Gretchen Wilson – “One Of The Boys”
What do you get when you mix one of country music’s brightest young stars (Wilson), with two of the genre’s most talented producers (John Rich and Mark Wright), and then throw in one of it’s all-time great songwriters (Rivers Rutherford)? You get a can’t-miss mega-hit. So let me be one of the first to declare the obvious: Gretchen Wilson’s latest, the unabashedly country “One Of The Boys” is going to be one of 2007’s biggest records, and may well end up being the most important song of Wilson’s career to date.
Yeah, I said it–even bigger than “Redneck Woman.”
“But Jim,” you say– “Redneck Woman was the song that launched Wilson’s meteoric rise to superstardom, and paved the way for the MusikMafia onslaught!”
Indeed. But one song does not a career make, and the follow-ups to that debut single have failed to stand out as more than just average contemporary fodder.
“One Of The Boys,” on the other hand, is the kind of song that women will be singing at Karaoke for years. When Wilson sings, “I know I don’t act much like a lady/But I still need to be somebody’s baby,” that is a sentiment, while not incredibly unique, that I think the average female country music fan can take to heart, especially in bar-room scenarios. And when you couple that with the track’s catchy simplicity, Wilson has a slam-dunk.
Oh, and there’s the small fact that, in it’s first week at radio, this song is spinning at 65 country stations. And it’s picked up 4 of those (and +175 spins) in less than 24 hours.
What I love most about “One Of The Boys,” however, is that it doesn’t sound like anything we’ve heard on country radio in years. This song is so different that it’s difficult to even find anything to compare it to, at least from a contemporary frame of reference. But I could see Loretta or Tammy singing this song, and that is saying something.
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May 4, 2007 at 1:40 pm Permalink
Finally, someone who believes the best of the Redneck Woman has yet to come. It probably couldn’t come at a better time, either. I’m hoping this single and upcoming album will allow Wilson to either bring back country, or take it back (however you look at it) from an overexposed American Idol product.
May 4, 2007 at 1:48 pm Permalink
The album is a great big snooze. Very disappointing.
May 4, 2007 at 2:34 pm Permalink
Haven’t heard the album, but I heard Gretchen perform several of the songs acoustically in a surprise show on Lower Broadway before the CMA Awards. My reaction was similar to Chris’s.
Regarding the single, it’s much better than anything that came off the All Jacked Up disc, but I wouldn’t call anything she releases “can’t miss” given how she has flopped at country radio recently. Even if she were on top of the world right now, I don’t see it overshadowing Redneck Woman. It’s really only remarkable because it’s not as bad as her recent offerings.
May 4, 2007 at 5:51 pm Permalink
I like the idea of Gretchen more than I like the results.
May 4, 2007 at 8:49 pm Permalink
I’ve heard every track, and think this album is a real winner! It’s real country music, with a real down to earth feel! I can’t think of another female country artist out there today, that can match Gretchen’s real life approach. She tells it like it really is and her songs aren’t some made for Hollywood POP BS! I agree with Chris, I hope this album helps to get Country Music back on track! Great Review!
May 5, 2007 at 6:39 am Permalink
>>I can’t think of another female country artist out there today, that can match Gretchen’s real life approach.
Can’t think of another? Let me help, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Elizabeth Cook, Pam Tillis, Mary Gauthier, Martha Scanlan, Carrie Rodriquez, Neko Case, Tift Merritt…they all blow Gretchen away.
May 5, 2007 at 4:26 pm Permalink
Didn’t I say OUT THERE TODAY! Can’t say that I’ve heard any of these ladies on the radio in resent memory. Don’t get me wrong I love Tammy, Loretta and Dolly. But I was referring to, the female artists out there and being spun today on country radio. The songs that the majority of Country Fans get to listen to, day in and day out!
May 5, 2007 at 7:15 pm Permalink
I dig ya Larau and I think your taste in country music tend to the good stuff, but if there is one place to NOT go to find the best country music it’s commercial supported (not satellite or web radio) country radio. All the artists that I referred to above have come out with a new CD in the last few years. If commercial country radio isn’t playing it because the play list is so preoccupied with million unit movers plus, well…I’ll take Dolly over Carrie Underwood any day of even the worse week. You might luck out and get a bit of Miranda Lambert now and again.
May 6, 2007 at 8:40 am Permalink
Byron, I’ll agree with you 100% on the CU Dolly statement! I’ll take almost anyone over Carrie Underwood any day!I listen to all kinds of country music and enjoy most all of it. I think what we have to remember is, that for better or worse commercial country is what made Loretta, Dolly, Tanya and Tammy the legions the are! And IMO we need to support the Gretchen’s, Miranda’s, Martina’s and other’s who are out there getting spins today, so that we don’t end up with a future full of Carries and Flatts.
May 6, 2007 at 7:36 pm Permalink
Laura – right you are.
May 7, 2007 at 8:39 pm Permalink
In the “don’t curse the darkness, light a candle” department, may I make a recommendation? Check this gal out: http://www.myspace.com/wendynewcomer My favorite thus-far-undiscovered Nashville vocalist.
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