Tyler Farr Freaks The Hell Out in “Withdrawals” (A Review)
The most embarrassing and unhinged moments that most humans pray to never find themselves at the mercy of have been the thematic bread and butter for Tyler Farr’s short career. Where most of us would hide the fact that we’re so jealous of our ex that we drove our truck up into her lawn and started whipping beer cans at her, or went for a nose dive while tipsy driving and ended up in a road ditch, or got so throwed off over some chick that you end up in your bed in a fetal position, with the only thing keeping you from sucking your thumb is the uncontrollable and violent shaking. That third scenario is the disturbed state Tyler Farr finds himself suffering from in his new single “Withdrawals.”
Tyler Farr has morphed into the hardcore emo post grunge “my dad hated me so I’m angry at the World” guy of country music, and it’s not pretty. What a bizzaro world we live in where Aaron Lewis of Stand is sitting on stools and singing fairly straight laced country songs, and Farr is all bent over like he’s taking a BM, and clasping the mic like it was his bag of jewels after getting kicked in it, writhing in emotional agony. Hey, I appreciate the gear change compared to all the happy and sunny fluff most mainstream country is composed of, but my word does this dude overload the emotional capacitors to a level that is somewhere between shameful and scary.
Of course, Tyler Farr isn’t writing any of this crap, so it’s a little hard to assign this stuff to Farr’s actual persona. Josh Kear, Gordie Sampson, Hillary Lindsey wrote this latest monstrosity, and actually, Farr only boasts three co-writes on the entire Suffer in Peace project—the three tracks buried at the end of the album at that. Dallas Davidson has just as many credits as Farr does.
In A Rolling Stone puff piece released just before Suffer in Peace, Farr was framed as doing his damnedest to keep his music “connected to its roots.” “I have got to stick to my guns. I’m passionate about country music. It’s what I love, it’s my livelihood. I’ve fought about it and I’d fight anybody who wants to fight me about it,” Farr says.
So how does Farr represent his country roots? By releasing a song that begins with a sludgy cocaine club electronic dance beat transitioning into a schizophrenic dubstep seizure. Oh, but there’s a banjo thrown in there, so you know, move over Earl Scruggs.
“Withdrawals” is a winy, unbecoming, blubbering mess about a man who loses all control of his faculties just because some floozy wouldn’t return his text messages. I swear ladies, don’t even make eye contact with Tyler Farr or he’s likely to turn into a protoplasmic blob freaking out in your front hedges. You give him a fake phone number, and he’ll fall instantly in love and be following you from work. Farr comes across as one of these guys who puts out incredible effort to emote machismo, but has the emotional maturity of a 12-year-old.
Yeah, getting your heart broken sucks butt and will turn even the strongest among us into whimpering little girls. But there’s a maniacal undertone to “Withdrawals” that’s just a little bit unsettling, especially with Farr’s past history of perpetrating misdemeanors in his songs. The most criminal offense though might be the decision to have Farr sing in a higher register or falsetto that takes him completely out of his voice’s sweet spot and makes the hold listening experience seem that more unhinged.
And we’ve heard this “love like a drug” formula done so many times before, we’ve built up an ample tolerance. The marijuana reference is also dumb. So you’re saying marijuana is addicting? And you got high off your very first toke? Tyler is a apparently is a novice at drugs just as much as love.
The video reinforces all the concerns of the song, and elevates the entire experience to downright disturbing. I don’t question them putting Tyler Farr in a glass cage, I question them taking him out. When they pour in water, he looks like a blubbering baby in its own embryonic fluid crying to be put back in, and the clutching of some girl’s clothing garment smacks of obsessive compulsive psychosis. The whole thing really is pretty painful to watch and hear, and probably should come with a warning label that it could give your little impressionable ones nightmares.
It’s going to take a lot more than a little banjo and steel guitar to make this selection redeemable.
Two guns down.
June 19, 2015 @ 9:17 am
This guy is just awful. My brother went to see him in concert. Stayed for the opening act and left 3 songs into Farr’s “off key heavy metal shit”.
June 19, 2015 @ 12:04 pm
saw a promo show of Farr singing half a dozen songs. the one that stood out was the spur of the moment cover of Vince Gill; the planned songs sounded forced.
June 19, 2015 @ 9:28 am
He just got engaged too so I can’t understand why he’s still cutting so many depressing songs lol.
June 19, 2015 @ 9:31 am
Honestly… I don’t find it that bad. It’s actually pretty decent. Tyler Farr’s raspy voice matches up with the heavier instrumentation, and he really does throw himself into the song. The lyrics aren’t anything special, and the video is almost funny with how bad it is, but the song is decent for what it is. I’d give it one up, one down.
The video gets two guns up for making me laugh so hard!
June 19, 2015 @ 9:49 am
Yeah Jason, but this is not supposed to be funny at all, you’re supposed to feel Tyler Farr’s pain. I mean, I’m glad you find some entertainment value in it, but accidental comedy is something usually cited to take points away, not award them.
