Song Review – Frankie Ballard’s “It All Started With A Beer”
There’s something about Frankie Ballard that even makes the jaded and distrusting country music fan want to like him. He’s got a swagger and style that’s not like the rest of those mainstream pretty boys and false characters. There’s a little Chris Isaak to him, or maybe even some Marty Stuart or Dwight Yoakam early in their careers. He’s more t-shirts and denim jackets than designer jeans. He can sport a Nudie and not look stupid. Frankie’s got a 50’s soul, and is a good guitar player who holds himself more like a musician than an entertainer on stage. And he’s been around for little bit and is slightly older at 33 years, making the idea that he might be someone whose music you could get into a little more realistic.
But even though Frankie may be a little bit cooler, and tad more authentic, all you’ve got to do is delve a bit deeper into his music career to realize he’s still very much a product of the mainstream, opening for Kenny Cheseny, Lady Antebellum, and Florida Georgia Line on tour, and releasing pretty mediocre singles, a few more deeper album cuts aside.
As a mainstream male country star in the major label world, you can have three #1 songs on radio and still be considered a 3rd tier star like Frankie. All it takes is the right push by your label, and most any young male can go #1 on airplay charts. It’s pretty much expected of you. And there’s no reason to doubt Frankie’s new single “It All Started With A Beer” won’t benefit from the same fate.
Just like Frankie, it’s a bit more authentic than what you’re used to hearing on mainstream radio. But ultimately “It All Started With A Beer” is just another beer song, and not a particularly good one. It starts talking about Corona and Bud Light, and very soon the story gets drenched in suds and you feel more thirsty than entertained or enlightened. Just like Luke Bryan’s “Drink A Beer,” it tries to say something deeper, and use the beer references as the glue to the story. But that glue is alcohol soluble, and falls apart pretty quickly.
We used to complain that most all country songs these days were about beer and trucks. The point was to hopefully expand mainstream country’s thematic subjects. Bo in concession they cut most of the references to trucks out, leaving only one piece of subject matter on the table. There’s only one little Indian left, and it’s amber and comes in a bottle or can.
Is “It All Started With A Beer” a bit better than what we’re used to listening to on the radio? Sure it is. It’s an organic recording, and there is an element of story to it. And in some respects it’s a shame that you can’t get past the title and first line without rolling your eyes and not giving it much more of a chance. Beer has been a common subject matter in country songs for generations. But it’s no fun when it’s the only subject.
February 29, 2016 @ 10:18 am
Older at 33 years? He’s younger than Aldean and Blake Shelton!!
And there’s no way anyone with even a passing familiarity with Marty Stuart’s music would compare him to this joker.
The music itself is fine and dandy, the melody and score should be partnered with a REAL song and not just another beer commercial. The travesty here is the lyrics, but otherwise this isn’t really horrid.
And the music video is guilty of a lot of the same faults that practically every major Country music video for twenty years has done: there’s a shot of the performer with a microphone, another shot of the performer with a guitar, and a shot of the performer just walking aimlessly. Go find a video for any non-bro-“Country” song, even by Josh Turner, and these three shots occur in every video.
February 29, 2016 @ 12:55 pm
I was speaking more about his style being similar to Marty Stuart and Chris Isaak. He has a little rockabilly to him. But obviously, little if any of that translated into this song.
March 22, 2016 @ 1:20 pm
I’m loving the rockabilly look, and I’d love to hear him mix in some of the sound.
February 29, 2016 @ 10:39 am
He lost me at Bud Light.
February 29, 2016 @ 11:11 am
Here is a horrific song that deserves your utmost attention: “Fix” by Chris Lane. The sheer narcissism that pervades the lyrics astounds even me. When will these idiots realize how immature and uncountry their songs are?
February 29, 2016 @ 11:55 am
“Fix” is on my radar, and I’m waiting to see it actually do something serious on the charts before I give it any undue attention.
April 25, 2016 @ 5:58 pm
that song makes me angry.That Chris Lane idiot sounds just like Justin Timberlake.
February 29, 2016 @ 11:35 am
hes going for the corona bucks, since coors and bud are taken. and remember, not just BEER but ICE COLD BEER.
February 29, 2016 @ 12:49 pm
A lot of these songs would be more bearable if every other song seemingly did not mention beer. Any sentiment is washed away by repetition.
February 29, 2016 @ 6:55 pm
Yep, exactly. Music Row has gone to the well so much that there is nothing interesting left to be said about Beer, Trucks or Beaches. The lack of variety is one of the things (amongst many others) that has killed mainstream radio. I mean, Pizza is great, but if that is all you eat 7 days a week, eventually you are going to become sick of it.
February 29, 2016 @ 12:55 pm
Here is the part where I admit liking a Dallas Davidson release.
Tell Me You Get Lonely was a heck of a pop rock country song. Great hook. And no beer, no trucks, no dirt roads, no muddy roads, no cutoffs, no juvenile sexual innuendo. . .
Props to the Devil. Great performance, and production, too. Would be a no. 1 if it were released today.
I feel dirty saying it. Dirty like getting caught looking at midget carnie porn dirty.
