Random fact #1: I've been fortunate enough to get to meet a bunch of country artists and the first ones I ever met were Ira Dean, Heidi Newfield and Keith Burns - formerly known as Trick Pony.
Random fact #2: Ira was the first in line so he's actually the very first country artist I'd ever met. This was roughly nine year ago, give or take.
Random fact #3: Remembering the latter part of the last fact is now making me feel old. Even though I'm not really.
It's been a while since Trick Pony broke up and it still bums me out that didn't get any bigger than they were. They had some great songs that I still love today and if you've never listened to them before, look 'em up. I feel very confident in saying that they'll have at least a handful of songs that you'd like. Some suggestions for ya: "Pour Me", "Just What I Do", "On a Night Like This", "On a Mission", "Love Be Still", "Sad City", "Cry Cry Cry" and "When I Fall". Yeah, I was a huge Trick Pony fan back then.
But as any Trick Pony fan knows, they had their share of problems and they seemed like they were fairly constant. Combine that with the fact that for whatever reason, the general country audience just didn't connect with them, and it was no surprise that they would eventually end up breaking up. First Heidi left and then the guys got a new female singer to join and it looked like those three would do something, but then the new girl left. I think Keith and Ira considered being a duo at one point, but it never happened and they went their separate ways. Heidi has been pursuing a solo career and Keith has become half of the country duo Burns and Poe which the other half being Michelle Poe who played in Dierks Bentley's band once upon a time.
As for Ira? Well in the past couple of years he's had some success as a songwriter writing such songs as "Beer or Gasoline" (Chris Young), "Feeling Like That" (Gary Allan), "One in Every Crowd (Montgomery Gentry), "Proud to Be Here" (Trace Adkins) and most recently "Friday" (Rascal Flatts). Just a few examples. Now Ira has released the first single off of an upcoming solo album. That single? "Somethin' Bout a Sunday".
It feels very appropriate that I would be writing this review not only on a Sunday, but on Easter Sunday. I can't think of a more perfect day to write about this song, especially in light of what today is all about. And before I jump into my review, I'd like to take a second and wish all of my readers a Happy Easter. I hope that you've all had a wonderful day.
Ready to jump in? Let's go.
The strength of this song lies entirely in the lyrics. This was written by Ira and Josh Thompson and is, in my opinion, wonderfully written. I love how this one jumps right in there and sets the tone so perfectly in the beginning and I also really like how the first two lines end up closing the song. The first verse: "Woke up to church bells ringin' in my ear/ To the smell of cheap perfume and last night's beer/ I can't remember what's-her-name/ It's a good thing she isn't here". Whoa. This is in no way a pretty song and those lines make that point abundantly clear. Ira lived with Johnny and June Cash for some time when he first came to Nashville and I recently saw an interview with him where he shared something that Johnny Cash had said to him once which was along the lines of, "People can always recognize the truth, even if it's been a while since they last heard it." That might not be the exact quote since I'm going off of memory, but it's very, very close.if it's not.
I keep seeing and hearing whining about how no one makes "real" country music anymore and it always irritates me because that simply isn't true. You want an example of "real" country music? Listen to this. It doesn't get much more real. I have never been in the exact situation in the first verse, but I bet a lot of people have. Ira has said that he wants his record to be authentically him and if you've followed Ira at all, you know he's battled some demons. And he doesn't sugarcoat that fact at all. There's such an honesty to the lyrics that people should appreciate, particularly if they call themselves country fans. This song has one of the best concepts I've heard in a while. "There's somethin' bout a Sunday/ Makes a man feel like someday he can change/ Start his life all over/ Get back to clean and sober/ But tomorrow I'm back to the same old same/ But there's somethin' bout a Sunday/ Makes a man feel like someday he can change". This might be the most lyrics of a song I've ever posted in a review and I could keep going. There's no weak spots lyrically for me. None.
