Aaron Watson released his latest album ‘American Soul’ on Friday. This 10-song collection is the middle-of-the-road country that fans might be looking for, I just wish it was better. It’s not all bad, it’s just uninspired. Even the bright spots aren’t even that bright.
The album gets better as it progresses. Some of the tracks on the end of the list are far better than what preceded them. ‘Out of My Misery’ is the star of this collection, and it’s not even close. Watson sings about his partner who is about to leave him, but begs for one more night of passion before she ends things for good. He sings with purpose and I actually believe that this scenario happened to him. ‘Dog Tags’ is a nice tribute, not only to his father, but to all service members who fight for our country. The other song worth listening to is ‘Boots’, a sexy ode to the natural high that the woman in his life makes him feel.
With the good unfortunately has to come some bad, and ‘Best Friend’ is bad. Singing about your dog can be sweetly charming or it can turn into a caricature of a song. This song is definitely the latter. I’m not sure if it was the lyrics or the delivery, but I found myself rolling my eyes when he was singing of how his dog will never let him down like women do. Other songs like ‘Stay’ and title track ‘American Soul’ had lyrics that were filled with cliches that made me wonder how these songs could’ve turned out in the hands of more capable writers.
Overall, Aaron Watson is not starting off country music on a high note in 2021 with ‘American Soul’. Fans should be thankful that we are in times of downloading and streaming singular songs as opposed to full albums. If you would like to listen to some or all of ‘American Soul’, click here.
