If you’re looking for a genuinely spooky song for the Halloween season, look no further than Alan Jackson’s chilling “Midnight in Montgomery.”
From the very first strains of the downbeat acoustic guitar followed by the eerie steel intro, it’s evident that this is no typical country love song or drinking ditty. Instead, it’s set at Hank Williams’ grave at midnight whereupon the narrator, presumably Alan Jackson, sees Hank’s ghost.
The song’s story is fascinating in and of itself, but equally impressive is the recording as a whole package. Along with the ominous production and chilling story, Jackson’s performance strays from its usual smooth reliability and picks up its own haunting quality, which perfectly adds to the overall darkness of the song.
What’s more, much like a Hitchcock thriller, the parts of the song that capture this compositional masterpiece is not violence and blood, but rather, masterful storytelling that is thanks to the lyrics, production and performance that forms a psychologically thrilling listening experience rarely captured in country music.
In sharp contrast with the sensitive balladry of “Like My Mother Does,” American Idol graduate Lauren Alaina does a total 180 with her follow-up release “Georgia Peaches” – a spunky, loud, in-your-face uptempo that’s all about the southern beauties who hail from the state of Georgia.
Perhaps the song’s most notable positive characteristic is the wild, unrestrained energy with which Alaina attacks the song. It’s a wonder that that energy shines through, as producer Byron Gallimore sounds like he’s doing his best to drown her out. It comes as a pleasant surprise that fiddles are audibly included in the mix, but layers of rock guitars force Alaina to compete against a nearly impenetrable wall of noise. Though the song namedrops both Alan Jackson and Jason Aldean, the musical styling definitely owes more to the latter, with audacious guitar licks that sound unpleasantly reminiscient of some of Aldean’s less tolerable efforts.
Neither the vocal nor the production is able to push the song past the cliché fencing. The lyrics read like a familiar checklist of safely familiar country radio themes, with “Mama” and “Sunday church” both getting shout-outs, while the song displays the same rural self-congratulatory attitude that has made country music’s frat boys so insufferable as of late. While the hook - “There’s a reason why the boys pick the Georgia Peaches” – strains to sound clever, it becomes nearly intolerable with repeated listenings.
If Alaina can just take all that infectious energy, and channel it into a better song, then we could be in good shape. But the way it is, Alaina’s “Georgia Peaches” lacks any discernible hint of freshness.
Written by Blair Daly, Mallary Hope, and Rachel Proctor
You can count their country hits on one hand, and still have fingers to spare. But the Eagles did more to shape the sound of country music than any rock band before or since.
It was another country rocker, the legendary Linda Ronstadt, that nudged the band into existence. Looking for musicians to back her on record and on stage, the founding members – Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon, and Randy Meisner – performed on her 1971 eponymous album. With her encouragement, they decided to form a band of their own.
From the time they released their debut album in 1972 until they ended their initial run with 1979′s The Long Run, the Eagles produced rock music that was heavily laced with country instrumentation. The sound was most prevalent in their earlier work, and while they’d only score one top ten hit at country radio, “Lyin’ Eyes”, they still managed to score a Vocal Group nomination at the CMA Awards.
The country connection to their work was forgotten until the nineties, when a tribute album called Common Thread brought together the nineties country superstars who were most influenced by the band’s work. Anyone who wondered why so many middle-aged rock fans suddenly embraced country music in the early nineties can have their questions answered by that tribute album. Alan Jackson, Clint Black, Trisha Yearwood, Travis Tritt, and Vince Gill covered Eagles classics faithfully, and the end result was a collection of performances that reflected just how similar their own work was to that of the Eagles.
The tribute album won the CMA for Album of the Year, and its commercial success inspired the Eagles to reunite for their Hell Freezes Over tour and subsequent album. When they decided to make their first studio album in almost three decades, they targeted the country market directly. Long Road Out of Eden topped the country albums chart and produced a Grammy-winning country hit with “How Long.” When they hit the road to support the album, they did so with the Dixie Chicks and Keith Urban.
No, this isn’t Alan Jackson covering The Flatlanders, although that would have been phenomenal. Rather, this is Jackson performing right in his sweet spot: a simple enough song, yet with some clever lyrics, a generous dose of pedal steel and Jackson’s typical smooth, agreeable vocals. “Dallas” may not be Jackson at his most experimental (see “I’ll Go On Loving You”) or mainstream (“Chattahoochee”), but it’s a pleasant little gem in a very rich catalog of music.
Seriously though, what was the narrator thinking in trying to get a girl named “Dallas” to be happy outside of Texas? And in Nashville of all places, where country music is all fake and the radio stations don’t play at least one Willie Nelson song every hour. That’s just asking for heartbreak – though it does make for a good song.