So how about another verse? The second one: "Amazing Grace was wrote for guys like me/ Just a walkin' talkin' train wreck on two feet/ They lost their way straight but still believe/ Yeah I still believe/ Yeah I believe". What we have is a guy who knows he's not living the way he feels he should, but he still has his faith. He messes up every week, but he still believes he has the ability to change. All because there's something about Sundays that makes him feel that way. There's a pain in this that's mixed with an undeniable hope. What's a beautiful and powerful message.
Musically, I really have no complaints. I have a hard time focusing on the music itself in this one since the lyrics are so strong. Which is really not a bad problem for a song to have. I like the production on this and as what's been usual so far in my reviews, there's some nice playing hear. I always seem to talk about energy and yeah, this song has a nice energy to it. Nice instrumentation. Very solid in terms of the music.
Vocally speaking, I say this with phenomenal disrespect or meanness intended, but Ira Dean will never be one of country's greatest vocalist. He has a very nice voice, don't get me wrong, but his strength ultimately lies in his delivery. He sings with such passion here and you can hear the truth in what he's singing and honestly, that's enough for me. When the emotion is there and it rings true and you can really feel what the singer is feeling, it doesn't matter if the actual vocal isn't amazing. And really, a lyric like this kind of requires a voice that isn't perfect. I think it would lose something if it'd been sung by, I don't know, Philip Quast. There's a kind of grittiness in Ira's voice that suits this song perfectly. Just a wonderful delivery.
Yeah so, I'm sure it hasn't been obvious at all, but I love this song. The sad thing about this is that I genuinely believe that this is one of the best songs out right now and deserves to get played, but the truth is that Ira and his team are probably going to have to fight to get it heard while songs that aren't as good will go right to the top. I worry that a lot of country fans will never get to hear it and it is my sincere hope that I am wrong about that. Do yourself a favor and check this one out, buy it on iTunes or wherever and if you like it, tell someone else about it. Let's give this one the shot it deserves.
Whew, this was kind of a long one, I know it and I thank you for making it through. Comments are always welcome. Major props to anyone who knows who Philip Quast is too. I could be wrong about this, but somehow I don't think many country fans would have heard of him. Or maybe I'm way off base and he has a massive country following. I don't know. I'm not imagining him singing a country song and to say it's weird would be a vast understatement. Let me know if you know of him! Or if you get curious and look him up.
Random fact #2: Ira was the first in line so he's actually the very first country artist I'd ever met. This was roughly nine year ago, give or take.
Random fact #3: Remembering the latter part of the last fact is now making me feel old. Even though I'm not really.
It's been a while since Trick Pony broke up and it still bums me out that didn't get any bigger than they were. They had some great songs that I still love today and if you've never listened to them before, look 'em up. I feel very confident in saying that they'll have at least a handful of songs that you'd like. Some suggestions for ya: "Pour Me", "Just What I Do", "On a Night Like This", "On a Mission", "Love Be Still", "Sad City", "Cry Cry Cry" and "When I Fall". Yeah, I was a huge Trick Pony fan back then.
But as any Trick Pony fan knows, they had their share of problems and they seemed like they were fairly constant. Combine that with the fact that for whatever reason, the general country audience just didn't connect with them, and it was no surprise that they would eventually end up breaking up. First Heidi left and then the guys got a new female singer to join and it looked like those three would do something, but then the new girl left. I think Keith and Ira considered being a duo at one point, but it never happened and they went their separate ways. Heidi has been pursuing a solo career and Keith has become half of the country duo Burns and Poe which the other half being Michelle Poe who played in Dierks Bentley's band once upon a time.
As for Ira? Well in the past couple of years he's had some success as a songwriter writing such songs as "Beer or Gasoline" (Chris Young), "Feeling Like That" (Gary Allan), "One in Every Crowd (Montgomery Gentry), "Proud to Be Here" (Trace Adkins) and most recently "Friday" (Rascal Flatts). Just a few examples. Now Ira has released the first single off of an upcoming solo album. That single? "Somethin' Bout a Sunday".
It feels very appropriate that I would be writing this review not only on a Sunday, but on Easter Sunday. I can't think of a more perfect day to write about this song, especially in light of what today is all about. And before I jump into my review, I'd like to take a second and wish all of my readers a Happy Easter. I hope that you've all had a wonderful day.
