COLUMN: Due West goes South with their debut album
In the music world, there are a lot of stereotypes that aren’t accurate, as well as some that are. According to many, rockers are all angry white teenagers, the only people who listen to classical music are snobby old people, you have to be a girl to like Celine Dion and that country artists are just a bunch of hicks who weren’t angry enough to be rockers or good enough to play bluegrass.
Steel guitars, simple drumming, a lead singer with a ridiculous twang and tight Wranglers, lame instrumental solos and lamer lyrics have been wowing audiences for years. But, in recent years, it has gotten pretty ridiculous.
Back in the day, there were some really great country singers. Johnny Cash, Hank Williams and Willie Nelson are just a few. But, the country artists these days just aren’t up to par.
Admittedly, I’m pretty picky when it comes to country artists. I’m sick of seeing pretty boys with long hair who think they’re cowboys because they wear boots, pearl-button shirts and a straw hat. I want to see singers who can actually play their guitars and write some decent songs. But, I also want singers who can ride a horse, shoot a gun and that wouldn’t think twice about wrestling a calf to the ground and castrating it with their teeth.
That goes for the girl country singers as well. If you want to wear that cowboy hat, you better friggin’ earn it.
I recently got a copy of the self-titled debut album of the new country group Due West, which seems to follow the country-singer stereotype. There’s not much to criticize about their music, as the lead singer Tim Gates, a native of Richfield, Utah, actually has a good voice. Their songs sound about the same as every other country song that’s been released in the past 10 years, so there’s not much to talk about there. Unfortunately, their lyrics are lame, even by country standards.
Due West has the standard group of songs you’d find on any country album: the up-beat love song, the sappy love song, the song about a cheating spouse and, of course, the song about the county fair. But, they apparently try to spice it up with songs like “I Get That All the Time,” a song about a husband who turns down a smooth seductress because he’s got his wife back at home who “… has got the bedroom in her eyes.” They must be trying to be cute, but it comes off as kind of weird.
Another winner is “The Bible and the Belt,” in which the lead singer fondly reminisces the good ol’ days when his mom would read him the bible and his dad would beat him to keep him in line: “…mama was an angel, daddy was the brimstone.” But, from the happy tone in his voice when he sings the song, I’d guess that either his dad wasn’t very strong or it’s all talk.
The song “Try Living in a Small Town,” just plain ticked me off. It’s all about how it sucks to live in a small town because everyone knows everybody else’s dirty little secrets. Whoever heard of a country singer who talks crap about small towns? Due West needs to learn that you don’t dis on rural towns when you’re trying to sell a country album.
They dig their pit a little deeper with “Country Music Made a Man Out of Me.” The song talks about how his mom tried to raise him, but really he learned everything he needs to know from country radio.
I guess that would explain why he didn’t mind his dad beating him.
So, all in all, it’s a pretty average country album. But, if you’re looking for good gift for your mom, this CD might work. It seems to me that lately, a rock band’s target audience is a teenage boy, while country groups are trying to impress the kid’s mother. It’s still debatable if Due West even did that.
– rex.colin.michell@aggiemail.usu.edu