Got a little boom in my big truck/Gonna open up the doors and turn it up. – “Country Girl (Shake It for Me)”
Girl you make my speakers go boom boom/Dancin’ on the tailgate in the full moon. – “Drunk on You”
Looking at those two lyrics from Luke Bryan’s new album, you can assume one of two things: Either Bryan was heavily influenced by hip-hop pioneers L’Trimm and their hit “Cars With the Boom,” or Tailgates & Tanlines falls victim to lazy songwriting. With all due respect to Tigra and Bunny, it looks like it’s the latter.
The country references are thrown about so fast and furiously here that duplicates inevitably pop up. There are multiple references to girls dancing on tailgates, squirrels and other assorted critters, moonshine, Dixie cups, dusty boots, old trucks, catfish and tractors. Sometimes the songs are about certain people or places, and sometimes they’re just about setting the RRPM (rural references per minute) record.
Occasionally, the country setting is put to good use. “Harvest Time,” for example, paints a vivid picture of a small town in the middle of its busiest season. “Tailgate Blues” takes many of the familiar references and turns them upside down, as even the usual comforts of quiet country hideaways can’t heal a broken heart.
All too often, though, the songs have no real meat underneath the catchphrases and references. They’re the same tired look at a vast hillbilly paradise – Val-holler, if you will – where the homemade wine is always flowing into Dixie cups, good ol’ boys are always ready to drive around in their trucks to find a good time after a hard day’s work on the farm, and the women are sexual props whose only purpose in life is to dance on tailgates on command.
When Alan Jackson sang “Chattahoochee,” there was so much detail that the listener felt certain that Jackson lived through all those experiences. Bryan’s “Muckalee Creek Water,” by comparison, has no such connection or personal attachment, even though there is a Muckalee Creek near Bryan’s hometown in south Georgia. That song, incidentally, references “a catfish line going bump bump bump,” so if you’re really into onomatopoeia, this is your album of the year.
The real shame is that those throw-away songs are a waste of some tremendous talent. Bryan has a strong voice that can make a good song sound even better. “You Don’t Know Jack,” written by Erin Enderlin and Shane McAnally, gives a sympathetic portrayal to someone trapped by addiction. Sure, it won’t get a concert audience cheering and shouting, but it’s a standout track and one of the better songs of the year. While he is partly responsible for some of the album’s weakest tracks, Bryan also co-wrote some of its best, including “Harvest Time” and “Faded Away” (with Rodney Clawson and Michael Carter, respectively).
“Country Girl (Shake It for Me)” is turning into one of the biggest hits of Bryan’s career, which is bound to influence his future song choices. Good-time party anthems aren’t necessarily bad things, but too many of them on one album overwhelms the rest of the songs. Still, Kenny Chesney had to go through the “She Think My Tractor’s Sexy” phase before he got to covering Guy Clark, so there’s hope for Bryan.
Just leave the “booms” and “bumps” to fight sequences in the old Batman TV show, where they belong.
That’s “don’t rock the jukebox” as in “I’m brokenhearted and that darn rock music won’t help. Play George Jones.” And the pun is that it sounds like he’s asking you not to jostle the machine. Which…people don’t commonly do, really. Kind of a stretch, right?
But it’s a record that defies explanation. Because Jackson perfectly inhabits the song’s affable weariness, and because Scott Hendricks and Keith Stegall arrange it to honky-tonk heaven. You end up believing that some boozed-up guy actually could be making this request – if, perhaps, mentally – and couching his hurt in a quirky half-joke, the way people often do when they’re first emerging from a lonely spell.
In sum, it’s like hearing a sunnier, contemporary Johnny Paycheck. Little surprise, then, that this odd duck took Jackson’s career to its rightful next level.
Written by Alan Jackson, Roger Murrah and Keith Stegall
As most of my favorite artists tend to be, Rodney is talented in multiple ways. Not only does he have a charismatic voice, he’s an accomplished musician, songwriter and producer. He has used these talents for himself, but has also shared them with many other artists. In fact, high-profile artists like Rosanne Cash, Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill, Johnny Cash, Chely Wright, among many others, have benefited from his musicianship, compositions and producing abilities.
In this feature, we will focus on some of the best Rodney Crowell songs–whether they were big hits, minor hits or unreleased album tracks—but these twenty-five songs certainly do not do enough justice to this man’s contribution to country music. As a result, look for an accompanying Favorite Songs by Favorite Songwriters feature on Rodney Crowell to come soon.
#25 “You’ve Been on My Mind”
from the 1989 album Keys to the Highway
The lyrics are a little ambiguous, but it’s clear that this is a lonesome song about love lost. Crowell can do a lonesome song with the best of them and he does just that here.
