When I get to the end of the month I always promise myself that I'll try to write more posts in the following month than I did in the one that's ending. As you can tell from the monthly post numbers, I haven't succeeded in doing that. I was pretty consistent from February through May and then June happened. I'm not going to get into specifics, but I will say that I just didn't feel up to writing much for a few different reasons. Hence the lack of updates. But as you can clearly see, I'm back.
That's a good thing since there's a lot to write about. Song reviews for new songs by Edens Edge, Randy Houser, Parmalee, Andy Gibson, Katie Armiger and Kip Moore to name a few. Albums reviews of Alan Jackson, Josh Turner, Edens Edge and Jana Kramer. A few other kinds of blogs about random things and I'll be introducing you all to a band of guys was are based in Virginia and call themselves Steelshot. All I'll say about them for now is that I don't believe I've ever heard anything quite like them before and I mean that as a compliment. So yeah, I have a lot to write about in the coming month or so and will be adding more to that list all the time.
But for now, it's time to talk about what is shaping up to be one of the biggest hits of the summer and may very well be the fastest rising single of Little Big Town's entire career. So let's get to it...
"Pontoon" was written by Barry Dean, Natalie Hemby and Luke Laird and I have to give them credit for writing a song that's so singable. This is one of those songs where you'll listen to it and catch yourself singing along with before too long. It's a well-crafted song with lyrics that fit the song's purpose perfectly. It's a fun, laid-back, easy song for the summer; the perfect song to play while engaging in your typical summer activities. Is this the most meaningful lyric you'll ever hear? No. But that's not what this song is about. Sometimes you just want something light and catchy and if that's what the writers were going for, they nailed it.
Musically speaking, this song is very unique. There's no other songs that come to mind when I listen to this and that is a wonderful thing. Especially when so many songs can sound alike these days. This one is kind of a like a breath of fresh air in that respect. "Pontoon" has such a great feel and rhythm to it, I love the way this just sort of chugs along from start to finish. Very nice playing by the musicians on here. It does lean more towards the pop side if we're talking about genre and for that reason it has very strong cross over appeal. It'll be interesting to see if it does that. I've only heard it being played on country stations myself, but I really feel that it could do well in the pop format as well.
Now in saying that, I will add that this song might not be quite as well liked among the more traditional country fans and I'm sure many of them wouldn't consider this song to be country at all. My thoughts on that is that while it's definitely more pop flavored in sound, there's enough of a country influence in there to justify having it played on country radio. So that's my opinion there.
In terms of the vocals, one of my favorite things about Little Big Town is their knack for putting exactly the right one of them on lead. Karen was the perfect choice to sing this one. It did take me a little while to get used to the effect they used on her voice in this, but that's probably due to me being so used to hearing her voice in other ways. The effect works very nicely for the song. Little Big Town is one of the best vocal groups country music has ever had so naturally, the harmonies in here are rock solid as always. I will say that I wish they were just a touch or two more prominent. I feel like they kind of took a back seat to the wall of sound that is the music here. It bothered me more the first couple of times I heard it before their harmonies are what makes them so special and I don't want to see them ever get away from that. Now I've gotten more used to it. Especially since, personal preference aside, the vocals do fit both the music and the lyric and that's the most important thing.
As someone who has loved Little Big Town for some years now, "Pontoon" is a bit of a departure for them. One that seems to be paying off as it keeps scooting up the charts and that seems to be what their goal was. For reasons I will never fully understand, their past couple of singles really didn't do too well. "Pontoon" is one of those songs that was meant to end up on radio - my guess is that this song would have ended up doing well for anyone who may have released it; it's just one of those kinds of songs. Little Big Town obviously knew that when they heard it. That's why they recorded it and why they chose it for a single. It's different and a lot of time different works.
As a fan, I really like this one and I love that they have a new song out that's doing this well. In all of time they've been together as a band, they've never had one of their songs go all the way to number one. It's something that they are well overdue for and "Pontoon" might just be the song to do it. In fact, I would be pretty surprised if it didn't.
Comments
Post a Comment