A Look Back and A Look Forward
Burd is back! What did we miss in ‘22? 2023 hype is brewing! Plus, reflection on some of TIH’s favorite pieces in the past year.
January is a slow month. We all take some time to recover from the holiday daze. The music industry is no different. After furiously churning out holiday material, the industry takes a much needed break in January. This makes January the ideal month to catch a breather. We here at Today I Heard don't plan on doing that kinda thing. We cranked out a large amount of content over November and December in a spurt of creativity. We will most likely be returning to the once or twice a month model and January is no different. That is what has been done for most of the past two years and leads to a nice balance between creative pressure and quality content.
I'm happy to say that in this inaugural post of 2023, Burd is back. For the new ones here, Burd was a regular contributor up until the last few months of 2022 when life got busy. Luckily, over the holiday break, he managed to find some time and collaborate on a new post. With not much new music coming out in the month of January, we felt it was an ideal time to both look backwards and look forwards. We are human and often do not get to all of the music that's recommended to us, even music that people swear by as being list worthy. We decided to look back and each select one album that we just didn't get around to in the last year and discuss it. We also decided to look forward and talk about an upcoming release that we are very hyped for.
A Look Back: Burd’s Take
Lainey Wilson - Bellbottom Country
I didn’t listen to this album at first because, to be honest, Lainey’s music doesn't really do anything for me. I wasn’t too crazy about "Things a Man Oughta Know" and I liked "Heart Like a Truck," but not enough to listen to a full album of hers. It was actually because I heard her on Hardy’s song, "wait in the truck" that I decided to listen to this album. I feel like it really brought out that classic country sound in her voice more than her other singles, but maybe I just wasn’t listening to them well enough. I’m not really sure.
I am really glad I decided to listen to this album though because it really surprised me. Not just the quality of it, but how weird it can get at times. I even think that these weirder moments are the best moments on the album. Songs like "Grease" are almost downright funky, and my favorite song on the whole album, "Wildflowers and Wild Horses" is this adventurous, super cinematic western number, kinda like something you would hear on Yellowstone. I’d be crazy not to mention the strangest moment on the album, a cover of the 4 Non Blondes song, "What’s Up?". I even think Lainey’s western flavor adds to the song and is better than the original, and is another one of my favorites on the album. The only track that really didn’t work for me was "Me, You, and Jesus." It’s not really bad, but it tried this CCM-type sound that really didn’t fit on the western style this album was going for, and overall was pretty forgettable.
Best Songs: Watermelon Moonshine, Grease, Hold My Halo, Wildflowers and Wild Horses, What’s Up (What’s Going On)
Worst Song: Me, You, and Jesus
Final Score: Light 8/10
A Look Back: Joe's Take
Bailey Zimmerman- Leave The Light On
I generally shy away from hype. I think it's the result of appreciating specificity in my music that the biggest and buzziest projects don't have. In order for mass hype, it needs mass appeal. If it has mass appeal, it's most likely been sanded down to a nice shiny textureless feel. This is why I completely ignored the tiktok fueled, insanely viral artist of 2022, Bailey Zimmerman and his EP, Leave the Light On. It wasn't possible to shield myself entirely from his presence, I heard a song or two on radio so I thought I'd have a decent idea of what to expect.
There are pleasant surprises. For a radio artist, there is a surprising amount of texture in the production. Little licks of banjo, fiddle, and steel all poke around the edges of the standard Nashville radio mix. There also were a few great bits of writing and imagery. For instance, “Smoke ring wrapped around your finger” is a great bit of detail that I enjoyed.
There are unpleasant surprises. Bailey Zimmerman has a very odd vocal tone. He certainly pulls from punk vocal stylings and that raw tone feels at odds with the general smoothness of the production. The affectation feels put on. If I had to describe his voice, it would be a combination of Morgan Wallen and Owl City. Despite the “heartfelt” spoken word introduction detailing just how emotional and real the stories told on the project are, most of the project has a shallowness and distance from the protagonist to the material.
Despite my mixed stance on the EP, I do see why there is buzz surrounding Zimmerman. It’s a competent project that showcases the strengths of Zimmerman. Sure successful marketing plays a role in the massive success it has been, but he does bring something unique to the table. He presents a relatable and simple perspective (no Zach Bryan lyrical complexity here, folks) that younger consumers can connect with. Teens and younger adults tend to like more extreme expressions of emotion. What seems like blatant overexpression for an adult connects deeply with the teenager. I think that explains the disconnect between me and the hype. I'm simply not the audience.
Favorite songs: House on Fire, Rock and Hard Place
Least favorite songs: Trainwreck, Where It Ends
Let's say 6.5? Falls into the middle to high side of where I rate competent pop-country. The tightness and across the board consistency definitely bumps it up.
