Daryle Singletary - "There's Still a Little Country Left"

[StevePulaski]

There's Still a Little Country Left (2015)
By: Daryle Singletary

Rating: ★★★½

After six years without much of a peep and an inconsistent record at multiple labels, country-crooner/Randy Travis prodigy Daryle Singletary returns to the scene with There's Still a Little Country Left, an unapologetic rejuvenation of Singletary's neotraditional honky-tonk that he brought us in the 1990's. Singletary's first two albums, his eponymous debut album and its follow-up All Because of You, rank as two of my favorite country albums of the period for their uncommon soulfulness and Singletary's incredible ability to write and sing a beautiful country melody filled with raw emotion and vocal nuances.

After ostensibly hungering for mainstream recognition and radio-play, something Singletary hasn't been quite used to since his first album, on the forgettable Rockin' in the Country, Singletary opens his latest release with the brash "Get Out of My Country," a song that has a "don't let the door hit you" message to the faux bro-country and pop-country artists of the modern day. Singletary explains, through his raspy and traditionalist vocals over a medium-paced beat, how the country pioneers would wince and not tolerate these modernist country that is ultimately more concerned with the bottom dollar than any kind of emotion (arguably why Singletary has found his popularity fairly inconsistent over the years).

Other songs bring out the true emotions of tragic circumstances: "Say Hello to Heaven" is an ode to Singletary's wife that is so serene and honest that you might think your emotions are being manipulated, "Sunday Mornin' Kind of Town" is your predictable ballad dedicated to the kind of peaceful, middle-American community that Singletary works to make original or at least moreso than most, "Enough to Lie to Me" is a curiously original tune about Singletary wishing somebody loved him enough to lie to him when the going gets tough, and "Spilled Whiskey" is precisely the kind of tune we expect from this three-decade veteran, with its rich, harmonious vocals and romantic tendencies that make it, and most of Singletary's music, an instant winner.

Curiously placed at the end of the album is a duet with the late country outlaw Johnny Paycheck on his famous song "I'm the Only Hell My Mama Ever Raised," which asserts that if Singletary has a little more country left in him, he'll continue down a similar path. Regardless, There's Still a Little Country Left is Singletary's most unanimously solid album since his early days, and proves that while he has gone under the radar for much of his career and doesn't always sell the most records, he's not sticking to a plastic or forced brand of country when there's real love, emotion, and earnest feelings to be explored in a time when we really need it the most.

Recommended songs (in order): "Get Out of My Country," "Spilled Whiskey," "Sunday Mornin' Kind of Town," "Say Hello to Heaven," "Enough to Lie to Me," and "Too Late to Save the World."