Customer Reviews

Broken in

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The follow up album to Trent Willmon's "A Little More Livin'," "Broken In" has a unique quality about it that sets him apart from other country artists. "Broken In" also happens to be the title of the first single released from Willmon's third. With song topics ranging from traveling the next county over for alcohol ("Dry County"), to his account of how a Cowboy goes through life ("How A Cowboy Lives"), to his song of unconditional love ("I'll Love You Anyway"), "Broken was definately worth the wait for its' release, and the trouble of searching several different stores before buying the last copy at the final store I visited. Music wise, the sound is a little on the Contemporary Country side, but lyrically it had a more traditional sound to it. If you liked "Trent Willmon" (his self titled album) and "A Little More Livin'," you will enjoy "Broken In" also.

I buy very few contemporary country records these days. It's not that I think country music is in a state of decline (with a few pop-country exceptions, I think the music today is pretty solid), but because I just think most of what's out there today has been done before. Trent Willmon, on the other hand, is an artist I know will deliver the goods: strong, solid tunes that mix the best of traditional and contemporary country. More or less, BROKEN IN does this.

The problem is that it just doesn't equal his previous efforts, his self-tited debut and A LITTLE MORE LIVIN'. Most of the songs on BROKEN IN are solid, but the downers definitely weigh the record down--namely "The Truth," "I'll Love You Anyway," and to an extent "Cold Beer and a Fishing Pole." They're just predictable; there's not much substantial to them. Many of the other songs are winners--the title cut, "Tumbleweed Town," even a passionate performance on "Doesn't Mean I Don't Love You." "The Way I Remember It" cuts straight to home, while "How a Cowboy Lives" is a powerful slice of country/blues. Lyrically, Willmon is a step above his peers (even though he relies heavily on outside writers, such as Rhett Akins, Bobby Pinson, Jeremy Spillman, and others); only a true Texas cowboy could declare "Being me is hard on us both" and come off sounding authentic.

Willmon's flat, droll voice has an edge to it that cuts to the chase, that slices off the fat and leaves us with the heart and soul of his songs. Unfortunately, he can't seem to decide whether he wants to be something of a Texas cult-singer (evidenced by the presence of Roger Creager and Kevin Fowler on this album, as well as his cowboy material) or become a mainstream sensation. Honestly, he has the talent to pull of either one. So hopefully, with his next album he'll decide which path he wants to take, and his fourth record will be stronger. As is, BROKEN IN is worth a listen or two, but more important here is Trent Willmon, who is certainly one of the best at what he does.

This is a great CD. Trent has a great voice and the songs on the CD match his voice- Excellent CD. If you are into good music, you should enjoy this CD. Highly recommended

What happened to the Beer Man? Trent Willmon latest effort is probably the less enjoyable of his albums: it's too loud, too heavy on the guitars, and on the drums, too - even the good penned songs here drown in the rocking-Springteen-like arrangements. The albums starts off well, with a three song ensemble, the title cut, "Dry County" and "Doesn't Mean I Don't Love You", but you can feel something's different the moment you press play. Get to the talk box guitar on "Cold Beer and a Fishin' Pole" and you start to realize what that is: this song is very weak and that guitar highlights the weakness, kind of seems they wrote the song starting from that talking sound. You climb up a couple notches on the Good-Song-o-Meter with "The Way I Remember It", only to fall back one down with the following "The Good Ol' Days Are Gone" where the pedal steel seems so out of place next to the guitar riffs. "How a Cowboy Lives" may be good song but has the wrong arrangement: Guitars uselessly and endlessly way too loud, here. "The Truth" does no better: sounds like Trent's doing a John Bon Jovi impression. "Little Set of Horns" is probably the weakest song of the package, in the middle of nowhere between Texas Dancehalls and Lollapalooza. By the time you reach track n.10 "Tumbleweed Town" you're kind of used to the rocking guitar sound and may think, well, it can't get any louder, now... Oh, wait, it can... "I'll Love You Anyway" offers no chance of relief to your ears, and the closing one "There Is a God" is a good song, might even be a great song if it wasn't for the loudness of the guitars, but it's too late to raise the level of the whole cd.

Trent has a great voice, and knows how to write, too, but this album is way too far from the magic of his self-titled debut. If you liked (or loved) that one, you'll be greatly disappointed by this one; If you liked his sophomore effort "A Little More Livin'", I believe this one may sound too heavy for you to really like it.

Go back to "Beer Man" or "The Good Life" to see how a country song can really rock. No loud guitars needed, really.

I am not someone who listens to any onld country song or CD. I am moved by quality lyrics,beautiful vocals, and an innate ability to effectively convey the story to the listener. And Trent Willmon has all the three.

This album is a true quality Country album, with all the heart a real country fan can admire and the twang that a casual listener can take notice of.

The single "Broken In" as fantastic as it is only scratches the surface of what treasures this CD has. One song that I have fallen in love with in the few weeks that I've had the CD is "Doesn't Mean I Don't Love You" which is as open and honest as the artist himself. And he's not one of those flash in the pan, pretty-boy pop country types either. TRENT WILLMON IS PURE COUNTRY.

Now I know that these days, people are hardly buying music, but this is one CD that is certainly worth it. It's nice to have in the collection. I am jusrt excited to know that he is touring. The CD is great in the stereo or in the car, but I cannot wait to see him live.

I was pleasently surprised when I listened this album of Trent. Before I never had heard from him but I like this album very much. He's a real country artist.

I'm not going to lie, Trent Willmon is one of my favorite artists. He's also the best country artist that you might not have heard of. He's unbelieveablly underrated by the Nashville machine, but that might be changing soon since he's released his third album, "Broken In".

Willmon is as solid as the West Texas ground that he was born and bred on. He chooses songs that he sings well, and that represent him and his cowboy upbringing well.

Musically, his songs are on the rock side of country. I'd say it falls somewhere in between George Strait and Kenny Chesney. There are a few ripping guitar solos, some cryin' steel guitar, and a great mix of styles that come together very nicely. I think the best example of this is "A Little Set of Horns."

Usually the third album is where we find out who an artist really is. Based on this offering, I can honestly say that I already knew what he was about; this just cemented it.

I can say that this collection of songs were aimed toward the radio-friendly mold. However, they are still raw enough in general to remain legimate country. A big reason for this is his coarse and powerful voice and consistently solid vocal performances.

Some personal favorites of mine are his first two singles, "There is a God", and "Broken In." Also of note are "The Good Ol' Days Are Gone," "How a Cowboy Lives," "Tumbleweed Town," and "A Little Set of Horns."

I'd give this album a 4.5 out of 5 stars, but Trent's the man, so I'm rounding it up to a 5 star performance.

I'd also highly recommend Trent's first two albums:
A Little More Livin'
Trent Willmon