Catching Up On Country With Adeem The Artist, Kacey Musgraves, And Charley Crockett: Rapid Fire Reviews

I've been bad about covering new country releases, at least the ones music fans are actually talking about. So let's fix that. 

Anniversary - Adeem The Artist

Adeem The Artist is an alt-country artist who I first heard about thanks to Spectrum Pulse who covered their 2021 release Cast Iron Pansexual. That was followed by the even more widely discussed White Trash Revelry, though I wasn't quite as much of a fan of that one. Adeem represents one of the most unique and earnest figures in country music, unburdened by the machine of Nashville that controls the genre with an iron fist, yet with a clear appreciation for the genre's history and pioneers, even if they may be those very same Nashville stars. 

This unencumbered style of songwriting allows Adeem to say things like the instantly iconic opening lines of Nancy, one of the best songs on the record. The record is at its best when Adeem's earnest sentiments lead them to a place more vulnerable than many of their contemporaries are willing, or even allowed to be. Wounded Astronaut is a wonderful meditation on how childhood trauma affects the way that you interact with the people closest to you as an adult. The album's brilliant second single Rotations may be my favorite Adeem song to date. The gentle creaking vocals tell the story of a parent pondering just how long they'll have to teach their child everything they need to know before they die and it's written with such a tragic elegance. 

On the flip side of that coin, my least favorite songs on the record are also quite earnest. Adeem also isn't shy of some of their influences and admiration of imagery that very much does align with the country standard. That occasionally creates moments that, while I hate to say this, are extremely cringey. One of those is surprisingly One Night Stand which contrasts with the unique and detail-rich writing of Nancy with a far more familiar narrative that feels over-explored before it even begins. I don't blame Adeem for getting explicitly political at points on the record. After all they do fall under the trans umbrella which makes their existence, unfortunately, an inherently political matter. But on Nightmare they lend some admittedly quite good refrains to a really ham-fisted attempt at political shadowboxing. They make an effort to spread understanding by painting a world where religious types were persecuted in the same way actually marginalized groups are. It's a bad idea in concept made worse by references to those using religion as a mask for abuse, which does happen and alarmingly often, as a mirror specifically for allegations of grooming leveled against trans people, which are almost universally untrue. 

Socialite Blues is a song that goes full-on hokey and while I'm sure Adeem is well aware of what their doing and it's completely intentional, the song is still a bit hard for me to take as seriously as some of the songs that surround it. There are a few songs here I'm not crazy about and the occasional political motif I don't exactly want to put my cosign behind, though I do believe they're all coming from the right places and attitudes. But for the most part this is just a sharply written and very unique country record. If anything I admire Adeem for trying things, because more of his experiments succeed than fail. For the second time in a few years I think Adeem is serving up alt-country in its truest form, applying the genres conventions to music far bolder and more personal than fans are accustomed to. 7/10

Deeper Well - Kacey Musgraves

Kacey Musgraves is one of the most beloved country artists among music lovers. That's still the case despite the fact that her most acclaimed record, 2018's Golden Hour was followed by a bit of a rough period for Kacey. The two biggest points are a Christmas album in 2019 with bizarrely fumbled collaborations and much more importantly, a deeply unpleasant concept album called star-crossed that she dropped in 2021. But last year she played a starring role in one of the best hit songs of the year, I Remember Everything with Zach Bryan. I also liked the second single from this record Too Good To Be True quite a bit. All of which came together to make me excited for this record despite how long its been since I last really loved something Kacey did. 

I think in a sense Deeper Well can be described as a getting-back-to-basics moment for Kacey. The instrumentals often aren't as extravagant and the focus is much more on her painting lyrical portraits. Take the strong opening track Cardinal as an example of this approach at its best. I also like the push-and-pull dynamic of Giver / Taker even though the instrumental and composition of the song itself can admittedly be a bit of a bore to listen to.

For an example of where this lyrical focus can go wrong take the opening single and title track. Not only are the refrains kind of children's song hokey but the lyrics themselves are cringey in their confessional nature. It's an issue on songs that are both painfully predictable, like Sway or Lonely Millionaire, and unpredictable in all the wrong ways like Anime Eyes. But truthfully there's an even bigger issue with this record, it's boring. I try not to use that as a complaint if I can help it because it's the go-to choice of people who are blindly hating without paying close enough attention. But if any record this year deserves the claim it's Deeper Well. Kacey's performances are without a doubt pleasant to listen to they consistently fail to be interesting or memorable listening experiences. That results in an album that is fairly pleasant to listen to while it's on, but almost none of it has stuck with me even after multiple listens. 5/10

$10 Cowboy - Charley Crockett

Charley Crockett is a pretty unique blues and country singer with a smokey vintage voice but a willingness to wander his style across other vintage motifs that has attracted critical acclaim for his past few projects. I was actually introduced to his music by one of my girlfriends before the critics could even hit my brain and I liked what I heard of his surprisingly dense discography. That's why I was pretty excited for this record especially after seeing more positive buzz for it than I anticipated. But when I listened to the album after it came out, it didn't make that much of an impact on me. 

With a few more weeks to process it, I'm not sure the album has begun to sound any more distinct to me. And make no mistake, the music here is absolutely not bad. Charley is both a capable vocalist and songwriter and occasionally he serves up some great moments. For example, Gettin Tired Again is a huge highlight that updates some blues tropes with an impressive swagger. Solitary Road is the record's most soulful embrace of blues and I'm quite a big fan of it as well. 

But this album suffers from an incessant tastefulness that feels like a ceiling holding everything down from reaching its full potential. The instrumentals are varied and involved, pulling inspiration from a myriad of interesting musical styles. But with production that refuses to let any particular sounds truly shine and a lack of willingness to experiment compositionally, you rarely get to fully appreciate the performances. And that's when the songs are actually building on their original ideas. Other tracks like Spade fail to separate themselves from the staples that obviously inspired them. This record is professionally written and performed by most any measure and I absolutely see the appeal in what it delivers. But while there are a few highlights much of the record seemingly fails to elevate itself to memorability and as a result praise of its individual pieces can only mean so much. 5.5/10