Album Review – Jake Worthington (Self-Titled)

At this point, it goes without saying that reality TV singing competitions are circumspect at best at actually helping performers launch careers, while they often constitute a burden on artists in the country and roots realm with the way the symbolize a cutting in line in front of more seasoned performers as opposed to putting in hours and paying dues.
Music is not a skills competition. The intangibles are so imperative to who makes it, and who doesn’t. There is a magic to music that you just can’t teach or learn. So when Jake Worthington became the runner up of Season 6 of The Voice in 2014, it really didn’t have any implications on the country world, despite the young man singing Keith Whitley, Waylon Jennings, and Hank Jr. songs on the way through the show.
Bright-eyed, fresh-faced and pudgy, for Jake Worthington to actually become something in country music, he was going to need something more than a good showing on The Voice. He was going to need a little life behind that voice. He needed to lose in life instead of win. In 2015 and 2017, Worthington released 5-song EPs, and just like during his time on The Voice, it was promising to see him hold to his traditional country principles when the pop realm had to be so enticing. You would also see Worthington’s name here and there in Texas in the fine print of festival posters or other events.
But now it’s 2023, almost 10 years since that fresh-faced Texas-native took the stage to sing Keith Whitley’s “Don’t Close Your Eyes” for his audition. His face is more taut, his songs are his own, and there isn’t just a great voice behind them, there is life too. Whether it was from wisdom or circumstance, Jake Worthington waiting to release his debut album until right here and right now was a fortuitous bounce. If he’d done this seven years ago, it would have passed like a burp in the wind. He wasn’t ready for it, and the world wasn’t ready for him. Now it is.
If you want to hear true traditional country in its most pure form in 2023, listen to Jake Worthington. We’re talking Mark Chesnutt, Daryle Singletary country, where you can’t fit an index card between the true definition of “country music,” and what Worthington turns in here. It’s so country, it’s almost as shocking as it is welcome, especially when you consider the circumstances of how it came together.

This self-titled album was released on Big Loud Records—the home of Morgan Wallen and HARDY. Those who were worried when Charles Wesley Godwin recently signed to Big Loud, they should spin this album, and their concerns will cease. Even more surprising, Big Loud part-owner and principal producer Joey Moi actually produced this album as well. He’s the man not just behind Morgan Wallen, but Florida Georgia Line, and butt rockers Nickelback before them.
But again, you would have no indication listening to this self-titled debut that Music Row has anything to do with it. Steel guitar, half-time beats, and songs of heartache are all you hear, with no wiggle room in that assessment for 13 songs. Just like with The Voice, Jake Worthington went behind enemy lines, stuck to his principles, and did what he wanted to do, which is make country music the right way.
This is a heartbreak and drinking album, as most traditional country albums are. That also is going to come with some clichés. “Single At The Same Time” and the opposite day approach of “Ain’t Got You To Hold” have been done numerous times before. But these songs are so country, you don’t really care. The opening song “State You Left Me In” and “Night Time Is My Time” are a bit more original and clever. Worthington co-writes 12 of the 13 songs, with the only exception being “Pop Goes The Whiskey” sung with fellow Big Loud signee Ernest, who also surprised a lot of folks with how traditional the new deluxe edition of his Flower Shops album is.
The time for traditional country is right now. Big mainstream Music Row record labels like Big Loud, producers such as Joey Moi, and performers like Ernest all getting in on the game tells you all you need to know. It also tells you they think this is where the future of country music is headed. Jake Worthington wasn’t ready for the big time in country music when he won The Voice, and country music wasn’t ready for him either. Now, the stars have aligned, and the timing is perfect.
1 3/4 Guns Up (8/10)
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April 7, 2023 @ 7:23 am
Been following him for years waiting for this album and he did not disappoint, Straight down the middle COUNTRY music. So enjoyable to listen to…
April 8, 2023 @ 6:43 pm
This is such a great album. Songs about life, with a steel guitar and fiddles, sung to a beat that packs the dance floor. This is what country music is. It’s not Americana. It’s not rock, hip hop, or R&B influenced. This is the sound that defined country music for decades but seems to have been blotted out by country radio the last 20 years. Thank you Jake for playing the music that keeps this tradition alive! Can’t wait to hear it live!
April 7, 2023 @ 7:28 am
Quick on the review. What is the actual time of release? 12AM?
Really enjoy getting the review same day as release.
