DISClaimer Single Reviews: Randall King ‘Wails To The Heavens’ On New Single
Randall King. Photo: Yve Assad
Today’s DISClaimer includes entries from the farthest ends of country’s audio spectrum, from bluegrass to pop.
The bluegrass world is bringing us a couple of cover tunes, Rhonda Vincent’s take on “Wagon Wheel” and Bill Taylor’s version of “Roll Me Away.” Of the two, Taylor’s re-imagining of Bob Seger is the cooler track. In fact, it wins him a DISCovery Award. Also: I love the name of his band, The Appalachian Heatherns.
From way over on the pop side, we have Maren Morris and Shelby Lynne. Both have left country music far behind, but are making extraordinary records nonetheless.
From somewhere down the middle of the country music world we have our Disc of the Day award winner. It’s Randall King and his “I Could Be That Rain.”
BILL TAYLOR / “Roll Me Away”
Writer: Bob Seger; Producer: Randall Deaton; Label: Lonesome Day Records
– I have always been a huge Bob Seger fan. So are the folks gathered on the new, multi-artist album Silver Bullet Bluegrass. This hearty, chesty baritone has one of the collection’s standout tracks, an exhilarating ride on wheels of fleet picking and close harmony singing. It feels like a splash of mountain spring water on your face. And it turns out that Seger’s 1983 rock classic sounds simply splendid in a bluegrass setting. Appalachia meets Motor City. Enthusiastically recommended.
MAREN MORRIS / “I Hope I Never Fall In Love”
Writers: Delacey/Evan Blair/Lucy Healey/Maren Morris; Producer: Evan Blair; Label: Columbia Records
– This echoey, throbbing, bittersweet ballad has a lovely ‘60s pop vibe. The luscious melody is bolstered by a thumping backbeat, ringing guitar and ghostly female vocal harmonies. It’s drawn from her upcoming pop EP Intermission, due Aug. 12.
RANDALL KING / “I Could Be That Rain”
Writers: Brian Fuller/Mason Thornley; Producers: Jared Conrad, Randall King; Label: Warner Music Nashville
– It is one of the great mysteries of our time why this superb vocalist is not yet a country superstar. As always, he delivers the goods. This time, he rides atop a cool rhythm pattern and some crashing guitars as he wails to the heavens. So nice I played it twice.
PHIL VASSAR & JEFFREY STEELE / “Like A Man’s Supposed To”
Writers: Jeffrey Steele/Phil Vassar; Producers: Jeffrey Steele, Scott Baggett; Label: 3 Ring Circus Records
– These two dudes are multiple award-winning troubadours. As a team, they sound like real brothers. This mid-tempo track has a retro, blue-eyed-soul flavor, punctuated by organ and sax blasts.
GREYLAN JAMES / “Who Broke Up With You”
Writers: Ashley Gorley/Brad Clawson/Greylan James; Producers: Brock Berryhill, Greylan James, Jason Massey; Label: Nashville Harbor Records & Entertainment
– It starts out kinda dull, but when he kicks into the hooky part, the thing takes off. The gist of it is that the guy who broke up with her must have been out of his mind. The production churns along nicely as he unspools his observations.
MEGAN MORONEY / “Hell Of A Show”
Writer: Megan Moroney; Producer: Kristian Bush; Label: Sony Music Nashville/Columbia Records
– He treats her mean, but she has to hide her heartbreak because the show must go on. Anyone who has had to smile in spite of pain can relate to this tiny gem. It is performed with just a simple acoustic guitar accompaniment to her aching vocal delivery. The brief, tender little heartbreaker is the closing track on her brilliant new sophomore album Am I Okay?
JETT HOLDEN & CASSADEE POPE / “Karma”
Writer: Jett Holden; Producer: Will Hoge; Label: Black Opry Records
– This one is a darkly sinister rocker with a rapid-fire vocal delivery. He sings splendidly, Pope adds a perfect vocal assist, and the production kicks butt. Like many beginning country songwriters, he is overly word-y. But there is real promise here.
SHELBY LYNNE / “Gone To Bed”
Writers: Ashley Monroe/Burt Bacharach/Hal David/Karen Fairchild/Shelby Lynne; Producers: Ashley Monroe, Gena Johnson, Karen Fairchild, Shelby Lynne; Label: Monument Records
– Lynne’s first album in nine years is an audio pop wonderland. Its single starts off with an extended, spoken-word heartbreak meditation, followed by a dreamy, airy tune in an electronic soundscape. Titled Consequences of the Crown, the collection drops on Aug. 16. Throughout the project, she is utterly fascinating.
DILLON JAMES / “River Black”
Writers: Dan Alley/Dillon James/Jason Gantt; Producer: Paul DiGiovanni; Label: Buena Vista Records
– The title tune of this guy’s debut EP is a bluesy country rocker with a stately, stomping pace. Moody and intense.
RHONDA VINCENT / “Wagon Wheel”
Writers: Bob Dylan/Ketch Secor; Producer: Rhonda Vincent; Label: Upper Management Music
– The Queen of Bluegrass drops her new Destinations and Fun Places collection tomorrow (Aug. 9). She has already issued her covers of “Please Mr. Please” and the IBMA award-nominated “City of New Orleans” as teasers for the album. Now the Opry star is taking on the Darius Rucker/Old Crow Medicine Show hit with a soprano vocal harmony by Alison Krauss. Vincent and her band The Rage take an extended instrumental ride toward the song’s finale, extending the single to seven minutes in length. This is the oft-played song’s sweetest version yet.
REDFERRIN / “Just Like Johnny”
Writers: Blake Redferrin/Micah Wilshire; Producers: Jake Saghi, Micah Wilshire, Redferrin; Label: Warner Music Nashville
– The reason he is “just like Johnny” is that he is deeply into substance abuse. He cautions her that he “ain’t nowhere close to walking that line.” He loves her, but thinks he will always hurt her, let her down and put her through misery…. and that he will never change. Depressing yet compelling.
JOE ELY / “Driven To Drive”
Writer: Joe Ely; Producer: Joe Ely; Label: Rack ‘Em Records
– Some 23 albums into his career, this Americana stalwart is issuing a “road” album that celebrates the freedom of the highway. This propulsive country-rocker sets the mood.
