Brad Paisley’s latest album, Wheelhouse, will probably never emerge from the shadow of its controversial, and hilariously bad, song ‘Accidental Racist.’
And that’s a shame, because while Wheelhouse is no American Saturday Night or Mud On the Tires, it’s an ambitious and often rewarding record. If I were to get mathematical, I’d say it’s 1/2 great, 1/3 mediocre and 1/6 head-scratchingly bad. It would be a shame to let the few spoil things for the many.
A few weeks back I posted that I had just ordered Same Trailer Different Park, the major label debut of Kacey Musgraves.
Musgraves is the shiny new object in country music circles, drawing favorable comparisons to both Miranda Lambert and Taylor Swift. Her embrace of gay rights caught the attention of Ellen DeGeneres and the fact that those lyrics haven’t put her in the country music doghouse is a great sign for the future.
Novelty bands don’t generally make great second albums. The spark of ingenuity that led to their formation is good for one batch of songs and then the members retreat to their solo careers. If they reform again, the results tend to feel forced.
The Traveling Wilbury’s Vol. 3 is the classic example. The album was missing the late Roy Orbison, but that wasn’t the only reason it felt so ordinary when compared to the exceptional Vol. 1. It simply didn’t have the same sense of serendipity that made the first record so special.
I’ve bought a handful of albums this year (including Vampire Weekend’s latest a day or two ago) and curiously, four of them are country records.
I didn’t plan it that way. Brad Paisley and Pistol Annies released new albums, which I naturally snapped up as a fan of both. Then the excellent newcomer Kacey Musgraves burst onto the scene amid a flurry of great reviews so I picked that one up. Finally, Ashley Monroe, one of the Pistol Annies, released her own solo album to critical raves.
Pink’s The Truth About Love was one of last year’s best albums, better even than its predecessor Funhouse, another fine pop-rock record.
Pink has quietly (and loudly) become one of the best pop songwriters and performers recording today. She is adept at both pulsating anthems like today’s track and emotional balladry (such as her duet with fun.’s Nate Ruess that is currently all over the place).
Meet Me In Montauk 