(And I look ridiculous in a Nudie suit.)
This song right here? Meh.
February 29, 2016 @ 1:17 pm
That’s also when he had long hair and his look was completely different. That was more of a quality song reaching maybe mid thirties. Better than this one which I don’t mind all that much.
February 29, 2016 @ 12:57 pm
Had this song been released 12 years ago, before every song was about beer, I might have enjoyed it more. In this environment, I give it a B-. But it’s more tolerable than other current singles.
February 29, 2016 @ 1:24 pm
This is off topic, but did anyone notice Kacey Musgraves’ collaboration with R&B artist Miguel? It’s not really my kind of music, but I thought it was interesting.
I’d bet Kacey’s ability to collaborate with different artists and in disparate musical contexts will be a benefit to her career.
March 6, 2016 @ 5:16 pm
It’s not normally my type of music either, but I quite enjoyed this particular song.
February 29, 2016 @ 3:03 pm
just shootn’ the shhh, lol
February 29, 2016 @ 9:13 pm
The actual version isn’t censored and says “shit”. Radio can’t say shit.
February 29, 2016 @ 3:33 pm
The criticism is focused on the lyrics — and rightly so — but the musical composition is rather refreshing in today’s environment. The average country radio listener is growing accustomed to the driving beats of a LoCash, FGL, Old Dominion, and so forth, which will be the end of any semblance of country music in the mainstream. And his vocals have some country twang, well executed, and very far from Dan + Shay, Sam Hunt, Old Dominion, and others. This is not unimportant when it comes to acclimating the younger generation toward authentic country music.
So, I think the song deserves a half gun up or, at least, a half gun down instead of 1 and 1/2.
February 29, 2016 @ 6:14 pm
Would agree that the music is not bad, and that where the 1/2 gun up came from. The problem with the lyrics is that they are SO bad, the awfulness bleeds into the decency of the music. NO doubt it will do well on radio, but if you want anyone with serious to take your music seriously, you just can’t put out a song like this. It’s just been ruined by ubiquity.
March 1, 2016 @ 4:55 am
I agree with Kevin – I think your review is way too harsh.
Anything below 5 out of 10 must have something fundamentally wrong with it – and I don’t think you can really say that with this song.
The melody is nice, the music is good, the producing and mixing are good (you stated ‘organic’ in your review which is a good description), the vocals are pleasant.
I think the lyrics are ok – I think you give a bit too much negative weight to the use of the word beer.
I think really anything below 5 out of 10 is a bit too harsh a review of the song.
March 6, 2016 @ 5:22 pm
I think the music is quite good and I agree that the lyrics are ok. The story is decent, but it seems like the songwriters tried a bit to hard to make the beer reference work. I think the same story with a different beginning to the relationship would have made for a better song.
March 22, 2016 @ 1:17 pm
You reference Old Dominion and to be honest, I’m a bit torn on comparing them to LoCash and FGL. While Snapback and Break Up With him are certainly irritating and similar to those artists, my first impression of them was “Day One” which I find to be a relatable song void of references to beer, trucks, and dirt roads, but more inline with the healing and moving past a heartbreak song “Learning to Live Again” by Garth Brooks. I hope Day One is more the sound that is authentic to them and that they will release more of that sound soon. Fingers crossed that those two singles were a fluke to get some attention and draw popular radio listeners and now they’ll go back to something better.
February 29, 2016 @ 3:50 pm
I remember seeing earlier videos of Frankie when he was talking about some of his guitars. One of his likes was that they gave him the Southern Rock sound he wanted. Then I hear about him saying he’s going to be taking some chances on his next album after Sunshine and Whiskey. This is also around the time A Thousand Horses was climbing the charts again with Drunk Dial, not their best song but I was hoping it would lead to one of their more authentic songs to be released like Tennessee Whiskey or Back to Me. I was excited at the possibility of a Southern Rock revival led by these two. Well, A Thousand Horses still hasn’t released one of their better songs to radio, and Ballard came out with this…Needless to say, I’ve been quite disappointed.
February 29, 2016 @ 5:56 pm
I like the slide guitar about halfway through, not much else.
February 29, 2016 @ 6:50 pm
It’s almost like everyone on Music Row forgot how to write interesting lyrics. Serious question, when was the last time a mainstream Country song that actually made an impact at Country radio? I guess one could argue Stapleton, but Tennessee Whiskey was a cover and Nobody To Blame, while good, isn’t extremely interesting lyrically, Stapleton’s vocals and the production carry that one. I’m seriously struggling to think of one recent Country song with dynamic, thoughtful lyrics that actually went somewhere on the charts. Sad….
March 1, 2016 @ 7:33 am
The music is as bad as the beer reference..its takes more than a James Dean haircut
March 2, 2016 @ 4:56 pm
Great tune, great singer and guitar player. I love it…go Frankie! It all starts with a beer.
March 3, 2016 @ 3:08 am
When I hit on girls, I prefer Sam Adams. The beer, not the man.
June 11, 2016 @ 9:59 pm
are you going to review the album now that it’s out