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Rock critic Ken Tucker has been listening to some current nation releases, and he hears some thrilling blends of outdated and new sounds.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 Publish Malone. Nation famous person 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 opinions all of them. Here is Dwight Yoakam with a brand new tune 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 if you happen to depart me. For those who 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 fake.
KEN TUCKER, BYLINE: Earlier this yr, Publish Malone put out his first nation album, one wherein he gave his hip-hop phrasing a twang that didn’t appear insincere in duets with an entire passel of nation stars. A type 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 tune with the rhythmic groove that Yoakam has written for a duet on Dwight’s new album, “Brighter Days.” It is a very adroit tune 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 special form 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 approach. Bang, bang, increase, increase. There’s nothing left right here now however unhappiness – bang, bang, increase, increase – and the vacancy of all that is gone. Bang, bang, increase, increase. No sounds however simply sorrow and insanity. And bang, bang, increase, increase, it is how a damaged coronary heart beats on. Come on.
TUCKER: Yoakam’s “Brighter Days,” his first album of latest materials in nearly a decade, is a superb compendium of traditional nation types.
One other performer bringing a contemporary gloss to outdated sounds is Shawna Thompson on her new album, “Lean On Neon.” Thompson is greatest often known as half of the nation duo act Thompson Sq., alongside along with her husband, Keifer. Their music tends in the direction of slick nation pop. However “Lean On Neon,” her solo debut, takes a bracing plunge into the kind of honky-tonk music that was in style earlier than she was born. On the title tune, she drowns her sorrows beneath the neon glow of a bar with a special singing accomplice, 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 arduous to see the place an excellent lady goes to drown an outdated reminiscence. I used to lean on neon after I received down and lonesome. I used to carry a chilly one these nights after I had nobody. When a jukebox is your solely good friend, that quarter drops, and a heartache spins. You need 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 kind of skate alongside the floor of it and spin off in a special path. Morris is a giant star who lately has expressed dissatisfaction, changing into vocal about what she phrases poisonous parts within the Nashville institution. She has swaddled her indignant disenchantment in an irresistible new rhythm for a tune referred to as “Folks Nonetheless Present Up.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “PEOPLE STILL SHOW UP”)
MAREN MORRIS: (Singing) Heroes would possibly 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 movement until you are feeling that rush when individuals nonetheless present up. Yeah, they are going to attempt to say you actually crossed the road, you must’ve shut your mouth and smiled ‘trigger now you lastly went and mentioned an excessive amount of. However it was simply sufficient, ‘trigger individuals nonetheless present up, individuals nonetheless present up.
TUCKER: The lyric of “Folks Nonetheless Present Up” carries the implication that whereas she could 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 come back to her live shows. Not like Dwight Yoakam and Shawna Thompson, Morris is not reaching out to hardcore nation followers. She’s making her attraction to people exterior 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 trying and will inform what was in your thoughts. Oh, spinning your wheels doesn’t suggest you are going to get to drive. You’ll be able to muscle up, present it off, strut and roll, however that do not imply you bought anywhere to go. Hey, the important thing to that candy factor, it ain’t in your ring. However if you wish to assume 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 gasoline. She’s received a wide-open coronary heart, tearing up the highway. She took my outdated worn-out luck and plated it in chrome – from a pink 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 Publish. I hope you will be 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 govt producer is Danny Miller. Our senior producer at the moment is Therese Madden. Our technical director is Audrey Bentham. Our engineer is Adam Staniszewski. Our interviews and opinions 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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