Album Review – Paige Plaisance – “Louisiana Lonely”


#510.1 (Classic Country) and #510.2 (Honky Tonk) on the Country DDS

On found vintage cowboy and country clothing, and classic country songs specializing in capturing the sincere emotions ever-present in the pursuit of companionship, Paige Plaisance is a worthy proprietor worth seeking the services of. With a soul seasoned in Northeast Louisiana on a farm near the Mississippi River, and a sound forged through the honky tonk scene in Austin, Texas, Paige presents music that is immediately entertaining, uniquely rendered, and hard to switch off.

A piano player and songwriter by musical trade, you certainly hear the bayou influences and the Spanish moss hanging from the branches of Plaisance’s solo-written debut album Louisiana Lonely, produced by Jonathan Tyler. Don’t expect a bunch of squeeze box or French dialect though. It’s more about how Paige weaves her experience as a Louisiana native living in Austin into her compelling songs about yearning for love and a sense of home. She calls it “Swampytonkin’.”

Songs like “Bayou Moon,” “Back Home Feelin'” and “Highway 65” speak to that sense of home that we all feel, no matter where home is. It just happens to be that Paige is from a place teeming with rich culture. These songs aren’t hypothetical stories written to optimize their commercial performance. These are songs composed directly from the Paige Plaisance experience for people who enjoy listening to lived stories from real people.

The “tonk” side of the Swampytonkin’ equation comes out in how Plaisance also presents herself as a good time girl trying to chase down good timin’ men in Austin’s beer haunts. Paige’s losses are the listener’s gain as they result in some especially heartbreaking moments that bring out the best in Paige’s writing and voice. “Out of Sight, On My Mind” is an incredible song that sounds like something Patsy Cline could have released in 1962, and is one of numerous tracks you swear are country classics, but we’re written by Plaisance in the present tense.


The sound is an aromatic and flavorful jambalaya of jerked meat and seafood, dirty rice, classic country, honky tonk, a few shakes of Outlaw influences, and some ingredients in between whose flavors all enhance each other and intuitively collaborate to present an original sound. Again, this is not a Cajun country record. It’s a Paige Plaisance record. But her Louisiana history is ever-present.

You do wonder if some of the songwriting could have benefited from a bit more complexity after Paige rhymes some of the same words together and other similar nitpicks. Don’t forget this is just a freshman record. But Paige is very potent at putting the palpable feelings of relatable experiences into meaningful words like in the final two songs “When You’ve Been Drinkin'” and “Love You First.”

More than anything else, Louisiana Lonely is a great listening record, a great foundation for Paige Plaisance to build a music career from, and something something both Austin and Louisiana should be proud of. Old souled and honest, Paige Plaisance is a pleasure to hear.

8/10

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Editor’s note: This album was released in August of 2024, but is part of Saving Country Music’s final coverage of 2024 album before 2025 releases begin in earnest.

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