Jake Owen

Off To The Slaughterhouse (Chase Rice, Lambs & Lions review)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

I’ve been humbled once again. I bought a record on a whim, made some initial judgments based on the cover art and what I heard as I listened for the first time to a lean thirty seven minutes of modern country music, except that’s not what this is, at all.

It’s an escape plan marked all over with pencil and featuring focal points that are highlighted atop the map with black felt tip circles.

But is it a success?

 

 

Chase Rice – Lambs & Lions

released November 17, 2017
****** 6/10

Chase Rice is an American singer-songwriter that got his start in country music, and benefited heavily from the party anthems that have permeated this decade. Do you remember Florida Georgia Line’s song Cruise? Rice co-wrote it. Ever listen to the hit album, Ignite The Night? Rice is the artist behind the party anthems about drinking, pickup trucks, and young women. Ever watch Survivor? Rice was the runner-up on the Nicaragua season.

He is something of a relic at this time in music – Ironic, given that we have three more years before the twenties start up. Bro-country is finally on it’s way out, and artists like Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean and Jake Owen have already felt the pressure of a dismissive public.

This is part of the reason why Rice decided to break from Columbia records and sign with Broken Bow Records for his fourth album, Lambs & Lions. The other reason being, that wanted to make a more emotionally honest and truly authentic record, when authenticity in country music should have meant sticking to the well-worn tracks established.

Lions kicks off the album, and Rice establishes early on that this is his break from his past, it has the same energy as his previous albums, but the tone is shifting towards rock, metal, power pop, and even some R&B. It’s especially evident that this album is stripped of a lot of the production that his previous music had when Unforgettable, Eyes On You, and Saved Me show up.

Three Chords & The Truth is the first single on the record, and trending on the music charts right now, but despite this popularity, it really is an interesting song with some subtle nods to the genre of country music, and funnily enough, while on a soul search, he has managed to connected with many other people looking for answers in country music too.

In the end, this is a collection of songs about someone who is letting go of an identity that they wore for a long time, self-imposed or no, and what shows up underneath is pretty interesting. It’s not my favourite record of the year by any means, but the hope it delivers is more important in some ways.

Pros: You can see throughout Lambs & Lions that Rice is putting more of himself into his music, and a personal favourite of mine is Amen, which is an ode to his father, revealing a lot of Rice’s personal code.

Cons: I wish that there was even more exploration on this album. It still feels a little bit safe reliant on what preceded. It might have been difficult for Chase Rice to break completely from his bro-country roots, but including Jack Daniel’s Showed Up is so unnecessary.

Runtime: 37 minutes

Points of Interest: The album debuted at No. 42 on the Billboard 200, and No. 6 on the Top Country Albums. Rice has said that the album is heavily influenced by rock artist Douglas Docker.

Changing your identity is a challenge, even moreso when there is a perception of you attached to it. Chase Rice has made some excellent strides into a new and exciting direction, with music that features more of his own ideas and less concern with sounding a specific way. And I like it.

theories Summarized

I’m not sure that you absolutely have to pick this up. But if you like your country music with a little rock n’ roll, you are sick of bro-country or you simply like to see progression in your artists, give this album a listen, you might just be inspired to show your fleece, while bearing your teeth. That’s my theory anyway.

Tim!

It’s 3 AM, I Must Be Lonely (Jake Owen, American Love review)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

Ever watch How I Met Your Mother, dear readers? In what seems to be a theme of break up related things, I am now writing another post about breaking up. Breaking up is hard to do, after all.

There is this episode of How I Met Your Mother called Nothing Good Happens After 2 AM, that comes to mind for me in this moment. I won’t go into detail on it, but essentially Ted is invited over to visit a drunk and down Robin, but he is conflicted about it because he still is in a relationship with Victoria, his long-distance girlfriend.

The statute of limitations on spoilers is the same as news at this point if you’ve never seen the show, but I’m a gentleman, so you’ve been warned.

Essentially Ted does the bad thing, hooks up with Robin, and it has repercussions for more than just him. And of course, the challenge is whether it really is true that nothing good happens after 2 AM or if it’s mere perception.

Surprise, surprise, this week’s music review features an artist who has a song about this, and more importantly, love.

 

 

 

Jake Owen – American Love
released July 29, 2016
****** 6/10

jake-owen

Joshua Ryan Owen, better known by his stage name, Jake Owen, is an American country musician. He has released 5 studio albums over the course of a eleven year career with RCA Nashville. Apparently the reason he changed his stage name to Jake is to avoid confusion with Josh Turner and Josh Gracin.

How is a guy supposed to stand up for himself if he can’t even keep his first name? Well I guess he just has to make good music and carry a torch for something worth listening to.

American Love is Owen’s response to a year of trauma and difficulty. Seasoned with sweetness and outdoor themes, the lyrics underneath are rather bittersweet as you start to sit with everything for longer than a single listening session.

Yes, it is wholly optimistic, with a feel-good impression, but the dude just went through a pretty intense divorce and had to jump-start this record after a failed launch of original lead single Real Life, which is nowhere to be found on the album.

Instead it is replaced by upbeat tunes like American Love, Everybody Dies Young, VW Van, and Good Company. Then we get into the real meat and potatoes of the album with LAX, If He Ain’t Gonna Love You, and When You Love Someone, which are all emotionally wraught and showcase Owen’s heartbreaking method of the blues. I mean this is a country album after all, it can all be smiles and unicorns.

When we finally get to the bookend with American Country Love Song, which is currently climbing the country music charts, and it fits in nicely with the rest of Owen’s previous work. So maybe an upbeat note isn’t a terrible thing to leave on, but I’m less impressed by this then the rest of the back half of the album.

I think part of the problem comes from the fact that when Owen started this album, he was still married and in a much different place, then all of a sudden he was single again, and had to sort through his shit. So his team and him attempted to salvage what they could, and then he got some support to create something meaningful.

After all, the album is about love, just not the head-over-heels, infatuation version of it.

But it feels odd to have a typically upbeat and summer music artist tackling heavier themes and jumping back and forth between theme. Yes, the love theme is consistent, but I almost would rather he pick one tone and stuck with it OR found a way to transition from each tone to the next in a more organic way.

 

 

 

Jake Owen pokes fun at the notion that nothing good after happens after midnight, on the eponymous track, but deep down he knows that nostalgia is it’s own kind of love drug. Wrapped up in the past is one way to live, pretending your pain isn’t there, but we all need to work through these things, so that we can become the best version of ourselves, whether we pair up or go it alone.

After all, it should be about love. But that’s just a theory.

Tim!