Growing up, I never really listened to country music. I just wasn’t surrounded by it since I lived in the city. But today I decided to give the genre a chance, despite it being way outside of my musical comfort zone.
To begin this journey, I decided that I wanted to listen to the best album the genre has to offer. That’s when I came across Bell Bottom Country by Lainey Wilson. This piece of work won best album at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards at the beginning of 2024.
Now, I have never heard of Lainey Wilson and I was about to hear almost an hour of her music. I’m going into this completely blind, haven’t read any reviews from critics or social media, just the music and I together for the next 56 minutes.
But prior to listening, of course I thought of the stereotypes. As someone who doesn’t listen to the genre, when I hear someone talk about country music, all I can think of are songs about trucks and farms.
And although Bell Bottom Country has some of these stereotypes, most notably with a song titled “Heart Like A Truck”, I won’t let that hinder my experience of listening to the album.
With 16 songs on the album, it’s time to jump into the world of country music and see what it’s really about. Listen along with me!
My thoughts
I’m back, I listened to the album. It was honestly everything I expected plus more.
I wish I could say I loved it, but when I got into the album I knew it probably wouldn’t end that way. As an outsider, this album sounds exactly like what I imagined country music to be in my head.
From the instruments, atmosphere and lyrical content, it’s very “country”.
Starting off with the opening track, “Smell Like Smoke”, it really sounds like something that would be playing in a random saloon in the Tennessee countryside.
As the album progressed, I noticed a lyrical theme of alcohol, and this was encapsulated in the song “Watermelon Moonshine“. It was something I was expecting in country music, as there always seems to be a bar scene in every Wild West movie.
I must say I enjoyed the contrasting songs in the album, from the up tempo tracks “Grease”, “Hold My Halo” and “This One’s Gonna Cost Me” to the slow tracks such as “Watermelon Moonshine”, “Me, You, and Jesus” plus the album’s ending, with “New Friends”.
The song, “Heart Like A Truck” was probably the most country sounding song on the album. With a name like that in this genre, I’m not surprised it was the most streamed song on the album.
With that being said, I think the up-tempo-happy songs on this project were the standouts, although the deeper lyrical content came from within Lainey’s slower songs, where she sang about her past relationships and memories from her youth.
The highlights
Best Song: “Road Runner”
Best Production: “This One’s Gonna Cost Me”
Best Slow Song: “Me, You, and Jesus”
Best Lyrics: “Me, You, and Jesus”
Summary
Overall I don’t think country music is for me, but hey at least I gave it a shot. I think the lesson here is that it’s important to branch outside your comfort zone every once in a while. Who knows, I might listen to some heavy metal next.
I think the best thing I got out of this experience is now I have something to talk about with country music fans, “What did you think of Lainey Wilson’s Bell Bottom Country?”.
With that all being said, here are my final rankings, and although Lainey said:
“Y’all just need to listen and don’t judge me”
– Lainey Wilson on “Me, You, and Jesus”
Well Lainey, I’m sorry. I did listen, but now I’m going to judge you.