One of the great things about living in Nashville is all of the writer's rounds that take place around town. I'm sure that you can find writer's rounds in other towns too, but it seems like they happen all over the place and all the time here. There's so many venues to be found throughout venues and more seem to pop up all the time. I first saw Kenny Foster when I went to see country trio Steel Union at Belcourt Taps one night last year. They had some of their friends come up to do a couple of songs as the night went on and Kenny was one of them. I saw him again a few months later at a writer's round.
Truth be told, sometimes writer's rounds can be kind of hit and miss. You find songwriters of all kinds and skill levels. There's some who maybe aren't ready to do a round just yet. But sometimes you find a gem. It's times like that when you realize just how special Nashville is. And I'd place Kenny Foster in that category. He's personable and has a good sense of humor which is always appreciated, especially when there's talent to back it up. His songs hooked me pretty much right away. When I heard that he was releasing Deep Cuts, I knew I had to get it. This album came out in April and it's one that I highly recommend. Especially for those of you who crave a little more substance in your country.
Or any kind of substance, for that matter. There's so many mindless songs out there and those can be okay enough from time to time, but if given the choice between mindless and substance? Substance wins every single time. Country music is at its best when it's real and honest. When the songs are about regular people living their lives, doing their best to get by. It's at its best when it's kept more simple and cuts right to the point. When it gets right to the heart of a situation. When it makes you feel something.
That's what Deep Cuts does. This is the kind of album that forces you to pay attention to the lyrics and not enough albums do that, for my taste. These songs make you think and they make you feel things. If that sounds good to you, keep on reading. As always, we're going to go track by track.
1) "Stand". Deep Cuts gets off to a great start. In the first verse of this first song on this album, we have these lines: "some see hard times / I see teaching / some see a woman out begging for change / I see Jesus". Well alright. A song with some wisdom. I love it. I could quote the whole song, but I won't. Besides, these are the lines that really got me. Well those and these: "I know the good fight's the fight inside / Even when it's losing / When I fall, I still believe / When you think that I can't get back again / That's where I stand". Lyrics like that always hit me on a personal level. It's the first song and I already feel it on a deeper level. I love the way it starts with 'I' statements in the beginning and by the end the 'I' becomes 'we'. It makes it feel more like an anthem. Then going back to the I at the very end. Like I said, this is a great way to start the album.
2) "Made". One thing that I really appreciate about this album is the production. They got it right. The instrumentation is there to support the lyric without the musical clutter you find in so many other songs. So many songs try to do way too much; often in an attempt to hide a weaker lyric. That's not a problem here. The one has a nice feel to it. If you have a loving family, you really don't need much else. That's the message here. It's all about figuring out what matters most and appreciating that. "Ain't got it all / Ain't got it right / But I got it made".
3) "Hearts That Bend". This song is so interesting. It's such a well crafted song and a great vocal from Kenny. Some of the lines here are on another level. Like this one: "She handed me the ring and said 'I do' / When I asked if she thought we were through". Not how you thought that line was going to go, is it? One of my musical pet peeves is when I can predict all the lyrics before they happen. Every once in a while doesn't bug me, but some songs are trite enough that you can figure all of it out before it happens. So I always love it when a lyric does something I don't expect. That was one of those lines that seemed like it took a second to full sink in because my initial thought was, wait what? Even knowing it's coming, I always have to take a second of appreciation for that line. And then later we get this: "Hearts don't bend, but now I see / That God made knees for times like these." Whoa. This is next level songwriting going on and I'm so here for it.
4) "Good Enough". There's something very pleasant about the groove that this song has and I like it. This is a song that's pretty much about how you can't wait for the good times to come. Sometimes you have to find the joy in where you're at. In this case, maybe things aren't the way they want it, but they're together and in it for the long haul. And ain't that good enough? Sounds good to me. It's a relationship song, but I think you can apply it to other things. Like maybe you aren't where you want to be, but maybe where you are is good enough for now. Things might not be perfect, but that doesn't mean that they aren't good.
5) "The Good Ole Days". About recognizing that where you're at right now is what you'll look back on as the good old days. One of the themes of this album seems to be appreciating your circumstances as they are and I think that's a good thing. It's a message that I think a lot of people could use these days. That maybe this point where you're trying to find your way, maybe these are the good old days. I like the line about "Maybe if I don't try so hard / Maybe they won't fly so fast". It's an interesting thought.
