It seems like there's a lot of people out there who believe that an artist needs to be living out the songs that they sing about. "New to This Town" has been criticized because it's about a guy who is trying to get over a broken heart and Kix has been married for over 30 years. Apparently that makes the song strange to listen to. It's a criticism I don't understand. Being a great artist isn't about only singing songs about whatever you may be going through at a given moment; being a great artist doesn't mean you have to be living your songs down to the letter. A truly great artist finds something to relate to in the songs they sing and is able to put themselves in the moment to make it feel real. Their job is the sell the song in a way that's believable, regardless of what their personal experiences may be.
As it is, Kix may have been married for over 30 years, but I'd be willing to bet that at some point in his life he's had his heart broken. I should point out that there are many things that can break a person's heart; it's not always a person who does it. Or if it is a person, it doesn't always have to be a person that you were involved with romantically. Yes, I think we can safely assume that it's a romantic relationship that our narrator is trying to get over, but my point is that there's all sorts of experiences that Kix could be pulling from here. And for a man who is embarking on a solo career after being in a duo for so many years, the title of this song seems very apt for a first single. No, he's not new to Nashville or to country music, but this is the beginning of a new phase of his career.
So all of that said, what do I think about the song? Let's see.
"New to This Town" was written by Kix Brooks, Marv Green and Terry McBride and features Joe Walsh, of Eagles fame, on the guitar. This is a very well crafted song, it has a nice flow to it lyrically. My favorite part is probably the first part of the second verse, "I can't put my feet on this sidewalk/ Without hearin' you laugh or hearin' you talk/ And every street's a memory/ Of just how good it used to be". It's just a handful of lines, but they're so effective. They give you a great sense of how hard it's been for the singer.
I said that the lyrics have a nice flow to them and I could say the same for the music itself. There's kind of an ebb and flow that's going on throughout musically that I like. Great playing in here; a good example of music building when it needs to and pulling back when it should. When I found out that Joe Walsh was going to be featured in this, I was imagining huge guitar solos and was worried that they would detract from the song some. Worries that ended up being unfounded; there was just enough guitar in this for me and everything played fit which I'll take as a testament to both Joe Walsh as a player and to the producer. I don't know who produced this, but I thought it was wonderfully produced. So kudos to whoever that was, both the producer and engineers.
Vocally speaking, I think Kix sounds great in this. One of my favorite things about Kix Brooks is the feeling he puts into what he's singing. It's something I never really thought about until I got to see Brooks & Dunn in concert; I never noticed it. I feel like he's underrated as a vocalist and hopefully that'll change. I got to see him perform at Craig Wiseman's Stars for Second Harvest this past October and couldn't believe how great Kix sounded. It seems like he's grown as a singer since he and Ronnie Dunn decided to do their own things; I get the impression that a lot of people may be surprised at just how good of a singer he is. He has an ability to make everything he sings feel real, and to go back to the what I was saying earlier, a great artist can make anything like sing feel believable. I think he sells this lyric very well and again, don't understand some of the criticisms this song has gotten. All in all, this is a really good song for him to put out as his first single as a solo artist and I hope that it does well for him. I'm definitely looking forward to his CD whenever that comes out. I haven't seen a release date for it yet.
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