![]() ![]() In other words, it's definitely not one of Paisley's stronger albums, and is nowhere near the genre-pushing subject matter and sound that defined Wheelhouse, an album that may have had failed experiments but tried a lot harder than this. In other words, this album is defined by its contradiction: half jokey and silly party songs filled with broad comedy that Brad Paisley could do in his sleep and the other half gestures at earnest or more sincere moments that are a fair bit stronger and really highlight how half-assed the rest of the album is. and yet there are enough moments on this album that show he is still wishing he could push those boundaries farther. Okay, this is frustrating, because if we follow the story of said artist straining against the boundaries of country music, Moonshine In The Trunk is the half-hearted attempt to say 'screw it' and try to find a comfortable fit within the genre. So even though I wasn't impressed at all by his debut single 'River Bank', I made sure to give his new album Moonshine In The Trunk a lot of attention: how is it? The fact is that Brad Paisley as a songwriter still has a knack for a ridiculously catchy hook, a decent bit of lyrical nuance, and some interesting instrumentation and production - if he releases a record, at least it's not going to be boring. Ever since the mid-2000s, he's been straining and pushing at the edges of what is traditionally defined as mainstream country, adding more instrumentation and songwriting subjects, which culminated in last year's album Wheelhouse, a release largely overshadowed by 'Accidental Racist' with LL Cool J, a song attempting to tackle race relationships and pissing off everyone.īut people who have followed this series likely know that I didn't dislike Wheelhouse as an album - in fact, it featured two songs that featured highly on my year-end list of my favourite songs of the year, 'Karate' and 'Southern Comfort Zone', and there were other songs on that album that were close to the list too. Many critics have hypothesized this is the internal dichotomy Brad Paisley is struggling with right now. In the mean time, you're kind of stuck and very quickly getting bored with your genre of choice. ![]() You've already released a well-received instrumental album, but you're not willing to give up airplay to be that weird, at least not in your instrumentation. You want to push the boundaries of country music while still maintaining commercial accessibility to country radio. Easy enough, I know, but imagine that you've managed to release a series of critically well-received records, albums that straddled commercial and critical appeal. So I want you all to imagine that you're a world-famous country singer. ![]()
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