6) "Caught". There's something about this song that makes me want to sing along whenever I listen to it. Never a bad thing, in my opinion. About a couple that climbs a fence to go skinny dipping in a hotel pool and end up running back to their car. But what it's really about is a couple getting caught up in a moment. In a feeling. And so on. Nice little twist with the use of the word caught. I like this one.
7) "Old Fashioned". Cool feel to this one and I appreciate the sentiment behind the lyric. It's about how simple things used to be, especially when we were younger. Compared to today when people tend to rush and wanting to go back to the way it is. "If it sounds good to you then / Maybe we can make something new again / By getting old fashioned". Another one I always seem to end up singing along with when I listen.
8) "Change". Slowing things down here and one of his best vocals on the album, in my opinion. Beautiful piano playing on this track. I love this one. "After you're alright not being quite the same / You change". This is another song that hits me on a personal level and has gotten more personal over time, which doesn't usually happen in my experience. For me, it recently hit me that I've officially had rheumatoid arthritis for half of my life. That's a fairly sobering thing to realize, let me tell you. I'm not the person I was before the diagnosis and sometimes I have a hard time remembering that girl. This line: "When everything you knew gets ripped away from you / And there's nothing else to do but change/ You change." That's kind of how it feels to get that kind of diagnosis. That's it. You end up changing because you don't have a choice. I feel like this song is going to speak to a lot of people in any number of situations. It's one of those songs that's relateable on a grander scale. This is easily one of my favorite tracks.
9) "Everything". Oh my goodness. Hold the presses. Clutch the pearls. We have a genuine love song. A song where a guy is going on about why he loves his girl and it's not just because she's hot. No, he loves her because of the person she is and not solely for how she looks in a pair of painted on and/or cut off blue jeans. Maybe the people rejoice. Thing one starts off with him saying how his girl asks him what made him fall in love with her. The initial response: "How could I pick one thing out of all the beautiful that you can be?" I think that line is just lovely. In fairness, her looks do get a mention, but it's like this: "You already know I think you're pretty / But it ain't your Carolina blues". That's such a nicer way to comment on it. And then later: "And you know I like your bad jokes and the way you sing off key / How you ain't perfect and you don't pretend to be / So if you're asking what I love about you / I guess it's everything." Bam. The chorus changes a bit each time too which makes it even better. Take a lesson, Nashville. More songs like this, please. Beautiful song and I love it.
10) "Drinkin' At Home". Perhaps one of the best written songs on an album full of well written songs. "We're all one heartbreak away from drinkin ' at home." A thoughtful song about drinking. These kinds of songs used to be a little more common and in fairness, there's still some out there. But once again, it's a nice change of pace from all the songs about getting drunk. Deep Cuts has done a great job of making me reflect on how weak so much of country radio is and I say that as someone who can like the fluffy, mindless songs from time to time. But there's been a big lack of substance on radio as of late. It makes me sad that someone as talented as Kenny Foster who has this collection of such good songs would most likely have to fight to get played. He's an independent artist and there's something to be said for not being under a major label that can easily push artists in whichever direction they want. I think some of the best music being made is being made by the independent acts. Songs that make you think are some of the best.
11) "Revival". In which we more or less get taken to church and I love it. In this song we have this line: "'Cause something being baptized feels like drowning / You can't hear that's still small whisper when you're shouting." As it happens, I decided to get baptized again a few years ago and I definitely had a moment of panic during it. I've also very nearly drowned. It's so easy to give in to panic and give in to a bad situation, but as Kenny points out: "Waiting on the far side of this trial is revival." Sometimes things get hard, but you have to hold on because the revival is coming. And that is very good news, indeed. Just hold on. Another of my favorite songs from Deep Cuts.
12) "Wood & Steel". So as I said in the introduction, I've seen Kenny a couple of times. The second time, I distinctly remember him doing this song and this was the song that told me that I needed to keep him on my radar, if you will. This is what hooked me. It stuck with me and it was a song I was looking for when I found out about this album and he did not disappoint. The ending is what did it for me. In regards to Jesus: "So thank Him if you want / Your soul's already bought with wood and steel / 'Cause there's still one good measure of a man / And that's what he makes with his two hands." Yup. That's what did it. When a song ends and your initial response is just a simple "wow", that is a beautiful thing and that rarely ever happens. Definitely one of my favorite tracks on here.