April 7, 2023 @ 7:51 am
I usually try to review a new album on Friday, but sometimes depending on the circumstances, it just doesn’t happen. One of those circumstances is that I have to get the music early from the label or publicist so I have the time to listen, digest, and compose the review. That happened in this case.
April 7, 2023 @ 8:00 am
Saw him and his band open for Flatland in Atlanta a year ago, and I’ve been waiting for this album since!
April 7, 2023 @ 8:33 am
Saw him at Duke’s in Indy last summer. I doubt there were 40 people there but he was great. Super nice, talked to him quite a bit after the show.
April 7, 2023 @ 8:39 am
I’m excited for this one! I saw Jake open for Randall King last month at Coyote Joe’s. I had no idea who he was and did no research before the show. The first good sign was a pedal steel guitar up front, not tucked away in the back. His set was fantastic! Just one real honky tonk song after another, with some great covers thrown in the mix. I was probably one of maybe twenty people (out of over two thousand) who knew the lyrics to “A-11”! Randall was great too. It was an all-around amazing night.
April 7, 2023 @ 9:17 am
Now this is what we’re talking about.
April 7, 2023 @ 9:28 am
That house in the video looks incredibly similar to a steakhouse somewhere in the Panhandle.
When one of our radiologists left the hospital, drove 6 hour round trip to get a $150. gift certificate to his fav eatery on the planet.
One of his best friends clued me in on the perfect parting gift.
April 7, 2023 @ 11:59 am
This is some country music. Pedal steel orgy going on all over this thing. A definite throw-back. And Joey Moi? My guess would be this record was actually produced by Jake and whoever is credited as the engineer, and Moi just slapped his name on it cause that is what the big guys do.
April 7, 2023 @ 12:24 pm
Wow. Reminds me of driving around in mid 1990 when “Too Cold at Home” would come on the country radio station and I’d think, “Who is this guy?”
BTW, the reason that Mark Chesnutt was able to hold onto that song for the couple of years that it took him to get his record deal and record and release it was that Jones heard it but thought that the reference to playing golf in the repeated chorus did not fit with the image of a country singer that his fans would accept.
April 7, 2023 @ 12:45 pm
Check out Will Bannister. He’s putting out straight country as well.
April 7, 2023 @ 4:02 pm
Best C(c)ountry singer alive, who isn’t already a legend(i.e. Gene Watson, etc.).
April 7, 2023 @ 3:58 pm
This kid is really good. I had forgotten all about him; just another nobody, tossed into the dustbin of The Voice/American Idol history. I’m glad to he’s not a nobody anymore.
Trigger,
I’ll make a deal with you. You falsely claim that C(c)ountry is on its way back. I maintain that for a C(c)ountry performer to succeed, he must be edgy in some way, or a hipster, etc.
Jake is not edgy. If he becomes a star over the next 365 days, I’ll change my handle to “Queen Honkette of Crackershire” for 1 month. If he does not become a star over the next 365 days, you change your handle to “Honky’s B***h” for 1 month.
Deal?
April 7, 2023 @ 4:21 pm
I don’t know if Jake Worthington will be a “star” in the next year (whatever that means these days). What I do know is that this album being released from the hottest label in country music, but the hottest producer in country music, is quite the interesting development. With all major label artists, how popular they become has just as much as how many resources they devote to them as anything else.
April 7, 2023 @ 4:36 pm
He really does capture that Mark Chestnutt/ Tracy Lawrence vocal style that harmonizes so perfectly with a pedal steel. Huge part of what takes me back to that 90s era. Thanks for tipping us off yet again
April 7, 2023 @ 4:48 pm
Certainly has the Mark Chestnutt sound, and that’s not a bad thing.
April 7, 2023 @ 6:36 pm
Yea definitely get the chestnutt, singletary vibe and I love it.
April 7, 2023 @ 7:49 pm
Doesn’t deserve anything less than 10/10 but glad you got to listen to this one early and share the review.
April 7, 2023 @ 8:24 pm
This is fantastic, can’t wait to hear the whole thing. Country done the right way!
April 7, 2023 @ 11:57 pm
“The time for traditional country is right now.” Truer words never spoken. This album was great! I hope Jake Worthington finds the wide audience he deserves. My concerns for CWG’s Big Loud release were certainly reassured with this release.
