Yoakam has recorded a harmonious new duet with Put up Malone. Morris is stretching past nation’s borders. And Thompson — half of the duo Thompson Sq. — seems again to the roots of honky-tonk.
TONYA MOSLEY, HOST:
Rock critic Ken Tucker has been listening to some current nation releases, and he hears some thrilling blends of outdated and new sounds. Nation veteran Dwight Yoakam has recorded a harmonious duet with Put up Malone. Nation celebrity Maren Morris is stretching past nation’s borders. And Shawna Thompson – half of the duo Thompson Sq. – has chosen to look again to the roots of honky-tonk. Ken Tucker evaluations all of them. Here is Dwight Yoakam with a brand new track referred to as “A Dream That By no means Ends.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “A DREAM THAT NEVER ENDS”)
DWIGHT YOAKAM: (Singing) It is all proper. It is OK in case you depart me. When you should go, know that I’ll perceive. However until then I’ll hope for a dream that by no means ends. And if I wake, I am going to shut my eyes and simply faux.
KEN TUCKER, BYLINE: Earlier this yr, Put up Malone put out his first nation album, one by which he gave his hip-hop phrasing a twang that didn’t appear insincere in duets with a complete passel of nation stars. A kind of stars was not Dwight Yoakam. Malone’s album, referred to as “F-1 Trillion,” was nice sufficient, nevertheless it did not have a rustic track with the rhythmic groove that Yoakam has written for a duet on Dwight’s new album, “Brighter Days.” It is a very adroit track with a really unwieldy title – “I Do not Know How To Say Goodbye (Bang Bang Increase Increase).” And when Malone’s raspy razor of a voice cuts throughout Yoakam’s buttery croon, it achieves a unique type of nation concord.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “I DON’T KNOW HOW TO SAY GOODBYE (BANG BANG BOOM BOOM)”)
DWIGHT YOAKAM AND POST MALONE: (Singing) I would should lie, it hurts to say, ‘trigger I do not understand how we misplaced our method. Bang, bang, growth, growth. There’s nothing left right here now however unhappiness – bang, bang, growth, growth – and the vacancy of all that is gone. Bang, bang, growth, growth. No sounds however simply sorrow and insanity. And bang, bang, growth, growth, it is how a damaged coronary heart beats on. Come on.
TUCKER: Yoakam’s “Brighter Days,” his first album of latest materials in virtually a decade, is a superb compendium of basic nation kinds.
One other performer bringing a contemporary gloss to outdated sounds is Shawna Thompson on her new album, “Lean On Neon.” Thompson is greatest referred to as half of the nation duo act Thompson Sq., alongside along with her husband, Keifer. Their music tends in direction of slick nation pop. However “Lean On Neon,” her solo debut, takes a bracing plunge into the form of honky-tonk music that was standard earlier than she was born. On the title track, she drowns her sorrows beneath the neon glow of a bar with a unique singing companion, the veteran songwriter Jim Lauderdale. And Shawna Thompson’s distress is our pleasure.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “LEAN ON NEON”)
SHAWNA THOMPSON AND JIM LAUDERDALE: (Singing) A whiskey glass. A smoke-filled room. Strangers that had been hurting too. Distress loves firm, I’ve discovered. Somewhat joint the place you’d by no means be. What they do not ask ain’t laborious to see the place a great woman goes to drown an outdated reminiscence. I used to lean on neon once I acquired down and lonesome. I used to carry a chilly one these nights once I had nobody. When a jukebox is your solely good friend, that quarter drops, and a heartache spins. You wish to understand how I moved on? I used to lean on neon.
TUCKER: If Shawna Thompson needs to dive extra deeply into nation music, Maren Morris is at a stage in her profession the place she needs to form of skate alongside the floor of it and spin off in a unique path. Morris is an enormous star who just lately has expressed dissatisfaction, turning into vocal about what she phrases poisonous parts within the Nashville institution. She has swaddled her offended disenchantment in an irresistible new rhythm for a track referred to as “Individuals Nonetheless Present Up.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “PEOPLE STILL SHOW UP”)
MAREN MORRIS: (Singing) Heroes may disappoint you. Not everybody’s going to affix you. Do not let the ache destroy you, simply go the place the arrow factors you. Free move until you’re feeling that rush when individuals nonetheless present up. Yeah, they are going to attempt to say you actually crossed the road, you need to’ve shut your mouth and smiled ‘trigger now you lastly went and stated an excessive amount of. But it surely was simply sufficient, ‘trigger individuals nonetheless present up, individuals nonetheless present up.
TUCKER: The lyric of “Individuals Nonetheless Present Up” carries the implication that whereas she might have been suggested to not court docket controversy along with her complaints, it will not have an effect on her profession so long as – you bought it – individuals nonetheless present as much as purchase her music, to return to her live shows. In contrast to Dwight Yoakam and Shawna Thompson, Morris is not reaching out to hardcore nation followers. She’s making her enchantment to people outdoors the style. I hope that works out for her.
MOSLEY: Ken Tucker reviewed new music by Dwight Yoakam, Maren Morris and Shawna Thompson.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “WIDE OPEN HEART”)
YOAKAM: (Singing) Hey, noticed you wanting and will inform what was in your thoughts. Oh, spinning your wheels does not imply you are going to get to drive. You may muscle up, present it off, strut and roll, however that do not imply you bought anyplace to go. Hey, the important thing to that candy factor, it ain’t in your ring. However if you wish to suppose it’s, buddy, go on forward and dream, ‘trigger you ain’t the primary and rattling certain will not be the final. I maintain the pink slip title along with her excessive heel on the fuel. She’s acquired a wide-open coronary heart, tearing up the highway. She took my outdated worn-out luck and plated it in chrome – from a crimson flag cease to a revved-up rolling begin. She’s all mine to like, along with her wide-open coronary heart.
MOSLEY: Tomorrow on FRESH AIR, Trump versus the media. He is referred to as the media enemies of the individuals and threatened retribution, together with jailing reporters, investigating NBC for treason and suggesting CBS’ broadcast license be taken away. We’ll discuss with David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker, and Marty Baron, former editor of The Washington Put up. I hope you may be a part of us.
(SOUNDBITE OF AARON GOLDBERG’S “ISN’T THIS MY SOUND AROUND ME”)
MOSLEY: To maintain up with what’s on the present and get highlights of our interviews, observe us on Instagram at @nprfreshair. FRESH AIR’s government producer is Danny Miller. Our senior producer at present is Therese Madden. Our technical director is Audrey Bentham. Our engineer is Adam Staniszewski. Our interviews and evaluations are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Ann Marie Baldonado, Sam Briger, Lauren Krenzel, Monique Nazareth, Thea Chaloner, Susan Nyakundi and Anna Bauman. Our digital media producers are Molly Seavy-Nesper and Sabrina Siewert. Roberta Shorrock directs the present. With Terry Gross, I am Tonya Mosley.
(SOUNDBITE OF AARON GOLDBERG’S “ISN’T THIS MY SOUND AROUND ME”)
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