Brad Colerick, “Tucson” (Back 9 Records)
Brad Colerick opens his fourth solo album with the title cut, which reminds us the road does not actually go on forever. Colerick goes on to examine his trip down that road in tuneful tunes with a touch of twang.
Colerick’s stories are worth hearing, in part because he makes singing sound so easy. His warm, sunny, homey tenor brings alive the characters, places and relationships in these 11 songs. Guitars, banjo, fiddle, mandolin and pedal steel reinforce the folksy mood.
Colerick grew up in Nebraska, lives in California and recorded the album in Arkansas, so it’s no surprise his subject matter covers lots of ground. On “Hob Thrasher,” a nonagenarian musician shows how to make the best of airport delays. “This Is What I Do (Mighty Keeper)” celebrates everyone’s lot in life, however modest. There are also love songs happy and sad, reflections on a friend’s death, and a ballad to mom. The set closes, fittingly, with “Roll On.”
— Steven Wine, Associated Press
Little Big Town vocalists top-notch on new album
Little Big Town, “Pain Killer” (Capitol Nashville)
How do the four vocalists of Little Big Town respond to the platinum success of the group’s most rewarded album, 2012’s “Tornado?” Certainly not by playing it safe.
On their sixth album, “Pain Killer,” Little Big Town — Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Phillip Sweet and Jimi Westbrook — experiment endlessly with harmonies, arrangements, loops and sound effects. The whistles, odd beats and unconventional guitar work that woozily circle through the first single, “Day Drinking,” only hint at the shenanigans the singers and their producer Jay Joyce cram into these 13 new songs.
Most of it is for the sake of fun — you can hear how gleeful the group is as they test outlandish ideas on such songs as “Quit Breaking Up With Me,” “Good People,” the Lorde-like “Things You Don’t Think About” and the title song. But they also show off the beauty of their blended voices on the hushed “Silver and Gold” and the stunning “Live Forever,” written by the group with Jeremy Spillman and Ryan Tyndell.
The Grammy-winning band only stumbles on “Faster Gun,” with its awkward cowboy similes. The rest of the album keeps raising the bar: Little Big Town, from early on, never followed country music formulas. With “Pain Killer,” their boldness continues to pay off.
— Michael McCall, Associated Press
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