyricism on this track. Beyond the repetitive usage of saying "it'll be" a million times, it's just an unusual set up of Hubbard (you didn't expect Brian Kelley to do anything, did you?) essentially saying "hey baby, don't worry about love, we'll work it all out together." Meanwhile, Rexha at least seems serious about finding a solution for love, and while Hubbard may be an alright fit for her, him just telling her that she's in over her head comes off as ... I don't know, more than a tad condescending? By the end it's just a lazy, generic "we're going to make it" song that offers nothing of value really. 

The two singers have decent chemistry I suppose, but if this is Rexha's song, why is Hubbard singing more than half of this song? For a song claiming to be purely Pop, it sure seems like they purposely didn't let the female artist get as much attention, a trait which is common in another genre I know and love. I wonder what it is? 
But overall, I can't honestly say I feel anything toward this one way or another. It's lazy and boring, but also not nearly the worst thing I've ever heard. "Meh" is really all I needed to say about this. 

Grade: D+
Listen: "Meant To Be"

Author: Zackary Kephart

​There are three things that are certain in life – death, taxes, and the fact that we’re going to get some type of Willie Nelson project every year. Coming just a year after God’s Problem Child, Nelson is set to release his new album Last Man Standing on April 27th, and the lead off single is one of his most jovial (and best) in awhile. The concept of death isn’t exactly a happy topic, so to hear this bright, up-tempo mix of electric guitar, bluesy harmonica, organ, and piano is odd upon first listen.

However, the lyrics paint the bigger picture. While we’ve seen an artist like Alan Jackson tackle the subject of growing older from a different perspective with “The Older I Get” (that is, looking forward to those days instead of dreading the eventual end), Nelson tackles it from the traditional perspective. In other words, he’s not ready to go. There admittedly isn’t much to the lyrical content here, however we do see Nelson get personal for a moment by admitting it’s hard seeing all of his friends check out before he does. After all, he’s lived just as hard (likely harder) than they have, so why is he still among the living? It’s a statement that hits hard despite the cheery nature, but it also shows that despite all of that, Nelson wants more life because if anything, he’s actually going to live it instead of waste it.

At this point in his career, it’s hard to say that Nelson will ever give a “knockout” vocal performance, however thankfully here, he’s sounding better than he has in a long time, with a delivery that's on time and consistent. There’s even a hint of charisma to his delivery that can’t help but make the listener smile.

Overall, “Last Man Standing” sees Nelson triumphant rather than letting something such as death get in his way. Like always, he’s miles ahead of most younger artists, and it’s great to see him continue to release great music. I’m glad Nelson wants to stick around a bit, because I know quite a few people that would enjoy that as well.

Grade: B+
Listen: "Last Man Standing"

Author: Zackary Kephart

Usually when an artist parts ways with their record label after releasing a slew of mediocre singles, a rebirth is in order. Jake Owen is one of Country music's most charismatic performers, so to see him try and emulate a sound rather than craft his own on songs like "Real Life", "If He Ain't Gonna Love You" and "Good Company" was disappointing. 

Unfortunately, joining the Big Loud Records team has made Owen's music even more watered down than it was before. "I Was Jack (You Were Diane)" may have what it takes to propel Owen back to the top of the charts, but it is by no means a good song. 

The reasons as to why that is are fairly clear too. For one, Owen joined back up with producer Joey Moi for this song, which explains why the chorus sounds like one giant blob of generic electric guitars and a banjo that ultimately makes Owen fight to be heard. His latest past singles may have had more of a funky Reggae vibe to them, but at least they had more color than whatever this is. 

Lyrically, you'd expect a song referencing the famous John Mellancamp song to feature at least another reference beyond the title. Heck, even Rae Sremmurd managed to sneak a reference in to the Beatles' "Day Tripper" on "Black Beatles." Unfortunately, this song is one long lazy summer romance song. Mentions of every single past cliche you could think of for a Country song in the past couple years are here. Whereas "Jack and Diane" actually had some details to it and was about something, this has none of those elements. 

Then again, if you couldn't be bothered to actually listen to the lyrics, I couldn't blame you. Why Owen has insisted on his this obnoxious talk-rap singing style for three singles of his now is beyond me. It's unneeded, distracting, and completely unnecessary, especially when Owen can't rap all that well (most Country artists can't). 

In short, "I Was Jack" is simply more of the same generic fodder we've come to expect from Owen over the past couple of years. Owen once shined at making these easy-going feel good tunes, and now he's either putting me to sleep with them or making me cringe at his delivery. This song may have Mellancamp's own seal of approval, but it doesn't have mine. 

Grade: D
Listen: "I Was Jack (You Were Diane)"

Author: Zackary Kephart