Ready to jump in? Let's go.
The strength of this song lies entirely in the lyrics. This was written by Ira and Josh Thompson and is, in my opinion, wonderfully written. I love how this one jumps right in there and sets the tone so perfectly in the beginning and I also really like how the first two lines end up closing the song. The first verse: "Woke up to church bells ringin' in my ear/ To the smell of cheap perfume and last night's beer/ I can't remember what's-her-name/ It's a good thing she isn't here". Whoa. This is in no way a pretty song and those lines make that point abundantly clear. Ira lived with Johnny and June Cash for some time when he first came to Nashville and I recently saw an interview with him where he shared something that Johnny Cash had said to him once which was along the lines of, "People can always recognize the truth, even if it's been a while since they last heard it." That might not be the exact quote since I'm going off of memory, but it's very, very close.if it's not.
I keep seeing and hearing whining about how no one makes "real" country music anymore and it always irritates me because that simply isn't true. You want an example of "real" country music? Listen to this. It doesn't get much more real. I have never been in the exact situation in the first verse, but I bet a lot of people have. Ira has said that he wants his record to be authentically him and if you've followed Ira at all, you know he's battled some demons. And he doesn't sugarcoat that fact at all. There's such an honesty to the lyrics that people should appreciate, particularly if they call themselves country fans. This song has one of the best concepts I've heard in a while. "There's somethin' bout a Sunday/ Makes a man feel like someday he can change/ Start his life all over/ Get back to clean and sober/ But tomorrow I'm back to the same old same/ But there's somethin' bout a Sunday/ Makes a man feel like someday he can change". This might be the most lyrics of a song I've ever posted in a review and I could keep going. There's no weak spots lyrically for me. None.
So how about another verse? The second one: "Amazing Grace was wrote for guys like me/ Just a walkin' talkin' train wreck on two feet/ They lost their way straight but still believe/ Yeah I still believe/ Yeah I believe". What we have is a guy who knows he's not living the way he feels he should, but he still has his faith. He messes up every week, but he still believes he has the ability to change. All because there's something about Sundays that makes him feel that way. There's a pain in this that's mixed with an undeniable hope. What's a beautiful and powerful message.
Musically, I really have no complaints. I have a hard time focusing on the music itself in this one since the lyrics are so strong. Which is really not a bad problem for a song to have. I like the production on this and as what's been usual so far in my reviews, there's some nice playing hear. I always seem to talk about energy and yeah, this song has a nice energy to it. Nice instrumentation. Very solid in terms of the music.
Vocally speaking, I say this with phenomenal disrespect or meanness intended, but Ira Dean will never be one of country's greatest vocalist. He has a very nice voice, don't get me wrong, but his strength ultimately lies in his delivery. He sings with such passion here and you can hear the truth in what he's singing and honestly, that's enough for me. When the emotion is there and it rings true and you can really feel what the singer is feeling, it doesn't matter if the actual vocal isn't amazing. And really, a lyric like this kind of requires a voice that isn't perfect. I think it would lose something if it'd been sung by, I don't know, Philip Quast. There's a kind of grittiness in Ira's voice that suits this song perfectly. Just a wonderful delivery.
Yeah so, I'm sure it hasn't been obvious at all, but I love this song. The sad thing about this is that I genuinely believe that this is one of the best songs out right now and deserves to get played, but the truth is that Ira and his team are probably going to have to fight to get it heard while songs that aren't as good will go right to the top. I worry that a lot of country fans will never get to hear it and it is my sincere hope that I am wrong about that. Do yourself a favor and check this one out, buy it on iTunes or wherever and if you like it, tell someone else about it. Let's give this one the shot it deserves.
Whew, this was kind of a long one, I know it and I thank you for making it through. Comments are always welcome. Major props to anyone who knows who Philip Quast is too. I could be wrong about this, but somehow I don't think many country fans would have heard of him. Or maybe I'm way off base and he has a massive country following. I don't know. I'm not imagining him singing a country song and to say it's weird would be a vast understatement. Let me know if you know of him! Or if you get curious and look him up.
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