#24 “Telephone Road”
from the 2001 album The Houston Kid
With an infectious, driving production, “Telephone Road” depicts Crowell’s childhood with fondness (an ice cream from the ice cream truck was only 5 cents), but without the irresponsible nostalgia that seems to afflict many such songs of today (I’m looking at you Bucky Covington). To be totally shallow, this is one to blast on some good speakers.
#23 “Adam’s Song”
from the 2003 album Fate’s Right Hand
Anyone who has experienced the passing of a loved one knows the reality that Crowell sings about. As he knowingly observes, “We’ll keep learning how to live with a lifelong broken heart.”
#22 “Many A Long and Lonesome Highway”
from the 1989 album Keys to the Highway
This is the first song I’d ever heard by Rodney Crowell. At the time, I had just gotten into country music and the song was already four or five years old, but I had no idea of his history. I simply thought it was a great, melodic song. I still do.
#21 “Song for the Life”
from the 1978 album Ain’t Living Long Like This
To me, this song sounds mature and reflective, from a man who has lived and learned. However, in a 2005 20 Questions interview with CMT, Rodney reveals that he wrote this song when he was a mere twenty-one years old. And, is that Willie Nelson I hear singing background vocals? Yes, it is.
#20 “Fate’s Right Hand”
from the 2003 album Fate’s Right Hand
The title track of the critically acclaimed Fate’s Right Hand explores changing times and injustices much better than Toby Keith’s “American Ride” does.
#19 “Topsy Turvy”
from the 2001 album The Houston Kid
This song vividly paints the picture of Crowell’s parents’ abusive relationship. It’s from his perspective as the fully aware child who witnesses the turbulence. He doesn’t mince words throughout the song, but especially when he admits, “I cross my heart and tell myself ‘I hope they die’”. He also details the lack of meaningful response from neighbors and police officers.
#18 “Beautiful Despair”
from the 2005 album The Outsider
It’s not a feeling that one wants to embrace often, but there are times when leaning into that feeling of despair propels one to action or at least some needed introspection. From this song, it’s likely that despair has played a beautiful function in his life.
#17 “Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight”
from the 1978 album Ain’t Living Long Like This
Emmylou Harris was one of the first people to record a Rodney Crowell song and what a gem it is. While Harris’ recording of it is the strongest and most exuberant version, Crowell’s version is great too.
#16 “This Too Will Pass”
from the 2003 album Fate’s Right Hand
What I like about a Rodney Crowell penned inspirational song is that it’s not embarrassing to listen to. It’s inspiring without sounding like a page from Chicken Soup for the Soul.
#15 “My Baby’s Gone” (with Emmylou Harris)
from the 2003 album Livin’ Lovin’ Losin’: Songs of the Louvin Brothers
From the excellent Louvin Brothers tribute album, one of the many shining moments is this duet from Rodney and Emmylou Harris. It just cements the fact that they need to do a duets album. Stat!
#14 “The Rock of My Soul”
from the 2001 album The Houston Kid
While this song is not strictly autobiographical, it is a chilling representation of Crowell’s tumultuous experiences with his father.
#13 “Dancin’ Circles Round the Sun (Epictetus Speaks)”
from the 2005 album The Outsider
Here’s another example of Rodney Crowell inspiring without sickening.
#12 “After All This Time”
from the 1988 album Diamonds & Dirt
If you’re not listening carefully, you might think this is a pretty love song. It, however, is a wistful love song to a relationship that no longer exists.
#11 “I Walk the Line Revisited” (With Johnny Cash)
from the 2001 album The Houston Kid
This is a joyful account of the first time Crowell heard Johnny Cash’s “I Walk the Line” on the radio as a kid. It’s an obvious full circle moment when Cash sings an altered melody of the classic on Crowell’s song about it.
#10 “We Can’t Turn Back”
from the 2005 album The Outsider
In his gentle but no nonsense way, Crowell explores the notion that we can’t change the past, which means that we can only focus on the present and what we can do to make it better.
#9 “Artemis and Orion”
from the 2003 digital release Lost Tracks
Supported by a delightfully simple production and memorable tune, Rodney sings a version of the story of Artemis and Orion from Greek Mythology. I’m not sure of the origins of the song, since it seems to have been randomly recorded by Crowell, but it is fun to listen to.
#8 “’Til I Gain Control Again”
from the 1981 album Rodney Crowell
Crowell has written several songs that have become classics for him and for others. “’Til I Gain Control Again” was first recorded by Emmylou Harris in the mid-seventies, then made famous by Crystal Gayle in the early eighties and subsequently recorded by many artists over the years. Crowell’s own version is beautifully sung with just the right air of forlornness.
