As readers of the blog know, I find myself most enjoying Texas country or at least that has been the case for the past few years. It was a lighter year this year than it was in the past, although there was still plenty of lower profile releases, either singles or albums that were very much on my radar. I picked these six albums not because it is a comprehensive look at what went down this year, but instead because I felt they best represented the various strands of the scene, both with its mainstream aspirations as well as the singer songwriter side, and all that is contained within. I did not cover Aaron Watson’s cover project, even though it was great, fascinating, and intriguing. That is mostly because I am not entirely sure how to think about it. Give it a listen, and if there are duet partners there that you do not recognize, totally check them out. I have found some fantastic artisrts via that means of discovery.
Enjoy!
1. Jon Randall
I greatly enjoyed Jon Randall's 2021 project. It was one of my favorites of the year, and when I saw he released a follow up, I was excited. For good reason. Randall's subdued Texas country meets Texan singer-songwriter blend combines the best of the two disparate Texan traditions. The seasoned songwriter side brings little bit touches that elevate his work above most out there.
Love Is Not A Rock is the perfect example of how Randall takes a standard topic, and turns it on its head. Not just for subversions sake, but instead to portray a realistic and meaningful take on that most evergreen topic; love.
Unlike many other songwriter turned singers, Randall has sufficient vocal touch to do his writing justice. Possessing a soft and relatable tone, he conveys warm and inviting feelings in his presentation. The ethos of the project is perfectly encapsulated by the cover of Travis Tritt's classic Great Day To Be Alive. I greatly enjoyed this album and I really love that Jon Randall has focused a bit more on his solo stuff now that he’s approaching his middle age.
2. Cameron Wrinkle
Thank Trig from SavingCountryMusic for this. Cameron Wrinkle is a new name for me. I assume the same for nearly everyone else.
I generally don’t like when the main purpose of a review is to grant praise simply based on the genre that it occupies. You get this on both sides of the divide. There is minimal fundamental difference between "wow, this is great because it is properly country" or "wow, this is great because it is bold boundary pushing". The concept of the album isn't the compelling part, the execution is what is compelling.
Luckily Wrinkle manages to mostly avoid that trap by engineering a lovely sounding blend of 80s and 90s inspired country that doesn't hang its hat solely on that sonic resemblance.
One of the biggest strengths of that era is its simplicity and straightforwardness. Wrinkle manages to keep that thread intact and convey simple truths in his music. On the downside, something can feel lacking throughout. Perhaps this is simply him being a new artist.
Maybe this is the beginning of an early Cody Johnson style traditionalist artist. The potential is certainly there. If I had to place him among his peers in the current new traditional style, he would be in the enjoyable camp but not more. Artists like Cody Johnson elevate beyond the material. Wrinkle isn't quite there yet. I will point out the potential of what this artist brings to the table boils down to the fact that he has a genuinely nice voice. These days that is the number one prerequisite. You need a mellow rich tone to succeed in captivating neo traditional audiences. You don’t have so much of the higher pitched tenor style voices anymore. I enjoyed it, and am curious where he goes next.
3. Cody Johnson
Cody gets stuck in the middle. He is a man who is nearly forty and has been putting out music consistently since the mid aughts. In this regard no different from an artist like Justin Moore, or Chris Young. It doesn’t surprise you when Justin Moore’s new album sounds terribly similar to his prior album, in fact it is desirable for artists at that point of their careers to have signature sounds that they return to frequently for the fans. Cody has been an artist who consistently puts out traditionally styled music since 2006, however mainstream audiences have only been hearing him since roughly 2020.
This can be a split in the fan expectations. Some fans expect large changes like you would want for an artist on their second or third album, and others expect nothing more but similar music that hits the same beats with subtle tweaks as he has been doing for fifteen years. It's a difficult position. The truth is Cody Johnson aspires to do both and quibbles with the album tend to be the result of this bifurcated focus.
Given his traditional credentials, he sticks mostly to that style sonically. Mostly. The production value is subtly more nuanced and advanced from his Texas material. However, that's not where the real changes are. Those are just tweaks.
The big difference is in the lyrics. Cody‘s ear has advanced. He has a well developed taste for what he’s looking for and now with access to Nashville songwriters, some of his music is better than ever. See The Painter. As a song concept, not terribly different from the love songs he’s made his bread and butter on, however it is more advanced in a nuanced and subtle way. The Nashville touch to the writing is more delicate and evocative then Cody's solo stuff tended to be. And as a veteran artist he is eminently capable of knocking the execution out of the park. He takes some swings on the record, not a lot of them, but a few, and most of them are successful.
I think managing this balance is not going to be easy going forward. Given his age, I don’t think his shelf life in mainstream country has that many more albums in front of him. If you say he’ll be relevant until he’s forty five, that gives him six more years. Perhaps he has enough in the tank to allow him to keep up the balancing act for the next half decade or so. It'll be very interesting to watch, especially when compared to his peers in the Texas scene. What differences with the Nashville commercial expectations make on his music compared to Wade Bowen or Aaron Watson?
As for the one sentence review of the album. It was more solid than his prior album, but perhaps lacking some of the highlights that Human had. For a guy at the stage of his career, pretty much all you can ask for.
