Country newcomer recalls Kenny Chesney and Alan Jackson
The cover of newcomer Easton Corbin’s self-titled debut depicts a homespun image of the singer-songwriter strumming an acoustic while relaxing on a porch in a wicker rocking chair. It’s an apt picture. The album strips away much of Nashville’s contemporary bombast in favor of the relaxed country vibe of Kenny Chesney and Alan Jackson. The comparison is particularly close in the sunny satisfaction and road trip escape of “Roll With it,†the forthright statement of home-spun roots “A Little More Country Than That,†and multiple mentions of good times and simple pleasures. Corbin and his co-writers have pulled together a collection of love songs, both warm and broken-hearted, and link Chesney with Tom T. Hall by drawing a blue line from Memphis to Key West in “This Far From Memphis.†There’s a moving lyric of imagined nostalgia in “Someday When I’m Old†and the second-chance glimpsed in “Let Alone You†is illustrated with sharply observed everyday details.
A few of the songs are a bit close to their inspirations for comfort. “Don’t Ask Me ‘Bout a Woman†rewrites the sentiment and mood of Brad Paisley’s “Waitin’ on a Woman,†and the sandy vacation of “A Lot to Learn About Livin’†is third-generation Jimmy Buffett by way of Kenny Chesney. Corbin’s vocals are lightly drawled and producer Carson Chamblerlain counts out a variety of tempos that allow is singer to show off his emotional prowess as both a balladeer and mid-tempo honky-tonker. The album closes with the thoughtful “Leavin’ a Lonely Town,†echoing the escapes and traps of Steve Earle’s “Guitar Town†and Chris Knight’s “Oil Patch Town.†The sound is Nashville clean, but it’s not slickly artificial; it’s sophisticated in the manner of George Strait and others able to hang on to their country roots even as they embrace modern studio production. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com] 