Listen, I know that it's easy to get disillusioned and discouraged with the state of country music (really, country radio) these days. With Nashville. Does anyone else get online surveys from radio stations where you rate songs and that supposedly helps them pick what to play? I said supposedly because I don't know how much of an impact they actually make, but that's besides the point. Every now and then, I'll do one of them and it always leaves me feeling depressed. Why? Because they'll be about 30 songs and well over half of them will sound the same to me. Oh, there's always at least a few that stand out. But most of it will sound remarkably similar to the point that I wonder if they accidentally put the same song in more than once.
That's what Deep Cuts does. This is the kind of album that forces you to pay attention to the lyrics and not enough albums do that, for my taste. These songs make you think and they make you feel things. If that sounds good to you, keep on reading. As always, we're going to go track by track.
1) "Stand". Deep Cuts gets off to a great start. In the first verse of this first song on this album, we have these lines: "some see hard times / I see teaching / some see a woman out begging for change / I see Jesus". Well alright. A song with some wisdom. I love it. I could quote the whole song, but I won't. Besides, these are the lines that really got me. Well those and these: "I know the good fight's the fight inside / Even when it's losing / When I fall, I still believe / When you think that I can't get back again / That's where I stand". Lyrics like that always hit me on a personal level. It's the first song and I already feel it on a deeper level. I love the way it starts with 'I' statements in the beginning and by the end the 'I' becomes 'we'. It makes it feel more like an anthem. Then going back to the I at the very end. Like I said, this is a great way to start the album.
2) "Made". One thing that I really appreciate about this album is the production. They got it right. The instrumentation is there to support the lyric without the musical clutter you find in so many other songs. So many songs try to do way too much; often in an attempt to hide a weaker lyric. That's not a problem here. The one has a nice feel to it. If you have a loving family, you really don't need much else. That's the message here. It's all about figuring out what matters most and appreciating that. "Ain't got it all / Ain't got it right / But I got it made".
3) "Hearts That Bend". This song is so interesting. It's such a well crafted song and a great vocal from Kenny. Some of the lines here are on another level. Like this one: "She handed me the ring and said 'I do' / When I asked if she thought we were through". Not how you thought that line was going to go, is it? One of my musical pet peeves is when I can predict all the lyrics before they happen. Every once in a while doesn't bug me, but some songs are trite enough that you can figure all of it out before it happens. So I always love it when a lyric does something I don't expect. That was one of those lines that seemed like it took a second to full sink in because my initial thought was, wait what? Even knowing it's coming, I always have to take a second of appreciation for that line. And then later we get this: "Hearts don't bend, but now I see / That God made knees for times like these." Whoa. This is next level songwriting going on and I'm so here for it.
4) "Good Enough". There's something very pleasant about the groove that this song has and I like it. This is a song that's pretty much about how you can't wait for the good times to come. Sometimes you have to find the joy in where you're at. In this case, maybe things aren't the way they want it, but they're together and in it for the long haul. And ain't that good enough? Sounds good to me. It's a relationship song, but I think you can apply it to other things. Like maybe you aren't where you want to be, but maybe where you are is good enough for now. Things might not be perfect, but that doesn't mean that they aren't good.
5) "The Good Ole Days". About recognizing that where you're at right now is what you'll look back on as the good old days. One of the themes of this album seems to be appreciating your circumstances as they are and I think that's a good thing. It's a message that I think a lot of people could use these days. That maybe this point where you're trying to find your way, maybe these are the good old days. I like the line about "Maybe if I don't try so hard / Maybe they won't fly so fast". It's an interesting thought.
6) "Caught". There's something about this song that makes me want to sing along whenever I listen to it. Never a bad thing, in my opinion. About a couple that climbs a fence to go skinny dipping in a hotel pool and end up running back to their car. But what it's really about is a couple getting caught up in a moment. In a feeling. And so on. Nice little twist with the use of the word caught. I like this one.
7) "Old Fashioned". Cool feel to this one and I appreciate the sentiment behind the lyric. It's about how simple things used to be, especially when we were younger. Compared to today when people tend to rush and wanting to go back to the way it is. "If it sounds good to you then / Maybe we can make something new again / By getting old fashioned". Another one I always seem to end up singing along with when I listen.
