Album and Song Reviews

The King of Country Returns: A Review of George Strait’s “Honky Tonk Time Machine”

Country’s greatest living legend, George Strait, dropped a new album on March 29, “Honky Tonk Time Machine.” (Strait has retired from regular touring, but not from recording.)

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George Strait at Greune Hall, 2016

I make no bones about it: I’m biased and I’m okay with it. George Strait is my favorite artist of any genre, he was my first real concert, and he defines what country music should sound like. No one is perfect, but my fellow Texan can do little wrong. The man may not know songwriting, but he knows music, and perhaps that’s even better. George Strait can listen to a rusty demo, find a gem, and turn it into something we can all connect with, and isn’t that what music’s all about? When you hear the first two notes of The Chair, Amarillo By Morning, Wrapped, Check Yes or No, Fool Hearted Memory, or any one of 100 others – you’re home. And with 60 #1 hits and dozens more in the top 10, it really is 100 others.

“Honky Tonk Time Machine” is a little uneven, but still good. It’s not up there with anything from Strait’s spectacular runs in the ‘80s, 90’s, or ‘00s, but it holds its own with his last few outings, and gives us more of that classic sound we’ve been yearning for.

The album is way better than 2015’s lackluster “Cold Beer Conversation,” and I bet that on repeat listening, it will be of a piece with the previous four albums going back to 2008. (Go back further and you’re into the good stuff.)

HTTMNo songs clearly deserve to be on a future Essentials collection, but with an overall cohesive Texas sound, the record holds its own. Strait co-wrote eight songs, continuing this new phase of his career. After writing a few flops at the very start in the early ‘80s, he turned to singing others’ songs, until picking up the pen again in 2009. Eight is a new high, one more than 2011’s “Here for A Good Time.” Co-writing with his son seems to fire the man up, and who can blame him for that? The result is songwriting that’s not quite as good as we used to get, but a happy artist and another decent album.

“Some Nights” is a slow, classic country song about love and loss. This might be the best song on the album, and I hope it’s the next single. You can say similar things about the wistful ballad “Sometimes Love” or the cover of Johnny Paycheck’s “Old Violin,” both of which I like, but nothing touches “Some Nights.” These three have been the highlights, at least during my first listens.

The second single “God and Country Music” sounds good, but don’t pay close attention. It has the feel of a vintage George Strait song, but as an ordained minister, I honestly don’t like the lyrics. “There’s two things still worth saving // God and country music.” Nope. We don’t save God. God saves us. It’s great music but try as I might, I can’t get behind the well-intentioned but accidentally arrogant words. For religion, I prefer “What Goes Up,” a slow song about Christ’s presence during our darkest days.

“Every Little Honky Tonk Bar” (the first single), “Two More Wishes” and “Blue Water” are nothing special, but they’ll all be good background music when you’re hanging out at the lake. They round out the sound and that’s okay.

If you’re looking for fun on the dance floor, for which Strait has given us many fine examples over the years, you’ll be happy with “Take Me Away” and the title track. Same as the previous three I mentioned, they’re nothing special in and of themselves, but they help contribute to the album’s overall feel, that classic George Strait sound that never goes wrong.

I wish I could say the same about “Codigo,” but it feels like a drunk Strait checked out and joined Kenny Chesney and Jimmy Buffett at the shore, and that makes sense, because he’s just trying to hock his own vanity line of tequila, Codigo. That’s fine, whatever, moving on.

“The Weight of The Badge” is the third single, about the sacrifices and honor of a police officer. In my day job, I’ve worked on a lot of campaigns against police violence. Anyone who has the legal authority to deny life and liberty must be held to a higher standard. So let me be clear: I like this song’s message! Yes, sometimes bad people become cops and abuse their authority, but good people also become cops to protect us. This song doesn’t wade into the politics, and if it feels like it does, that’s only because the topic has become politicized. No, this just salutes officers who make sacrifices for their communities, and I like that. Alas, the lyrics themselves are forced and syrupy, but hey, that’s what country did in the 2000s, and aren’t we stepping into a time machine?

Finally, there’s “Sing One With Willie.” You want more from the song that finally gives us this much-yearned for duet; it has no purpose other than to exist and talk about itself. But that’s okay, I’m not going to complain too much, because my heavens, we’ve finally got a Willie Nelson and George Strait duet!!!

Like I say, “Honky Tonk Time Machine” isn’t great, but it is good, and it’s refreshing to have new music from the king. What’s especially encouraging is that the lead single, “Every Little Honky Tonk Bar,” is currently at #19 on the country airplay chart, and Spotify is featuring the album and a short film about Strait’s career on their Hot Country playlist. Along with Chris Stapleton, Luke Combs, and Kasey Musgraves holding spots on the chart, there seems to be at least a tiny resurgence of hope on the airwaves.

3.5 whiskey bottles out of 5 and a very hearty Texas thank you to his royal highness.

