Customer Reviews

Man Like Me

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this CD after hearing and loving "Don't Ask Me How I Know." This is a very strong debut CD by an artist who is a breath of fresh air in today's country music. Every song on here is a winner, no fillers or "Stinkers" on this CD. Mr. Pinson reminds me a lot of a talented artist from Texas-Charlie Robison. Buy this CD with confidence, and here's hoping Bobby Pinson will have much success-I definitely want to hear more from him in the future!

Prime Cuts: One More Believer, Men Like Me, Don't Ask Me How I Know

In a genre where many country male artists have been emasculated to singing mawkish sentimentality with an artificial sap, the advent of Bobby Pinson's "Men Like Me" is redemptive. Records like these show that there's still hope for country artists - especially the men-- to still sing about issues that matter to them. Songs that express the rugged side of life and love with a masculine punch and a diary-like frankness. Though this may be this panhandle Texan's debut, Pinson is by no means a fresh face. With his compositions being cut by artists as diverse as Van Zant to LeAnn Rimes to Tracy Lawrence, Pinson is perhaps Nashville's best kept secret until now. Needless to say, save for the hidden track "Jesus Loves Me," Pinson has had a hand in co-penning all 12 tracks. And this Texan is a story-songwriter of the tallest order: Pinson has an uncanny ability to mould his characters with such a veracious ethos that limned the listener vigilantly to the storyline. Further, his gravel voice, which sounds like a hillbilly Bryan Adams with a tingle of Steve Earle's ruggedness, gives these songs an inherent well-worn believability,

Charging out of the gates is the fist pumping testosterone-driven "I'm Fine Either Way." Though its jaunty guitars and its pounding percussion may cause country purists to perspire with unease, "I'm Fine Either Way" has a confessional quality that makes this ode to life worth listening. "One More Believer" is this album's apogee: a spiritual love song that has the protagonist enveloped in ardent gratitude to God for blessing him with a perfect girl despite his censurable lifestyle. Pinson has never sounded more heartfelt on this winsome ballad. Pinson's spiritual persona surfaces again in the unlisted track "Jesus Loves Me." The strumming of the acoustic guitar, the chorus of children murmuring along the fade out and Pinson's understated scabrous delivery shimmers with an awe-imbued emotion on this traditional gospel number.

Pinson's approbation for things that are spiritual also translates into the home. With a commitment to strong paternal upbringing, the title track is a careful exposition of fatherhood over a melody that is equally indispensably beautiful. Lest one thinks Pinson has gone all maudlin, the carefully observed "Ford Fairlane," with its dashing guitars and rocking beat is definitely sugar free. Lyrically, vanguard single "Don't Ask Me How I Know" is the most interesting piece. Narrated from Pinson's canon of knowledge, "Don't Ask Me How I Know" has this singer-songwriter proffering his wisdom though his pearl-string of pithy sayings such as "Sell your truck while it's still running/Save the Jesus off the dash/Say a prayer when you feel like cussing/.../Forget your pride, buy the roses/If you're sorry, tell her so/Don't drink the water in Mexico." On the cursory level, "Don't Ask Me How I Know" may sound cliché and bigoted, but its driving melody and Pinson's animated delivery somehow makes this track quite stunning. Apparently country radio thinks so too as it's escalating up the upper echelon of the charts.

However, the album is somehow eclipsed, albeit in a minor way, by a couple of average numbers. The restless rockish "Nothing Happens in This Town" and the stab at the Nashville establishment "Started a Band" yo-yos on the mediocre. Nevertheless, Pinson's punctilious scribal skills of painting his songs with words and his leathery experienced-hewed vocals ought to set him apart from today's silver tongued bromidic country. Moreover, with his strong moral and spiritual stance coupled by his ability to brawn within the confines of rockish country, this is indeed a gutsy record. This is a CD that is muscled with masculinity, yet ductile enough to encompass both genders.

This is an album for the common man. Pinson spends most of these twelve songs (there's an unlisted, acoustic spiritual at the end, just Pinson and his guitar) on back-country roads, with a girl and a bottle of wine; at funerals, mourning the loss of a childhood friend; playing out the lives of small town inhabitants, holding nothing back; teaching how to stand up for yourself, no matter what ("Stand tall on your knees/That's how you make a man like me"); and finding faith in a faithless situation. He does it all with a voice that is rugged, whiskey-ladden, and undeniably moving.

