Single Review: Big & Rich feat. Gretchen Wilson, “Fake ID”

For the first thirty-five seconds, this sounds like the raddest thing in the radio pile. Snaky beat, those much-missed harmonies, and a cool ominousness, even though you can guess from the title who the protagonist has been driving around looking for.

Then we barrel into the chorus, where it becomes loudly obvious that there’s not much of an idea to this song – except the fact that fake IDs exist, I guess. Maybe the real idea is something like, “we really need another crowd-pleasing radio hit like ‘Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy.'” But there’s none of that old goofy charm, nothing so distinctive or catchy about the hook, and meanwhile what’s here just kind of yells at you.

They’re back, but they’re not.

Grade: D

Listen: Fake ID

 

8 Comments

  1. You know, I’d really like to like Gretchen Wilson; she has shown some flashes of extreme talent, if not necessarily brilliance. But how is she going to be able to show her full potential if she is still hooked up to Big and Rich’s Muzik Mafia trailer, which ran out of gas two or three years ago?

    If this record isn’t a career killer for her, it’s still too close for comfort (IMHO).

  2. Wow, lol; “Country music” just gets worse everyday, doesn’t it? And I own & love Big&Rich’s “Save a Horse” album.

  3. Big & Rich became everything they were challenging in Nashville with “Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace”. It’s truly depressing listening to, especially when directly preceding a listen of “Horse of a Different Color”.

    I know Big Kenny’s surgery is the main reason they went on hiatus, but I thought at the time it had as much to do with the fact that “Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace” was not well received and sold poorly, despite producing their largest radio hit to date. That they got the memo, and needed to take some time to set their priorities straight and re-charge their creative batteries.

    If this lead release is of any indication, they’re more blind to what they’ve become……….a commodified shadow of their former selves………than I initially thought.

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