April 8, 2023 @ 12:36 am
Really, really good. I take it he listened to a lot of Mark Chesnutt growing up.
April 8, 2023 @ 1:52 am
This is good stuff
April 8, 2023 @ 6:40 am
I remember back when Jake was fresh from The Voice and released his EPs and a handful of singles. I thought his stuff was ok considering that anything coming from one of those shows comes with the artists ceding some control, but overall it wasn’t anything special. I continued to follow Jake over the years thinking he may some day develop. Who knew it would be almost a decade later.
While there is nothing really ground breaking here, this is top notch Texas honky tonk type of straight country. It may have taken awhile, but I think Jake is on the path to a solid career, and overall this is a very enjoyable album. Good stuff.
April 8, 2023 @ 8:52 am
I definitely like the direction country music is heading in right now and I like what Jake represents but I’m not feeling this album.
It sounds a little too recycled both musically and lyrically. I can’t imagine the kids getting into it. This is definitely an album for the older folks, which is fine.
April 8, 2023 @ 12:26 pm
I didn’t want to be the first to bring it up, since it looks like a lot of people genuinely enjoyed the album, but I’m going to be a wet blanket.
I liked it. It’s fine. “Next New Thing” genuinely made me laugh. It’s a great good times song.
But.
The issue with Moi and his product is evergreen. As a producer, he shamelessly recycles different elements of radio hits because we know that’s what works in the music business. Chad Kroeger openly bragged about how they and Moi became millionaires with that “artistic” approach.
We all like this album because we’ve all heard it before. That’s not a bad thing. The bad thing is that there’s a man behind the board that’s been selling vanilla ice cream for more than two decades, and now that he’s hand clapped us all to death, he’s coming to pee in the pool that I like to swim in.
The reason I worry about CWG is because the guy will homogenize his sound if he doesn’t fight for it. That breath of fresh air you got with that AOTY will be drained from that room if he’s in it.
I hope I’m wrong.
April 8, 2023 @ 12:35 pm
I don’t disagree that some of this album treads the same ground, and that is reason I gave it the baseline positive score as opposed to something higher.
Just to clarify, I have no reason to believe that Joey Moi will produce the new Charles Wesley Godwin album. My guess is that he won’t. Yes, Moi does seem to be the house producer for Big Loud, but I’m sure Godwin made sure to sign into his contract that he calls the creative shots.
April 8, 2023 @ 2:19 pm
I try not to judge so harshly because it falls under the classic “don’t hate the player, hate the game” and Nashville has been at that game for a long, long time.
I just have a special disdain for Moi because he’s so open about commodifying the music. That’s partly why it doesn’t bother me as much when it’s Wallen or Owen, the pretty boys with great voices who are in it to make a great living. That’s the game.
Similar to Luke Combs, Worthington will suffer from the same “good to great songwriting by the artist, layered on top of heavily recycled arrangements”. It produces a good product, but the ceiling will always be lower than someone who stays away from those influences.
There’s a famous Jay Z line of “would you rather be underpaid or overrated?”. The age old question of independent leaning music, and the one CWG will have to answer for himself when that time comes.
April 8, 2023 @ 6:39 pm
Alan Jackson remade,finally reL country
April 10, 2023 @ 12:21 pm
Hell yes! I was hoping you’d review this! It’s been on repeat ever since Friday. I swear “Single at the Same Time” reminds me of a Ray Price song with that shuffle beat and walking bass line. Worthington to me is equal parts Chesnutt, Jones and Sammy Kershaw
April 11, 2023 @ 2:38 am
Texas Monthly has a new article up: “Jake Worthington to Nashville: Real Country or Bust”. It says: “Looking at streaming metrics, (Seth) England (Moi’s partner) believed the country industry was shifting from an inverted pyramid model—in which a few big artists create most of the revenue—to a niche model in which subgenres like red dirt, Americana, and neo-traditionalism sit profitably alongside bigger names.” Looks like Big Loud thinks it is financially savvy to be saving country music. This is good, right?
April 11, 2023 @ 7:33 am
That’s exactly what we’re seeing with Zach Bryan, Tyler Childers, and in the live setting the Turnpike Troubadours and Billy Strings. You can call them “niche” all you want, but all these acts have numbers that BEAT most of their mainstream counterparts. All of these acts have more actual fans than Kelsea Ballerini.
April 13, 2023 @ 1:23 am
Any word on if this will be released on any other media other than digital download? I would like to get a vinyl of this album for sure.
