Trial By Fire- Yelawolf- Album Review

    Here is another artist who I didn’t realize how good they were until very recently. I

originally had written Yelawolf off as a hillbilly party rapper, but after hearing his verse on the

Shady records cypher a while back I began to appreciate his lyrical ability. Around this same

time I saw a YouTuber who I follow called the Rap Critic put the song Shadows on his best of

the year list for 2016, and it’s easy to see why. Shadows is a complete masterpiece, mixing dark

bluegrass and folk elements with vivid imagery and lyrics that remind me of a southern Kendrick

Lamar.

    Shadows was the first single released ahead of the full album Trial by Fire, along with

Row Your Boat and Punk. While I enjoyed both of the other singles, Shadows was far and away

the best single and ultimately the best song on the album proper. The full album starts with the

title track that serves as an introductory skit to the whole album, setting the scene of Yelawolf,

Bones Owens and DJ Klever performing in a blues bar. This opener has a distinct and powerful

southern rock sound with Yelawolf rapping the story of his birth that blends into Shadows.

    As I said I loved Shadows before the album came out, and hearing it in the context of the

album is even more awesome. The third track is a hyper aggressive Nu-Metal/Rap Rock

throwback with a bit of southern rock flavor thrown in for good measure. The thing that makes

this track a bit strange is the featured artist of Kid Rock. This certainly feels like something in

the style of late 90s early 2000s era Kid Rock and it’s a pretty solid track.

    After Get Mine we have one of the best tracks on the album that really lets Yelawolf dip

into his storyteller side with Son of A Gun. Similarly to the opening track, this is a

autobiographical track, this time detailing his destructive nature and the similarities to his father.

This really shows the perfect way that country and rap can blend together as the biggest element

of these two genres when done right is storytelling. The next track is a heartwarming one about a

friend of Yelawolf’s who despite taking a different path in life has always had his back.

    The album then has a spoken word interlude which perfectly sets up one of the best tracks

on the album, Daylight. Daylight is a good split between a drinking party song and a positive

turn on the album. Do For Love is a pretty average track on the album that has good lyrics but

kind of a mediocre sound. The next track Punk has a blistering tempo and powerful rhythm,

courtesy of Travis Barker, but Juicy J’s hook is kind of lacking in my opinion.

    Row Your Boat is proof that they knew what they were doing when they picked the

singles off of this album. Aside from Punk I would say that the singles off of this album were all

of the top songs here. Row Your Boat has a kind of laid back beat on it but features one of the

most interesting flows on the album with Yelawolf having a slippery flow that slides into each

line on the verses. He also does a good job performing his own hook in a way that suits the low

key vibe of the song.

    True to Yourself features guitarist Bones Owens actually singing the hook as well as

playing on it and has some sick trumpet playing. Sound wise this track is very similar to

Shadows and is pretty solid. The next track Sabrina is a bit of an odd track as Yelawolf raps

nearly acapella the story of his fictional daughter drowning in a lake near his house. On Violin

Yelawolf raps about various people who have been used or “played like a violin”, including a

soldier abandoned by his country and a woman in an abusive relationship. The song features

violins throughout it behind a military drum roll and a soulful hook by Lee Brice.

The final track is a huge standout, featuring Yelawolf at his best telling his life story in

vivid detail over a a mix hip hop synth bass, country lap steel and bluegrass mandolin. The

chorus features country star Wynonna Judd giving the perfect summation of the song, singing

“This is my story, This is my glory, This is what keeps me alive”. This track, and this album as a

whole is what happens when a storyteller with a gift for poetic writing takes full control over a

project.

          The self produced effort by Yelawolf feels not only like his strongest work, but also his
most complete and fleshed out work. It’s weird to say that a rap album only has touches of hip
hop production, but the majority of this album’s music is Bones Owens’ guitar and lap steel
playing with touches of 808 drums and hip hop bass accompanying acoustic snare rolls and
piano. While the elements used on this album might not sound like they would go together that
well, this album truly is more than the sum of its parts.

6. Country Music With a Dark Side

Justin and Noah play songs from the wrong side of the tracks. Today's playlist is all about haunting gothic Country music.

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Hunter Hayes Rescue: An Album a Day

An Album a Day is posted 5 days a week, Monday-Friday.

