Review: Tracy Lawrence Does It For The Love
For The Love is a classic Tracy Lawrence album, so classic that it almost feels like you’ve heard the songs on previous albums. He’s found the recipe for creating solid records and he hasn’t wavered from it. There’s nothing that stands out as much as past hits like Paint Me a Birmingham and Time Marches On, but I still wouldn’t be surprised to hear a few of these tracks get some airplay on radio.
The album begins and ends with Find Out Who Your Friends Are, however Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney join Trace Lawrence on the ending version (I guess that has something to do with them being real friends?). You can pretty much tell from the title what the song is about; finding out who your real friends are when times aren’t at their best.
You Can’t Hide Redneck is one of the catchier tunes on the album. It’s about embracing your redneck tendencies instead of trying to cover them up, because no matter what you try you can’t fool people. The song is pretty simple when taken at face value, but the basic principle “if you can’t beat it, embrace it” can be applied to circumstances other than being a redneck.
The song I can see having the most success is the title track, For The Love. Tim McGraw Brad Arnold (thanks DeAnn) joins Lawrence on this song about every guy doing his job because it’s what he loves.
For the love they live for the love they die
No higher calling in this life
There’s nothing they can’t rise above
Cause it’s not about rich it’s not about poor
Counting the cost and keeping score
They do it for the love
Overall it’s a solid album that deserves some attention. He gets props from me for his use of traditional country instruments and sticking to his roots. It’s a shame he won’t get more recognition since his music is more country than the majority of music being played on country radio today.

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[...] “You Can’t Hide Redneck” is one of the catchier tunes on the album. It’s about embracing your redneck tendencies instead of trying to cover them up, because no matter what you try you can’t fool people. – The 9513 [...]
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January 30, 2007 at 7:45 pm Permalink
Nice turnaround on the review, Brody. I don’t imagine that you got a promo copy either.
Yes, it’s nice that Tracy is sticking to his roots, though in comparision to today’s radio climate, Tracy may get more credit for making a “country” sounding record than he deserves. The album is certainly pleasant to listen to, but I was hoping for more. It seems like a lot of artists from Tracy’s era have been putting out some really solid, underappreaciated work lately, making records like they have something left to prove. Witness the recent Tracy Byrd album, which not only sounded country but had some pretty profound cuts for an artist known for fun sing-alongs. “Paint Me a Birmingham” and “Time Marches On” were great cuts (and the latter should’ve done much better on country radio) but it seems like with this album, Tracy is just trying to hitch a ride up the charts on what’s left of the neo-traditionalist wagon.
January 30, 2007 at 7:49 pm Permalink
Correction to the above: “Time Marches On” should be “Used to the Pain,” possibly the best and most underappreciated song Tracy Lawrence has ever recorded.
January 30, 2007 at 8:28 pm Permalink
Unfortunately I didn’t get a promo copy, but I do have a subscription to Rhapsody and they’re pretty good about getting new albums from some of the bigger artists. It takes them a little longer to get records from little-known artists, that is if they get them at all.
I don’t remember “Used to the Pain” off the top of my head, I’ll have to go back and check that one out.
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