MAN LIKE ME is an album that will strike to the heart of country music fans everywhere. This is the type of music you expect to hear blaring from the radios of pick-up trucks speeding down gravel roads. Bobby Pinson is a formidable new artist; he cowrote every song on here, showing immense talent that few new artists have. Pinson's gonna be around for a while. He may not become a superstar, but as he sings in the opening track, it's fine with him either way.

What an absolute treasure!! This is the album true country music fans should add to their collection. Bobby's storytelling is absolutely fabulous. His voice is capitivating.
The fact the album is not over produced just enhances the true talent the Bobby Pinson possesses.

His music takes a look at rural life, and the joys many of us enjoyed growing up. "Started A Band" is a humorous, yet auto-biographical look at doing what you love, regardless of the struggles you face and the criticism you receive. The message is simple, "Don't give up on your dreams." No one can miss the message in "Don't Ask Me How I Know." The rest of the album is memories of then and now. And don't give up on the album until you hear, "Jesus Loves Me." An old church standard with children, he once again delivers the message that it applies as much now as it did when you were a child. It also shows just what a down to earth, simple man he is.

I am a traveling salesman who is constantly looking for something new and refreshing to listen to. I switched to country music about 10 years ago so that what I listened to my children could listen to. Good lyrics with no bad words or meanings. I bought this album as I liked the lyrics Don't Ask Me How I Know. My son heard the lyrics as we were leaving a hockey game of his on the radio. He is 8YO and he says to me that ... "this song has good meanings to it huh'dad" I looked at him and said ..."Yes it certainly does" Pinson's has a similar sound to Bruce Springsteen but a more country version. I have had the CD for about two weeks and there are many good songs on it. Some artist carry the same tone and style in all there songs on their CDs, but there is a great variety to his debut CD. I highly recommend.

If half the things Bobby Pinson sings about actually happened to him, he is a living country song. Listening to him sing I have to believe he has lived this life he sings about. His rugged voice and feeling lyrics (he wrote most of the songs) really should take him far.

Pinson is well-known in Nashville for his songwriting prowess, having penned tunes for LeAnn Rimes, Blake Shelton, Tracy Lawrence and others. More impressively, his turn in the spotlight shows him to be a singer with some non-Nashville grit in his voice, lending many of his 11 co-written songs a sad, gravelly underpinning that brings to mind Steve Earle and the early works of Tom Waits. His lyrics are of the heartland, like those of John Mellancamp, but they're not the sort of wholesome, airbrushed words associates with many of today's mainstream Nashville acts. Pinson's windswept Texas panhandle upbringing hasn't been manicured away.

The homespun reminiscence "Started a Band" is filled with the details of someone who started his journey to fame in the basement of his parent's house. Likewise, "Ford Fairlane" sings of the intimate love and nostalgia for a family friend; it's too bad that Brian Wilson and Gary Usher aren't looking back to their automotive-fueled teen years with similar pride. The small-town boredom of "Nothin' Happens in This Town" echoes Earle's "Guitar Town" and Bogdanovich's "The Last Picture Show," but the album's lead single "Don't Ask Me How I Know" sports an unusually strong message of self-responsibility. Overall, one of the year's most welcome surprises from Nashville! 4-1/2 stars, if allowed fractional ratings.

This album is a breath of fresh air, far different from the over-produced pop-country songs I've been hearing. Pinson's voice has a raw-edged quality that is perfect for the delivery of lyrics that (gasp) actually have some meaning. The album is worth buying for the hit-single "Don't Ask Me How I Know" all on it's own, but that is just the beginning. This is an album full of songs about real people in real situations that we can all relate to, and pulls you into singing along with him. One of the best country albums this year!

From the first track on this CD to the last you can't go wrong. Bobby's voice is unique and his story telling is second to none. This is the best country album to come out in a long long time.

These days I find that I cannot stand the newer artists that are hitting Nashville, but Bobby Pinson is an exception. His songs have a realism, you know that they happened to him, and you know he believes them. Pinson has made one of the best first recordings I have ever heard, and I hope he continues to sing songs with the same heart as he did in this one. An excellent addition to your CD collection.