4. The Wilder Blue
My expectations coming into the album were sky high. After all, The Wilder Blue put out my favorite album last year, and also one of my favorite albums back in 2020. That's from when they were still called Hill Country. Good thing they changed the name. This is much more distinctive and suits them properly.
The album probably never had a chance to live up to expectations, but it comes awfully close. It is shorter than their prior records. As such, it doesn’t have the diversity those did, but that could be a strength or weakness, depending on if you enjoyed the experimental songs on those projects. This album feels more of a distillation of the Wilder Blue without as much stretching around the edges. The highlights are still there. Fantastic guitar picking meets gorgeous harmonies, warm inviting vocals, evocative storytelling, and heart in the sleeve emotion. All delivered with their trademark wit, vim, and vigor.
I personally consider The Wilder Blue to be the best country band of the 2020s so far, and this album is a worthy notch in their belt. As a successful step forward, perhaps the album lacks some of the highlights of the prior records, but it has a remarkable consistency all throughout with the cohesion that comes when a band has grown more comfortable with themselves. It seems they’ve solidified a bit. No real soft spots on the record. I wish it would’ve come out earlier in the year, so I could listen to it more and have more to say. Obviously, one of my favorites.
Honestly, I might consider a more full throated solo review piece next year once it's properly sunk in.
5. Vincent Neil Emerson
Emerson has all of the components that should make an album of the year contender. Heavily poetic- drawing in the Texas songwriter traditions of Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt? Check. Traditional yet imaginative production? Check. Distinctive vocals? Check. Unique stories to tell? Check. Strong sense of perspective? Absolutely.
And yet, when I listen to the record, in spite of the existence of all of these components, it doesn’t resonate with me. I think that by breaking that down we can maybe come to an understanding of what works and what doesn't.
Before I break down the weaknesses, I think it is important for me to clarify. The album is at the level of craft to be considered nearly a masterpiece in so many ways, and it is precisely because I can see just how well it was put together that I’m struggling to see why I’m not connected to it. The following vary between issues of minor import and quibbles, but I think that is what made the difference from me and it most likely will not for you.
The weaknesses here tend towards the more subjective. First, the vocals. Although they are distinct, they are missing something gripping. Not that a powerful voice or an outstanding vocal range is needed, but when you don’t have those gifts, you need to excel somewhere else. Think Willie Nelson. Grainy vocals without much power or range. Very limited, but it's precisely because of those limitations that Willie shines. He knows exactly how to play his voice, when to emphasize a word in delivery, and how to adjust to the tone of a song. Emerson strives for that but doesn’t always accomplish that lofty goal.
Secondly, the tone of the album tends to be self- serious and I don’t think that works best for Emerson. I think back to his song Road Runner, which on one hand was a serious analysis of the troubadour's wandering personality, but also very clearly a joke based on the title. A little wit and an occasional wink at the audience would probably make it more relatable.
The third aspect is simply the arrangements. Although very sound, Shooter Jennings will occasionally just throw in bizarre guitar parts that distract. Also, the arrangements at times don't feel totally aligned. The solos are nice, but don't feel distinct to the songs. This is not true of the album as a whole, merely on a few songs. These issues being raised are not massive problems, and only occur in parts.
The last issue, and most likely the biggest one, is that the poetic and specific perspective that act as positives in its artistic expression, take away from some of the universal experience that the audience is trying to relate to. The further Emerson digs into the specifics of his personal story, the Texan/Native ancestry, the wandering musician etc, the more difficult to relate it can be for audience members who don't fit into that box.
Tldr: technically excellent, weirdly it didn't work for me. Definitely try it out to see if it works for you. Oddly, I think of it similar to how I approached John Anderson's record a couple years back. I saw the intense artistry clearly, but I was just not connecting to it. Sometimes that just happens.
6. Flatland Calvary
This album took a couple spins for it to finally click. Flatland Cavalry has always felt like an aspiring Turnpike Troubadours, but that’s not really fair to them. In fact, it may be that occupying a similar space has been a detriment. What do I mean?
My opinion is that Flatland Cavalry is best when it is either nostalgic or reflective, often in a wistful manner with more subdued instrumentals then the typical red dirt style. This means that when they try to fill that Turnpike void with more beefed up production is precisely when they fall flat and the emotion doesn’t come through. This album oscillates between the two versions of Flatland and therefore makes for a janky listen.
However, there are spots on the record where in spite of the split focus, it absolutely does work. Specifically the six songs long stretch roughly halfway through the album. Starting with Last American Summer and ending with New American Dream.
It isn't that this stretch is the laid-back, subdued style of songs that they usually knockout of the park. Some of these songs do have more energy, but importantly they are not solely focused on producing big energy at the expense of everything else. Everything is given enough space and time to convey the amount of emotion necessary. The vocals don't get washed out by the guitar and there is enough space to let the syllables tumble out of Cordero's mouth and ricochet around the mix for a bit.
Spinning is a great example of this in action. There's a real bite to the guitars and they share the stage front and center with Cordero. They don't compete with each other, instead they take turns. Sounds like a juvenile takeaway, but it makes all the difference.
Unfortunately, that is only a chunk of the album and the rest of the package ends up being somewhat inconsistent with bright spots. Not that dissimilar to their 2021 record. They've been in a bit of a weak spot the last couple records, but the path forward is clear. Focus on their strengths and look to the middle chunk of the album as inspiration.
Thanks for reading,
Joe