Trace Adkins - "Songs About Me"
Trace gets seated on a flight next to a bespectacled intellectual type, who notices and inquires about the fact that his carry-on is a guitar case. After Trace explains that he's a country singer, the short-haired yuppie type scoffs at our ponytailed hero that he doesn't care for "that twang and trains and hillbilly thing". In the chorus, Trace offers the defense that he sings "songs about me, and who I am, songs about lovin' and livin' and goodhearted women and family and" -- wait for it -- "God". I like the livin'/women rhyme, but I kinda wish he had kept it on a more narcissistic angle: "naw, I don't sing about all those other hillbillies, just me!" Trace offers the young urban professional tickets to the show, and by the end of the 2nd verse, the formerly country-hating hipster is in the front row and concedes "man, you were right, it was like you were singing those songs about ME!" The first time I saw the video I was thrown off by Trace's lead guitarist's passing resemblence to the stranger on the plane, and after realizing that wasn't the case, I wished they'd gone all the way with the fantasy and taken it in that direction: the ex-C&W-hater is so thoroughly convinced that he jumps onstage and joins the band for a scorching solo! But no.

Sawyer Brown with Robert Randolph - "Mission Temple Fireworks Stand"
I can't quite decide whether this is as bold and colorful as it wants to be, or if it's just the video that accomplishes this effectively. Nor am I sure whether this is the sort of thing that could reach across borders and grab the ears of the kind of people who usually turn a blind eye to pop country but lost their shit for Big & Rich (or ride planes with Trace Adkins), or if they'd ignore it or sniff it out as trying too hard right off the bat.

Josh Gracin - "Nothin' To Lose"
The follow up to my 4th favorite country single of 2004 finds Gracin in fast talking mode, racing through syllables and inanely rhyming "Miller time" with "breaker breaker one nine". Twista he is not.

Martina McBride - "God's Will"
There should be a special circle of hell reserved for lyricists who would both employ shameless wordplay in such a way that a song with this title is about a pious young boy named Will, and make it this overwrought and dramatic. It's also kind of hilarious how the bookend lyric that she wrings a ton of emotion out of at the end is "I met God's Will on a Halloween night, he was dressed as a bag of leaves". The "I've been searchin', wonderin', thinkin'" part is a big juicy hook, but it deserves a better, less treacly song to be a part of.

Labels: country music, singles, video

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 10, 2005 at 9:05 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.