#7 “Things that Go Bump in the Day”
from the 2005 album The Outsider
I hardly even know what this song means, but I still love it for its bouncy production, unshakable melody and Crowell’s energy while singing it. I dare you not to get it stuck in your head.
#6 “The Outsider”
from the 2005 album The Outsider
The effective use of horns in this bluesy soul infused song is enough to hook me, but the theme of being okay with being different is something to embrace too.
#5 “Things I Wish I Said”
from the 1989 album Keys to the Highway
Much has been written and said about Rodney Crowell’s difficult relationship with his violent father, but the end of that story is that they found a way to heal their relationship and turn it into something healthy and tender. This song is personal to Crowell as it describes the relief that he feels that he has no regrets with the passing of his father. Likewise, it is a universal sentiment that most of us can relate to as well.
#4 “She’s Crazy for Leaving”
from the 1988 album Diamonds & Dirt
I love this song because both the melody and the song’s vividly painted story are equally funky. The scene that’s created for the song is fodder for a hilarious and ridiculous comedy sketch.
#3 “Riding Out the Storm”
from the 2003 album Fate’s Right Hand
A not so beautiful picture is underscored by a beautiful melody and poetic lyrics. That’s one of Rodney Crowell’s effortless songwriting talents.
#2 “Making Memories of Us”
from the 2004 album The Notorious Cherry Bombs
Keith Urban is who made this song famous and Crowell a little richer, but Rodney Crowell, backed by Vince Gill, is who makes it a fine treasure. Written for his wife as a last minute Valentine’s Day gift, it’s a tender love song that rivals most modern songs of its ilk. It’s one of those “action” songs that I especially love. He’s not just promising to love her, but also pledging to be an active part of their relationship in order to create meaningful memories.
#1 “Shelter from the Storm” (with Emmylou Harris)
from the 2005 album The Outsider
Again, there’s no reason that Emmylou and Rodney shouldn’t make a duets album together. With sublime vocal chemistry, they turn this Bob Dylan song into something entirely different than what it once was. Instead of having to dig for the gem, they put it out there front and center for us. It’s gorgeous and it’s their interpretation that makes it so.
In “Beautiful Despair”, Crowell acknowledges the depth of Bob Dylan’s songwriting and his feelings of inadequacy when compared to Dylan’s ability. He sings: “Beautiful despair is hearing Dylan/ When you’re drunk at 3 a.m. / Knowing that the chances are/ No matter what you’ll never write like him.”
As a Dylan fan, it may be heresy to think it, but methinks Rodney Crowell is being too hard on himself. It is not a knock on Rodney Crowell’s incredible songwriting that I chose a song that he did not write as my top Crowell song, but rather, a testament to his ability to interpret a legendary song well enough to make it his own.
One of the cool things about country music is that it gives voice to older thoughts, emotions, and milestones.
It’s hard to imagine a pop star celebrating ten years of marriage on their debut album, that’s for sure. Written as a gift to his wife, Jackson honors their matrimony with a simple statement of awe and appreciation.
It also showcases a particular skill that Jackson has as a songwriter. He can include a clever turn of phrase without it sounding forced, or worse, distracting from the overall mood:
“Has it been ten years since we said, “I Do?’ I’ve always heard marriage made one feel like two.”
Much was written back then about how the early nineties crop of hat acts launched to superstardom too quickly, but in retrospect, records like this prove anything less than instant success would have been unjust.
Alan Jackson’s fourth single picks up the tempo in all the best ways. The tune is very memorable, thanks to an exuberant melody and decidedly country production, but the lyrics are anything but lightweight.
The song starts with his father’s lofty dream of hearing his baby boy on the radio someday and progresses to the point when the beginning of the dream is finally realized. The autobiographical single, sung with a humble innocence, exudes boundless gratefulness and optimism for a budding career. At the time of its recording and subsequent release, Jackson could not have known just how successful he would be at chasing the all elusive dream, but he correctly projects that he will.
A really great country singer can take a mediocre song and make it sound great. That’s what Alan Jackson does here.
What makes “Wanted” work is Jackson’s heartfelt vocal and sincere delivery. If a lesser singer was at the mic, the sheer implausibility of the lyric would be nakedly evident, but Jackson will have you looking in the classified section, expecting the chorus to be there.
If you’re looking for a genuinely spooky song for the Halloween season, look no further than Alan Jackson’s chilling “Midnight in Montgomery.”
In sharp contrast with the sensitive balladry of “Like My Mother Does,” American Idol graduate Lauren Alaina does a total 180 with her follow-up release “Georgia Peaches” – a spunky, loud, in-your-face uptempo that’s all about the southern beauties who hail from the state of Georgia.
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