Neil McCoy - XII
By: Cheryl Harvey Hill
For his first new album in five years, Neal McCoy has joined forces with three of the most energentic, and respected, talents in country music. Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton, and Brent Rowan came together to produce XII on the new Blaster Records label.
The album kicks off with “A-OK”, a nice toe-tapper and you have to know it's something special when the background singers are two of the hottest artists to ever wander down a country road - Lambert and Shelton.
For comedic relief there's “Mouth” and the cleverly written “That's Just How She Gets”. They are both sure to garner a giggle or two but if you're yearning for a sun-washed beach and a margarita, then “Borderline Crazy” will be the track that takes you away. For easy listening that will soothe a tired soul with the will to chill, just go straight to “Every Fire”. The vocal harmonies of McCoy and Miranda Lambert are more delicious and satisfying than a glass of ice cold, sweet tea.
Selecting a stand out track on this album wasn't easy. The obvious place to start would be the songs co-written by McCoy; “Lucky Enough” and “That's You”, both up-tempo tunes. But the album contains ten other great songs and the list of songwriters on this project is beyond impressive.
On the initial run through, “Judge A Man By The Woman” really grabbed me. The meter of McCoy's voice is right-on perfection and this is such an all-around strong song, musicly and lyricly:
“She's the window to his soul / His best friend, don't you know / You judge a day by the sun / But you judge a man by the woman”
… absolutely beautiful, huh? But each time I hit the replay button for one more run through of the album, I would hear something I had previously missed that I felt should be noted. I definitely wanted to be sure to mention the instrumentals. They are wonderful. I love all the fiddles, piano riffs, trumpets, the pedal steel, all of them were truly the best. They expertly manage to add that extra oomph and take each song to the next level.
But after all is said and done, the song that really stayed with me is “Van Gogh”. The simple piano intro really sets the stage for this song and the lyrics truly grabbed me. I think “Van Gogh” is an ode to the artist in all of us. McCoy's delivery on this track is beyond splendid and the music at the end is hauntingly beautiful. We sometimes say a song “stuck a chord” with us, well, this one really did, and despite the sadness of the delivery, I took the message to be one of optimism.
On a scale of one to ten... this album is a XII.
www.NealMcCoy.com
For his first new album in five years, Neal McCoy has joined forces with three of the most energentic, and respected, talents in country music. Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton, and Brent Rowan came together to produce XII on the new Blaster Records label.
The album kicks off with “A-OK”, a nice toe-tapper and you have to know it's something special when the background singers are two of the hottest artists to ever wander down a country road - Lambert and Shelton.
For comedic relief there's “Mouth” and the cleverly written “That's Just How She Gets”. They are both sure to garner a giggle or two but if you're yearning for a sun-washed beach and a margarita, then “Borderline Crazy” will be the track that takes you away. For easy listening that will soothe a tired soul with the will to chill, just go straight to “Every Fire”. The vocal harmonies of McCoy and Miranda Lambert are more delicious and satisfying than a glass of ice cold, sweet tea.
Selecting a stand out track on this album wasn't easy. The obvious place to start would be the songs co-written by McCoy; “Lucky Enough” and “That's You”, both up-tempo tunes. But the album contains ten other great songs and the list of songwriters on this project is beyond impressive.
On the initial run through, “Judge A Man By The Woman” really grabbed me. The meter of McCoy's voice is right-on perfection and this is such an all-around strong song, musicly and lyricly:
“She's the window to his soul / His best friend, don't you know / You judge a day by the sun / But you judge a man by the woman”
… absolutely beautiful, huh? But each time I hit the replay button for one more run through of the album, I would hear something I had previously missed that I felt should be noted. I definitely wanted to be sure to mention the instrumentals. They are wonderful. I love all the fiddles, piano riffs, trumpets, the pedal steel, all of them were truly the best. They expertly manage to add that extra oomph and take each song to the next level.
But after all is said and done, the song that really stayed with me is “Van Gogh”. The simple piano intro really sets the stage for this song and the lyrics truly grabbed me. I think “Van Gogh” is an ode to the artist in all of us. McCoy's delivery on this track is beyond splendid and the music at the end is hauntingly beautiful. We sometimes say a song “stuck a chord” with us, well, this one really did, and despite the sadness of the delivery, I took the message to be one of optimism.
On a scale of one to ten... this album is a XII.
www.NealMcCoy.com
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