April 21, 2023 @ 12:14 pm
I know I’m late to this review but I’ve been loving/savoring these tunes the last couple of weeks and since I rearranged the running order opening with “Night Time Is My Time” and “Only One Way To Find Out” it has soared to the evening on the way to the bar in the car headline spot in the rotation surpassing Them Dirty Roses and the Randall King EP. These songs are just so smooth and immediate and yeah you’re never sure who does what in the studio production, mixing, and arranging wise. I wish just once an artist would say “well so and so did this or helped with that” etc….Jake wrote some great songs and I don’t mind giving Joey the props, this record sounds amazing.
Not sure I’d of taken “State You Left Me In” to radio first, might of went with “I Ain’t Goin Anywhere” or “Next New Thing”. Not a bad song on here though. There’s a tiny part of me being nitpicky that wonders if he naturally sings “that” way or like Hank Charles above said “we’ve heard it all before” etc…… Doesn’t even matter, I’ll be spinnin’ this all summer!!!
June 23, 2023 @ 12:22 am
Alright this is going to be a long one if you don’t wanna read it I understand…….do you all know how lucky I am? My weekend schedule started last night, Ashley McBryde with Meg & The Wheelers opening an incredible show AND a weekend with the Mike and The Moonpies headlining 2 nights at the Summer Solstice Festival with Brit Taylor, David Quinn, Memphis Kee etc………starting tomorrow (tickets still available btw)…… but wait our boy with THE #1 album in my rotation Jake Worthington is playing an 11pm “afterparty” show (after Wallen, HARDY, ernest bla bla bla at Wrigley Field….ICK ) at our beloved dive bar Carol’s tonight?!! WTF??
Now you all know I love Ash & The Moonpies but when an album is #1 it takes precedence in the desire to see & hear category because it’s fresh to my eyes/ears. The kid and his band of pros came on and absolutely tore the place up. He’s a little green and a little raw but make no mistake about it he’s here to help and not here to hurt. All the album songs were note for note perfect. Talked to him afterward, just a nice humble kid that reads SCM all the time. I didn’t get a chance to thank the guys in the band. You guys and the sound guy were A+ (and I told him so a few times.) Just to see rookies like Jake or Drake Milligan come in and pay their dues means way more to us than whoever the fuck is playing Wrigley field I can assure you. Thanks Jake, you boys are welcome here anytime!!
July 26, 2023 @ 7:28 am
I liked some of the songs on it.
But I feel the need to highlight it’s drawbacks:
1. A lot of it sounds like cookie cutter material from the 90s. That’s not entirely a bad thing but it’s borderline reminiscent of the movie industry banking on remakes of once great movies, but without the same quality. Jake’s songs are good quality, but they can become tiresome because we’ve heard it so often. Some comments above point to the producers for this issue.
2. Jake chooses very odd voicing sometimes. For example: the start of “Single at the Same Time” has really awkward singing at the start. It sounds like a desperate person struggling to get the words out or a person trying too many vocal intricacies. Another is “Next New Thing,” saying “Honky Tonk Scene.” Another is “Heaven Can’t Be Found,” saying “I ain’t been around this world, but I’ve been around.”
3. This one is a major pet peeve of mine: EXCESSIVE vocal layering. I swear, it sounds like there’s 12 Jakes singing at once. This has to be the producer’s fault. The vocal layering is way too much and genuinely detracts from the songs. I’m not saying like Jake’s voice fall flat, but don’t overstaturate that production technique.
August 14, 2023 @ 8:03 pm
Well now you’re nit picking….. average ears can’t hear and don’t give a flying fuck about vocal layering on a record. (Mutt says hello) Joey did a great job on this and I don’t really even care for the guy. Sure I caught Jakes vocal tonal inflections but that’s the way he feels it and sings it. He and the band were great live and oh by the way everybody wasn’t around in the 90’s to hear who he might sound like just like everyone besides me wasn’t around in the 70’s to know that we were ALL wearing hippie BELL BOTTOMS and we love that Lainey has brought em back and shoved em up everyone’s asses!!!!! Isn’t it amazing that EVERY single Country Female you see take the stage right now is wearing……..you guessed it…. Lainey like Jake never said she invented it but she embraced it when she was a little girl and brought it back. These youngsters were influenced and that’s what makes the music world go round.