8) "Change". Slowing things down here and one of his best vocals on the album, in my opinion. Beautiful piano playing on this track. I love this one. "After you're alright not being quite the same / You change". This is another song that hits me on a personal level and has gotten more personal over time, which doesn't usually happen in my experience. For me, it recently hit me that I've officially had rheumatoid arthritis for half of my life. That's a fairly sobering thing to realize, let me tell you. I'm not the person I was before the diagnosis and sometimes I have a hard time remembering that girl. This line: "When everything you knew gets ripped away from you / And there's nothing else to do but change/ You change." That's kind of how it feels to get that kind of diagnosis. That's it. You end up changing because you don't have a choice. I feel like this song is going to speak to a lot of people in any number of situations. It's one of those songs that's relateable on a grander scale. This is easily one of my favorite tracks.
9) "Everything". Oh my goodness. Hold the presses. Clutch the pearls. We have a genuine love song. A song where a guy is going on about why he loves his girl and it's not just because she's hot. No, he loves her because of the person she is and not solely for how she looks in a pair of painted on and/or cut off blue jeans. Maybe the people rejoice. Thing one starts off with him saying how his girl asks him what made him fall in love with her. The initial response: "How could I pick one thing out of all the beautiful that you can be?" I think that line is just lovely. In fairness, her looks do get a mention, but it's like this: "You already know I think you're pretty / But it ain't your Carolina blues". That's such a nicer way to comment on it. And then later: "And you know I like your bad jokes and the way you sing off key / How you ain't perfect and you don't pretend to be / So if you're asking what I love about you / I guess it's everything." Bam. The chorus changes a bit each time too which makes it even better. Take a lesson, Nashville. More songs like this, please. Beautiful song and I love it.
10) "Drinkin' At Home". Perhaps one of the best written songs on an album full of well written songs. "We're all one heartbreak away from drinkin ' at home." A thoughtful song about drinking. These kinds of songs used to be a little more common and in fairness, there's still some out there. But once again, it's a nice change of pace from all the songs about getting drunk. Deep Cuts has done a great job of making me reflect on how weak so much of country radio is and I say that as someone who can like the fluffy, mindless songs from time to time. But there's been a big lack of substance on radio as of late. It makes me sad that someone as talented as Kenny Foster who has this collection of such good songs would most likely have to fight to get played. He's an independent artist and there's something to be said for not being under a major label that can easily push artists in whichever direction they want. I think some of the best music being made is being made by the independent acts. Songs that make you think are some of the best.
11) "Revival". In which we more or less get taken to church and I love it. In this song we have this line: "'Cause something being baptized feels like drowning / You can't hear that's still small whisper when you're shouting." As it happens, I decided to get baptized again a few years ago and I definitely had a moment of panic during it. I've also very nearly drowned. It's so easy to give in to panic and give in to a bad situation, but as Kenny points out: "Waiting on the far side of this trial is revival." Sometimes things get hard, but you have to hold on because the revival is coming. And that is very good news, indeed. Just hold on. Another of my favorite songs from Deep Cuts.
12) "Wood & Steel". So as I said in the introduction, I've seen Kenny a couple of times. The second time, I distinctly remember him doing this song and this was the song that told me that I needed to keep him on my radar, if you will. This is what hooked me. It stuck with me and it was a song I was looking for when I found out about this album and he did not disappoint. The ending is what did it for me. In regards to Jesus: "So thank Him if you want / Your soul's already bought with wood and steel / 'Cause there's still one good measure of a man / And that's what he makes with his two hands." Yup. That's what did it. When a song ends and your initial response is just a simple "wow", that is a beautiful thing and that rarely ever happens. Definitely one of my favorite tracks on here.
Listen, I know that it's easy to get disillusioned and discouraged with the state of country music (really, country radio) these days. With Nashville. Does anyone else get online surveys from radio stations where you rate songs and that supposedly helps them pick what to play? I said supposedly because I don't know how much of an impact they actually make, but that's besides the point. Every now and then, I'll do one of them and it always leaves me feeling depressed. Why? Because they'll be about 30 songs and well over half of them will sound the same to me. Oh, there's always at least a few that stand out. But most of it will sound remarkably similar to the point that I wonder if they accidentally put the same song in more than once.
It's important to remember that the songs found on country radio are just a tiny fraction of all the songs being made in Nashville alone. Most of the music made here will never make it to radio or the mainstream. Not because it's bad (okay, some of it will inevitably be), but because so much music is made in this city that you couldn't possibly play everything. And that's without taking into consideration all the songs that get written elsewhere. Unfortunately, sometimes some of the best songs remain undiscovered gems. There is some wonderful music still being made and this album is but one example. My sincere hope is that I've encouraged you to at least go and check Deep Cuts out. These songs deserve to be heard. They just do.
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