Jason Aldean is an artist that quite obviously puts a lot of energy into his performances and his music in general. He is a great cross of country and rocker, perhaps a cowboy rocker, with a brand and style of music that gets you energized while also perhaps smacking you in the gut a bit.
Dirt Road Anthem starts the disc out with a rapping sound owed to the fact it's a cover of a Colt Ford track (see
Country Is As Country Does (W/Dvd), for example). Aldean's version of the tune is quite enjoyable and serves to mix things up a bit from the more traditional Jason Aldean songs that filled his last album, or at least filled the radio airwaves compliments of that last album (
Wide Open).
Church Pew or Bar Stool gets back to the more expected Jason Aldean ballad. Some might complain that it is a sound that is too familiar and doesn't venture far enough from what has preceeded it (in past tunes, not just in the song that preceeds it on the album). To me there's really nothing wrong with that sound, and knowing that is what fans wanted and expected, delivering on it is just what Aldean should have done (and did).
My Kinda Party is, by now, the well known first single from this new album. It speaks for itself with the high energy that makes Aldean the fun show to catch live and in person, as well as being a song that pumps you up when you hear it on the radio as you drive to or from work, school or wherever. Certainly the kind of song that shows the reason that Aldean carries a bit of the southern rocker badge around. For those that have only heard the song on the radio, the album version of the song seems to be a bit longer and expounds a bit on the band's rocking jam session.
Just Passing Through goes back to the familiar ballad-y sound. It's a bit of love song with the cowboy bent. It's your world, I'm just in it... Lucky me, just being there to hold you.
Fly Over States is a great patriotic tune that pokes at the people that look down their noses at the states out in the middle of nowhere, where our food is grown, where working men (and women) toil at their lives and jobs with little attention or demands from the people in the business suits, in the first class seats, etc.
Don't You Wanna Stay is a duet with Kelly Clarkson that simply works. The blending of her voice with his is spot on and each hit all the right notes with their portions of the song. Unless the video for this song is horribly botched, I could see this one spending many weeks in the video top 20 chart, as well as a lot of time in the radio charts if released (inevitably I believe it will be) as a single.
See You When I See You... strum, strum, strum... hmm, perhaps a bit familiar sounding, or should I say similarly sounding as some of the songs I know from Wide Open and
Jason Aldean, but again that is not necessarily bad.
It Ain't Easy [... lovin' me] is another cowboy love song, told from the side of the cowboy that knows he is not without his flaws.
Texas Was You moves back into a sound more in keeping with the Eagles of
Desperado perhaps crossed with a bit of
Hotel California. Some of the guitar work in this track reminds me quite a bit of the readily identifiable work of Joe Walsh that shines through in tracks on Hotel California.
Country Boy's World goes back to the love song/country ballad theme. Let me show you around a country boy's world... There are plenty of female fans that would likely be happy to have Aldean do just that ;)
I Ain't Ready to Quit might simply be a signal to listeners that Aldean isn't done with this album at this point. Nope, still more to go and more to enjoy, including Heartache That Don't Stop Hurting and Days Like These, capped off with If She Could See Me Now.
Really, I don't really see, or should I say hear, a clunker in the whole album. Some of these songs may find lesser favor than other Aldean tracks, but really I'd be happy to do as I've already done and simply throw all of these great tunes into in my playlist along with those of his previous albums. Definitely a good purchase for me (though this is one that I pre-ordered from another site, famous for Tunes that play on certain types of I-ndividual devices). I would love to have waited for the physical media here, but impatience got the better of me and I clicked the pre-order button just to be sure I'd have these tracks in hand as soon as possible on release day.
As usual, if you aren't sure you'll like this one, please use the preview options to check out the songs and decide for yourself.