Single Review: Jimmy Wayne, “I Will”

jimmywayne2Miley Cyrus’ boyfriend, Justin Gaston, survived two rounds of NBC’s Nashville Star this past summer; the L.A. underwear model failed to turn his golden-boy good looks into a John Rich recording session.

If Gaston’s sniffing around Nashville for a musical muse, he shall look no further. He bears a striking resemblance to Jimmy Wayne, that emotive purveyor of power-pop country. The pair share an ability to trade in their pretty-boy carriages and a connection with Taylor Swift (Gaston’s the Romeo in “Love Story”; Wayne records for Valory, an imprint of Big Machine).

Wayne’s glorious fist pumps and gaudy wailing made the video for “I Will” such a mess. The audio portion of the package fares no better.  “I Will” is in an overanxious rush to go nowhere, with crashing guitars and admissions of codependency.  Wayne is a capable vocalist; proof positive was his debut single, “Stay Gone.” But he’s straining like an early ’90s Michael Bolton here. With the song climbing through the 30s of the airplay chart, one imagines that country music is making some room for paperback-romance poetry (“I will give up my life for you if you want it/Give you my heart, you already own it”). Radio will spin the record in between Geico commercials, but will I remember “I Will” six months from now?  I won’t.

Grade: C-

Written by Dave Pahanish and Rory Lee Feek

Listen: I Will

Buy: I Will

16 Comments

  1. You definitely don’t know music. Jimmy has a soulful voice and is an up and coming artist. But what you think doesn’t make any difference anyway so we don’t worry about that. Remember Toby Keith’s song THE CRITIC, written for people like you. Thankfully a lot of people don’t agree with you. Jimmy is very well known and well liked.

  2. Blake, I agree with you! Like I said over at The9513 awhile ago, my country music tent just isn’t big enough for this song.

  3. This isn’t country, it’s adult contemporary. Poor adult contemporary at that. The review is spot-on and the pun at the end gave me a good laugh.

  4. @Rainbow: I thought about you the entire time I wrote the interview. You’re possibly sick, but that’s O.K.

    Jokes aside, Jimmy Wayne can sing. I’ve seen him live, and he’s a more-than-capable singer. He’s also a genuinely nice fellow who I was able to share a few words with a couple years ago. But this is taking the Rascal Flatts playbook and turning the melodrama up ten notches.

  5. My fondness for the song’s writers and Jimmy Wayne’s music in general makes my judgement cloudy at best but I can see your points, Blake, even if I lean more on the side of Rainbow with this one (I don’t particularly listen to it a lot though). I will, I will remember it, if only due to who wrote it and the fact that It’s my job to remember, remember things.

  6. I love this song!!! I love his voice. I do agree it’s not really country but, much of what’s on country radio these days isn’t either. So, I will just have to sit back and enjoy the few new songs I can actually enjoy.

  7. I should add that the fact that this song isn’t country isn’t my only problem with this. I also don’t like pop power balads. I like Rory Feek though. It’s telling that he didn’t put this on his album with Joey.

  8. When I first heard this song, I thought a man was covering an Avril Lavenge song. Apparantly not. While the song is catchy, it sure ain’t country and I question its placement on country airwaves

  9. I love Jimmy Wayne! I have seen him perform live 6 times and each show was incredible. He can really sing and he is also a great guitar player. He is also a genuinely nice guy and a great humanitarian – always performing for free to help local charities wherever he goes (usually to no acclaim). Something else about him that a lot of people don’t know is that he is hilarious and witty. At one acoustic concert I saw him in, he had the audience rolling on the floor laughing with his remarks. I love the song “I Will” because it is a beautiful and passionate love song about how many people feel when they love someone more than themselves. The fact that he can act is a bonus!

  10. I heard it in my car which is the only place I listen to country (not by my choice),but I thought it was great. In fact I looked for it on the web and thats what led me to post here. It is a little hysterical in the lyrics but beautiful at the same time.I think that music video is ridiculous though. It’s like ‘dudes so passionate about her he tells her go ahead and be a money-ho and he’ll take her back anyway,he’ll even move there…shake that money-maker baby! LOL
    Songs great though!

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