The rift album from modern country star Scotty McCreery is set to come out on Friday. I’ve been a fan of the guy for a few years now, ever since I first heard ‘In Between‘, so when this came across our emails I knew I had to check it out in detail. Being his first release in three years too, since the excellent Same Truck, it should be a good ‘en!
The album opens on a bluesy, rocky stomper of a track in ‘Little More Gone’. The guitars and piano work perfectly together, and the other instruments accentuate them well. Scotty’s vocals come over the top, adding to the awesomeness of the track. And it all builds to a huge, catchy, arena-filling chorus. The upbeat nature of the track is great and the perfect choice of song to open the album. It reminds me of a combination of Chris Janson, Randy Houser, Blackberry Smoke and even a touch of Bob Seger. We even get a duelling solo between the guitar and piano in the middle which was a lot of fun, hammering home the rock element of the song. It’s awesome, and easily makes it onto our playlist!
‘Cab in a Solo’ slows things down a bit, still having a rock tinge to it but being a lot more of a radio-country track. It gives off big ‘Over Drinkin Under Thinkin’ by Drake Milligan vibes, or a lot of Chris Young’s slower stuff. His vocals fit just as well with this as they do with the rockier stuff, which is amazingly impressive. And of course it’s another massive, catchy-as-anything chorus. It’s incredible that songs like this can have pretty simple instrumentation yet still have such a huge sound when it comes to the choruses. It’s a simple but well written, great breakup song. I imagine it’s already done very well with mainstream audiences with it being the album’s lead single, and I can certainly see why. Another great song!
The most recent single, ‘Lonely’, is up next. It has a pretty similar feel and tone to the previous song, it being a heartbreak song through and through. It’s closer to a neo-traditional country song in style though, which I loved. It’s another good, obvious choice for a single, and I’m sure this one will get a lot of love, too. That chorus once again is tremendous, and the lyrics are well written, despite them hitting most of the country bingo card of cliches. It’s especially awesome in the last one when we get the backing vocals behind it, adding even more catchiness and size to it all. And the riff and solos running through the outro was awesome, and something that we really don’t get enough of these days! It’s a fantastic song, and another for our playlist!
Single ‘Can’t Pass the Bar’ picks up the pace and the rock again, an awesome blues riff forming the basis of the track. The tempo is higher and bouncier throughout, Scotty’s vocals and lyrics being the main thing to keep it rooted in country. The lyrics here are pretty witty and entertaining too; they’re a lot of fun. We get a fantastic couple of solos in the middle too, both a guitar and a banjo one. I loved both, and am not at all jealous of their playing skill. It’s an awesome little song that gives off big Tim Hicks vibes, packing so much greatness into well under three minutes. It’s the third song out of four to make our playlist, this album better chill out a bit soon!
Chill it does, but in a different sense. ‘Hey Rose’ is the first ballad-like track on the album, filled with acoustic guitar and having a lot of folk vibes to it. It’s a beautiful, emotional song and a good change of pace again after the rockier previous track. The same can be said for ‘Fall of Summer’, ‘Slow Dance’ and ‘No Country for Old Men’. All the songs are awesome and really great slower country-western songs. However, they’re pretty similar, and I don’t want to keep repeating myself. The latter is my favourite from the collection, the chorus excellent and the strings throughout were amazing. It’s another that sneaks onto our playlist.
Meanwhile, ‘And Countin’ is another boot-stomping rocker of a song. It’s similar to other such songs on this album, but it’s another excellent song that’s just a lot of fun to listen to. The chorus is brilliant, and will go down fantastically live, I’m sure.
Songs like ‘Love Like This’, ‘Stuck Behind a Tractor’ and ‘Porch’, meanwhile, are all more neo-traditional, radio-country songs. Again, none are bad by any stretch, I love all three. And I actually think the latter is not only beautiful, but is the perfect way to close the album out. All are well worth checking out and more than earn their place on the album. Again, I simply don’t want to keep repeating myself!
The final song for us on the album is the incredible piano ballad, ‘Red Letter Blueprint’. Not only is it the perfect song in this style, but is placed perfectly on the album. Preceding ‘Porch’, the two work excellently as a one-two, emotional punch to close out the album. Scotty’s vocals are incredible over the top of the simple instrumentation, being just as powerful even when the guitars come in. And, while it’s a touch religious for me, the lyrics are still beautifully written. Another amazing song to cap off an amazing album!
Overall: I really enjoyed this! It constantly kept me entertained with its almost perfect structure, one sound never once getting boring as the tempo and tone shifted a lot. I think it helped that it was short for country standards, too, making each track mean so much more. There are so many highlights on this album and there really isn’t a bad song on it. He’s been around for a while now, but I think this album has what it takes to push him to the very top. Any country fans reading this, check it out as soon as you can!
The Score: 9/10