    It might be a bit surprising given how rock centric all of my reviews have been thus far, but I really enjoy good country music. As a resident of the great state of Louisiana I do consider myself a southerner, even if New Orleans isn’t quite tractor country. The down to earth storytelling offset by phenomenal instrumentation of old school country music has always been an appealing combination to me. That’s one of the reasons why I dislike modern country music almost as much as I like the genre’s roots.

    While old school country artists were storytellers with a guitar and a backing band of studio musicians, modern country music is dominated by arrogant frat boys with a severe crush on hip hop. Artists like Florida-Georgia Line, Luke Bryan and Sam Hunt have turned popular country into hip hop with banjos and a twang. Among these bro country artists the only one’s who were remotely believable to me were Jason Aldean and Eric Church, largely because they kept the storyteller side of country music.

    One of the best examples of a middle ground between the extremes of old school country and modern hick hop frat boy music is Hunter Hayes. While Hayes’ songs haven’t usually been much deeper than fairly vague love songs, he has all of the believable charm that country music is known for. Hayes’ style is closer to acts like Lonestar or Rascal Flatts from the early 2000’s than anything going on today, blending soft rock elements in with an overall county vibe.

    Another thing that makes me tolerate Hayes way better than most of his peers is his musicianship, having recorded all of the instruments on his debut album in 2011. His new single Rescue shows off his country soft rock sound, with him playing some really tasty guitar licks throughout and even taking a solo on the bridge. Much like Jason Aldean, Hayes stays relevant sounding by blending rock elements and poppier background synths with a legitimate country sound.

    Rescue showcases Hayes talents well, selling a vague yet realistic love song with his vocal performance while the instrumentation is a solid blend of blues, country and pop. This is him at his best, making a modern song that bridges to the heart of old school country. Much like Carrie Underwood, Hayes is believably country in a way that lets him sell songs that are not blatantly country.

Overall I’m not saying that Hayes is a shining example of old school country still around today, that would be Chris Stapleton. But what Hayes is, is a good bridge between the crappy over polished hick hop of the 2010’s and the storytelling raw country of Stapleton. The bottom line in country music is authenticity, and  Hayes, along with artists like Jason Aldean and Eric Church is able to make pop country sound authentic.
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Elle King Love Stuff: An Album A Day

An Album A Day is posted 5 days a week, Monday-Friday

     Here we have someone doing the neo-soul, blues rock thing who does something besides rip off Jack White or The Black Keys. In the same group as Kaleo and Hozier we have Elle King, the banjo slinging singer songwriter daughter of Rob Schneider. Her debut album Love Stuff is filled to the brim with powerful rockers, catchy hooks and some chilled out country ballads.

    The first thing I’ll praise this album for is the sheer number of good music on here that fits perfectly within the modern rock and pop scenes. The first two tracks on this album, Where The Devil Don’t Go and Ex’s and Oh’s got major radio play on pop and alternative stations despite both tracks being fuzz guitar driven rock songs. Despite the heavy rock elements found in these songs, King’s lyrics and vocal delivery are catchy enough to fit in perfectly on pop radio.   
    The album opens with four strong blues rock tracks filled with fuzzy guitars and raspy soul filled vocals. The next few tracks feature King singing country and folk inspired ballads while strumming the banjo with drums, piano and other production elements filling out the mix behind her. Track seven was the last single released from the album and is a country dance track that sounds like a mix between Avicii and acoustic Mumford and Sons.
    I Told You I Was Mean is a good anti love song in the same country soul vein as the rest of this section of the album. The next track, Ain’t Gonna Drown has a gothic folk sound that reminds me of Will There Be Enough Water by the Dead Weather. Despite the shift it doesn’t feel out of place as King’s poppiest tracks still have an edge to them that feels completely natural to her. The song Jackson takes a slight detour back into hard rock territory before wrapping up the album with two soft acoustic songs that show a more vulnerable side to King.
    Overall this album is strong, and although I would have preferred a few more rock tracks there is nothing wrong with the country leaning songs on the album. If I had one complaint it would be that the last two songs kind of go against the attitude that King has set up on the rest of the album, and I personally would have preferred more punk rock attitude to close out the album. While I was initially drawn in by the fuzz guitars on the early tracks, I stuck around for Elle King’s unique combination of powerful rasp and vocal sweetness.

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