2023 Hype Album: Burd's Take
Hardy- Mockingbird and the Crow
This is a pretty easy pick for me, as I’m sure it is with a lot of people, for my most hyped album of 2023. Throughout most of 2021, I thought I had lost faith in Hardy. All the songs he was featured on (Put it on Ice, Beers on Me, The Worst Country Song) were mediocre bordering on terrible. His co-writes never did anything for me. Don't even get me started on the godawful Hixtape Vol. 2. I kept telling myself that he was saving his best material for his solo stuff, even though for a time I began to doubt myself. Nonetheless, as soon as the rollout started for his sophomore album, I was incredibly interested in what was coming.
The first song from this album that was released was "SOLD OUT" and I admit, at first I was a little conflicted. To my ears, the song was just a bland 2000’s rock radio sounding post-grunge song with pretty underwhelming screams. I also think all the "Look at me, I haven’t sold out" songs get annoying, especially if the artist performing it can’t back it up. Luckily, now that we know what Hardy has in store for us on this half-country, half-rock album, I think it’s safe to say he can back it up. And really, the announcement of this album really made the song better for me, and it’s extreme catchiness sure helps. I’d be crazy not to mention the duet "wait in the truck", which is probably Hardy’s best written song to date, and the performances on this thing give me chills on every listen.
Okay, at this point I knew Hardy was back, but I had no idea he’d drop probably my favorite song of 2022 with the album’s title track. "the mockingbird & THE CROW" is such a cool and creative premise for a song and combines Hardy’s great writing with epic country and rock instrumentals and that crazy switch-up. Of course, not all the songs I have been crazy about. I think "TRUCK BED" is catchy and has some good ideas, but I can see it being kind of annoying and repetitive to some people, and "here lies country music" is kind of odd. The vibe and excitement I'm getting with this album is more the idea of it existing rather than all the individual songs being quality. It’s a lot like Eric Church’s The Outsiders in that way. It may not land every time, but it’s the ambition of the project that I can applaud.
2023 Hype Album- Joe's Take
Luke Combs- Untitled
Luke Combs announced that he's going to be putting out a new album in March 2023. Combs releasing less than a year from his previous album is an unusual release strategy. It harkens back more to the old days when a once a year album was expected. It is unclear what relationship this will have to his previous album. On the previous two Luke Combs projects, he released the deluxe album approximately a year afterwards. There were about five to six new tracks on them, and that served as an expansion of his discography to tide fans over until the next album. It seems he's decided to do something different as he's releasing a full 18 track album less than ten months later. That is doubly surprising because he trimmed down LC3 to a tight twelve songs. Considering how all indications are that this upcoming album will be more in the vein of a sequel companion album then a completely new release, that comes in as a 30 song project. That would rival albums like American Heartbreak, Dangerous, and Heart & Soul for some of the most lengthy projects yet and it will be very interesting to see if he can maintain a thematic consistency in his work.
It could be the reason Combs is putting out eighteen songs simply because of demand. There are a lot of popular unreleased demos that have gone viral. He sings unreleased songs at concerts and even at the Opry. It makes you wonder how much genuinely fresh new material will be on LC3.5.
In spite of all the logistic questions and issues, I’m very enthusiastic about the next chapter of Luke Combs. To my ears, every album has been an improvement on the last, with his most recent being one of my favorite albums of the year. Combs is the leading artist of the generation. Even if you aren't the biggest fan of his work, when he releases an album, it requires your attention. He's just that important in the genre.
2022 was a great year for my writing. Looking back, I published over twenty posts. I want to highlight some of my favorites.
The year started off with one of my weirder posts.
In which I analyze a Justin Moore song and attempt to parse meaning and depth in an otherwise shallow song. It's an exercise in either textual analysis or fabrication. I think it reveals the limits of three minute long songs. There's only so much you can cram in there, and those of us that aim to find meaning within those three minutes need to be more conscious of the limits. By stretching things past the maximum, I think it shows this idea.
In March, I wrote my longest piece ever. Most probably it'll stay that way because I've since commited to splitting posts into multiple parts if things expand too much (the Musings on Music series, for example).
It's a deep philosophical exploration of a few different ideas all shmushed into a conversation about the transitory moment country music finds itself in. It may take a bit of time to meander to its point, but I really enjoyed tying together all the threads. I think it worked well.
In April, I explored the idea of The Album Experience via my personal experiences with Aaron Watson’s Red Bandana.
It is a nice exploration of how medium we consume art in affects our experience of that art.
In June, I tried something a little lighter and just chatted about some music I had recently been listening to.
It felt very organic and I think reflected the way I relate to music in the moment of listening more than anything else I tried to write this year.
In October, I finally addressed my thoughts and feelings on the concept of pop country.
I took a more philosophical route naturally, but I think it paid off in creating a framework for how to look at genre blending projects.
There were many other posts that I greatly enjoyed writing. These were ones that I wanted to highlight. Not because they were the best I've written, or the most read (in case you were wondering, the two best performers were the top 25 songs of 2022 and the Graycie York exit survey), but simply posts that I found to either be thought provoking, simply well executed, or just had a great time writing. I can think of no better way to launch the new year via reflecting on the best of the past year.
Thanks for reading,
Joe