The blues album Travis Tritt wishes he made: A review of Chris Stapleton’s “Traveller”

Wednesday night, country rocker Chris Stapleton took the Country Music Association Awards by storm with a clean sweep for the independent and underground country movement with his album “Traveller.”

I’ve been meaning to review Traveller for months. I’ve never blogged as much as I’d like to and grad school makes it even tougher, but here it is, the long-overdue Hard Times No More review of Traveller:

3.75 whiskey bottles out of 5.

You’re asking, WTF? Empsall, did you drink the other 1.25 bottles?

Well, it is the best album I will ever give less than a 4. I give it 3.75 only because of this blog’s lens. If current country radio is the standard, then Traveller definitely gets a 6 out of 5 – let the whiskey overflow across the floor. If good music in general is the standard, 4.5 out of 5. It’s great stuff, but I’m looking for solid country and Americana music that stands up within the genre. On that particular front, this album is track by track. There’s nothing bad, but not really anything that really knocks me out, either. This is a good album, I like Chris Stapleton as a musician, but for this genre, while it’s really good, it’s also overhyped. I also think there’s a certain storytelling element lacking here that’s usually found on the best country albums. There’s a musical theme, but not quite the lyrical one I want.

Don’t get me wrong. I am thrilled Stapleton swept the CMAs. A talented songwriter for pop-country artists who’s also immersed in the bluegrass and traditional country worlds yet is not a pure traditionalist is probably the only workable bridge between the underground and the mainstream, and as I wrote yesterday, Stapleton’s wins give country fans more hope than we’ve had in a decade.

TravellerBut as for the album itself – for me, it’s a mix. Stapleton’s voice is a bit like Travis Tritt with a twist of Sam Cooke or maybe even Leon Bridges. But while those folks are great and I wish I could stretch a high note like that, it’s not what you expect. If you don’t mind that, if all you want is great music regardless of type, very cool, definitely put the album in your heavy rotation. I certainly enjoy it. I like this album – I’m just reviewing it as a country album. And Stapleton himself, who’s been in Southern rock and bluegrass bands, both genres that I love, has said he doesn’t want to stay in one box.

Producer Dave Cobb can do no wrong, and the album is well produced with a good vision. It’s a little slicker than Cobb’s work with Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, Nikki Lane, Shooter Jennings, etc., but a good vision nonetheless.

My two favorite songs are “Fire Away”, co-written with Danny Green which shows off Stapleton’s wide range and solid tenor voice while staying in a country style, and “Whiskey and You,” co-written with Lee Thomas Miller, and recorded previously by Tim McGraw and Jason Eady. Eady’s cover is one of my favorite songs. Great guitar on both.

“Parachute,” co-written with Jim Beavers, feels like a Bob Seger tune covered by Chris LeDoux. Southern rock, not country, but I dig it.

I really want to like “More of You.” It’s so close to being my favorite, but ultimately misses the top tier. I love the songwriting, the slow melody, the beautiful vocal duet with his wife Morgane, and the Willie Nelson style harmonica. What I don’t love, oddly enough, is the mandolin. Just lightly strumming away on the same couple chords the whole time, it gives the song a high pitch that makes it feel too light. It also feels bluegrass, and while I love bluegrass, that doesn’t seem what this song wants. It should’ve been an octave lower on an acoustic guitar, I think. But I will say this, it grows on me every time I hear it.

The only song I straight up don’t like is “Tennessee Whiskey,” a cover of the Dean Dillon/Linda Hargrove song. I LOVE the song. I heard Jamey Johnson sing it live last month, and it was amazing. I sing it to my girlfriend. Hat’s off to George Jones. But this is a bizarre bluesy cover. Why cover a country classic like a blues song… on a country album? It’s talented, but it feels very out of place. And Stapleton can certainly sing smoothly enough to nail a “smooth as Tennessee whiskey” version.

“Traveller” is a good album. You should buy it. It’s the CD Travis Tritt wishes he had  released in the 1990s – he could have done that great cover of “Was It 26”. In a broader sense, it’s certainly another Americana triumph for Dave Cobb. I think it’s immensely overhyped, but it is good, I will listen to it again, I would love to see Stapleton live, and I am so grateful for all that it has accomplished for true fans of true country music. Trigger said it best: “It certainly is something to be taken as a very good sign, even if you’re just ho hum on Stapleton.” Yup, that’s me, but I’ll echo this as loudly as I can: “It’s a win for music of more substance, regardless of who made it, and what style it is.”

This Sunday’s Hard Times: Mark O’Connor, James Taylor, Yo-Yo Ma, and Edgar Meyer

This week’s version of Hard Times Come Again No More by Stephen Foster is the first one I heard, the one that turned me on to the song, it’s enduring message, and it’s graceful beauty. Here is James Taylor with Yo Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, and Mark O’Connor.