I have to completely disagree with you here! It’s absolutely refreshing to here a country singer nowadays go back to his base and not try to cater to the suburbia crowd that most of country music attracts. The vast majority of “original country fans”( the ones who liked country before it was cool) I know, cannot stand the majority of todays country singers because they don’t sing country anymore. When Aldean performed with Ludacis it was a real big low point for folks like me. If we wanted rap music we would listen to rap music!

First off, I think “irresponsible” is over-dramatizing my role a bit. Irresponsible to whom? Anyone who reads this review is free to agree or to think I’m full of it. My opinion may be a little more public than someone else’s because it’s on a blog, but it’s still just an opinion.

Anyway, I actually like the point you’re making about the nature of the song reflecting its intent – it’s an interesting idea. I just don’t feel it quite applies here. When I talk about this song being underdeveloped, I don’t mean that it’s not elaborate or complex enough. I just mean that, given what the song presents, it’s impossible for me to experience as a listener – I can’t see the hallowed old dirt road, the Sunday morning full of grace, all that, so I can’t feel the singer/writer’s pride in them.

And that’s not because I’ve never seen those things in real life (I have); it’s because the song itself doesn’t do anything to show us them. It spends all its time on spoon-feeding us a message – “I like small-town living, I find it superior” – when it ought to be cultivating an idea of that small town in our minds, showing us what makes it idyllic. This doesn’t have to be elaborate; it just has to be more exact. Look at a song like Brooks & Dunn’s “Red Dirt Road,” which has passing references to kids racing barefoot to a fence and picking blackberries. Not complex ideas – just specific enough ones to help get a listener engaged.

Or, if my living environment is really the problem, imagine if the song was about my scenario. Let’s say someone puts out a song about living near downtown Nashville and basically spends the entire time just saying, “I love it here. Some people don’t, but I do. I like to drink beer here and sit with my baby and go to church and to downtown. And people are nice. Here in Nashville, Tennessee.” It may have some nice ideas, but it doesn’t give you much of a distinct picture of what makes Nashville great, does it? I wouldn’t want to listen to that song, and I live here. That’s my issue with this song; I love small towns, and I don’t think this one does them justice.

Sheesh, sorry that turned so long!

Frankly, it’s irresponsible to put an artist on blast for connecting with a primary demographic of the country music simply because a segment of the general population cannot relate.