Somewhere underneath “Everywhere I Go” is a great song, but to find it, you have to dig a little too deep. The song’s pleasing melody and bittersweet lyrics –Vassar sings of haunting, lingering memories of a lost love– are coated with layers of dramatic, distracting production. Even the conviction Vassar brings to the song starts to feel slightly artificial when he pushes his vocals over the top in the chorus, the most off-putting aspect of the song.
It’s just one of those songs that begs for a scrub down. I suspect an acoustic version of this song would be infinitely more poignant, interesting and distinct – qualities Vassar has effectively encompassed in numerous songs in his career.
I’ve had to listen to this song several times just to be sure it was real and not just an insane figment of my imagination. But alas, whether I like it or not, it is real and I’m the one who has been charged with the task of attributing words from the English language to this strange composition, which suddenly seems limiting. So, please excuse my casual tone just this once, because I’m going to have to forgo the formal conventions of a review in order to even come close to adequately describing this song.
“Bobby With an I” is about a cross dresser. Bobby is a man’s man during the week, but he turns into Bobbi when the work week is through. He makes such a convincing woman that “you better watch how much you drink/He might look better than you think.” Right.
Despite how others may feel about the somewhat subversive topic, it is actually a redeeming quality of the song. While it’s treated very lightly here, it is still likely to offend the sensibilities of some disapproving country music listeners. However, what offends my sensibilities is the execution of the song in general.
When the song begins, it almost sounds as though Vassar is getting ready to launch into Offspring’s “Pretty Fly for A White Guy” (Remember that song?). But then we suddenly switch to a bunch of consecutive “ha ha, ah ah’s” before finally getting to the meat of the song, which is all accompanied by a catchy, but soon to become annoying, melody and production. As if the funky production and kitschy lyrics aren’t bewildering enough, Vassar’s voice just can’t seem to rise to the occasion of hitting certain notes without obviously straining beyond his capabilities as a vocalist.
With all of that said, there’s an unexplainable addictive quality to this song that has forced me to hit repeat over and over again. I’m confident, however, that it’s not a guilty pleasure, but rather, disbelief that such a wacky song not only exists, but has been released to radio and didn’t stay hidden as an eccentric album track. In fact, while “You could have heard a chin drop/the minute he (Bobby…err…Bobbi) walked in”, you could have seen a chin drop the minute I heard this song.
For a look back at the other major categories, visit our CMA Awards page.
2010
Luke Bryan
Easton Corbin
Jerrod Neimann
Chris Young
Zac Brown Band
Usually there isn’t this much turnover in this race unless most of last year’s nominees are ineligible. This year, only one of the four eligible nominees from last year – Zac Brown Band – earns a nomination. With their massive success and their multiple nominations, they’ve got an excellent shot at winning. Then again, Easton Corbin is elsewhere on the ballot, too. It could be a horse race. 2009
Randy Houser
Jamey Johnson
Jake Owen
Darius Rucker
Zac Brown Band
Thirteen years after winning the Best New Artist Grammy as part of Hootie & The Blowfish, Darius Rucker won the country music equivalent, adding an exclamation point to the most successful pop-to-country crossover in a generation.
2008
Jason Aldean
Rodney Atkins
Lady Antebellum
James Otto
Kellie Pickler
The industry favorites Lady Antebellum became the fourth band in history to win this award, following Rascal Flatts, Dixie Chicks and Sawyer Brown.
2007
Jason Aldean
Rodney Atkins
Little Big Town
Kellie Pickler
Taylor Swift
In the year since winning the Horizon Award, Swift has solidified her position as the genre’s most successful rising star. While her debut album hasn’t reached the sales heights of the first discs by previous winners Carire Underwood and Gretchen Wilson, Swift is still one of the genre’s only significant sellers.
2006
Miranda Lambert
Little Big Town
Sugarland
Josh Turner
Carrie Underwood
I had a sneaking suspicion that Josh Turner was going to take this home, but as I’ve said before, Carrie’s got the best pipes since Trisha Yearwood. That she’ was acknowledged for that at such an early stage of her career is pretty amazing. Somehow I think the thrill of winning Horizon was short-lived, as winning Female Vocalist the same night left that memory in the dust.
2005
Dierks Bentley
Big & Rich
Miranda Lambert
Julie Roberts
Sugarland
Four of these five were nominees again the following year, and all in categories besides just Horizon, though Lambert got another shot at that as well.I think Big & Rich and Sugarland are making the most interesting music, and they’re moving more units than Bentley, though he’s no slouch himself.The CMA showed good judgment this year.
Phil Vassar’s, “I Would” kicks off with up-tempo piano and fiddles. In fact, the whole song moves at a pretty fast clip.
The problem with this is that the supposed regret of the lyrics isn’t supported by the pace of the song, which makes the lyrics rather pointless. To make matters even worse, despite the arrangement that is obviously meant to exude energy, the song still manages to be bland and forgettable.
Somewhere underneath “Everywhere I Go” is a great song, but to find it, you have to dig a little too deep. The song’s pleasing melody and bittersweet lyrics –Vassar sings of haunting, lingering memories of a lost love– are coated with layers of dramatic, distracting production. Even the conviction Vassar brings to the song starts to feel slightly artificial when he pushes his vocals over the top in the chorus, the most off-putting aspect of the song.
I’ve had to listen to this song several times just to be sure it was real and not just an insane figment of my imagination. But alas, whether I like it or not, it is real and I’m the one who has been charged with the task of attributing words from the English language to this strange composition, which suddenly seems limiting. So, please excuse my casual tone just this once, because I’m going to have to forgo the formal conventions of a review in order to even come close to adequately describing this song.
2005
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