June 19, 2015 @ 9:52 am
Meant the rating of the video to be more sarcastic and joking than truthful, I should’ve reworded that part lol.
June 19, 2015 @ 11:10 am
Tyler. Easy buddy. You’ll hurt yourself over acting like that.
Maybe if they gave us more than empty comparisons to booze and weed than we could connect with his withdrawals. But the song doesn’t do a good job of setting up the relationship between the two to make us feel the intensity of his love withdrawals.
June 20, 2015 @ 8:03 pm
I agree with you, Jason. If I heard this song on the mainstream rock station, I’d think it was ok. It’s awfully generic and not at all country, but it’s not an abomination or anything. It’s definitely better than songs like “Kick the Dust Up” or most of Sam Hunt’s songs.
June 19, 2015 @ 9:37 am
He got pissy at NotJakeOwen on Twitter for insulting him:
https://twitter.com/NotJakeOwen/status/609192486225883136
June 19, 2015 @ 10:08 am
Ha, thanks for reminding me of that Twitter account. Always funny. Farr’s response was not. A Zima joke?? Really?
June 19, 2015 @ 12:02 pm
Ha I’m on that link too…
When I saw Farr’s response to Cake, I couldn’t tell if it was supposed to be an insult or a joke, because it’s not insulting or funny. That’s probably why he doesn’t write his own songs.
June 19, 2015 @ 9:42 am
Usually agree with your reviews but on this one I disagree. This is one of the best songs I’ve heard released this year by any of the mainstream guys. This song at least isn’t a laundry list of names and brands and it feels like it has more of a story line than anything on radio today. I’m not really a fan of Farr but I do find this song to be well written and at least different sounding in a good way.
June 19, 2015 @ 10:03 am
I’m in a glass case of emotion!
June 19, 2015 @ 10:49 am
“He’s gonna put Corningstone on, he’s gonna put Corningstone on!!”
But yes, I agree with most comments. This thing reeks of fake emotion and the video is just downright hilarious. Outside of that 3 John’s disaster by Urban, this may be my new “Worst Song of the Year” front-runner.
June 19, 2015 @ 1:55 pm
I muted the sound inside of 30 seconds but kept the video on; at about the halfway mark, I thought, “‘The Soup’ ought to show a clip this sometime…’ o_O
June 19, 2015 @ 10:12 am
Man this guy is creepy. Why does he keep releasing stalker type songs like this? It doesn’t sound like some guy who is heartbroken it sounds like some obsessed guy that needs a restraining order. It doesn’t sound like a love story, it sounds more like some kind of “fatal attraction.” What sort of fan base buys into this stuff? I want to make sure my daughters stay far away from them…
June 19, 2015 @ 10:15 am
This is like a prequel to ‘Redneck Crazy’. In about two months the guy in this song will be throwing stuff at the woman’s house.
June 19, 2015 @ 10:16 am
I’ve never been crazy about this one. I think Farr’s vocals are pushed a little too far here and the metal like production is off putting (even to a guy who likes a more rock/country combination in songs). Whereas Farr’s album cut “I Don’t Even Want This Beer” works along the same lines of a more hard rock heartbreak song and comes off much much better than this.
Though the standout heartbreak ballad of the whole album is “Suffer in Peace.” Say what you will about Farr, but I think that’s a damn good song.
June 19, 2015 @ 10:32 am
After suffering through Madonna’s new video with my jaw on the floor yesterday, I can’t jump right into another one yet. I’m gonna have to put a few days of recovery in here.
June 19, 2015 @ 2:18 pm
Here’s a classic Madonna video to cheer you up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn5OJGucveg
June 19, 2015 @ 10:35 am
I like the guy, saw him in concert & really enjoyed it. At least he was not in some freakin truck w some daisy duke chic figuring out he can score. And nice to know he does not need to name drop to show he is part of the current country music genre. To each their own but thought the review was a bit over the top. But I respect all outlooks, makes for interesting conversation.
June 19, 2015 @ 11:07 am
I’m a fan of grunge music and even a good amount post-grunge. I listen to a fair amount of early emo as well. I’ve defended Staind on this website before. But this is terrible.
What I see is a B-list country singer trying his best to impersonate “How You Remind Me” or “I Hate Everything About You” and falling short of very low expectations.
While most post-grunge lyricists weren’t the greatest of writers, their more serious songs often did seem believable and sometimes half way original. “How You Remind Me” starts off with the memorable “Never made it as a wise man, couldn’t cut it as a poor man stealing/ tired of living like a blind man, sick of sight without a sense of feeling.” These lyrics at least feel like an original thought from Chad Kroeger, even if they aren’t earth-shattering.
One of the biggest issues with this song is that it completely lacks a hook. “This is how you remind me of what I really am” serves as a memorable and original hook and the chorus gets stuck in your head. “I’m going through withdrawals” is neither catchy nor original.
I don’t see this song catching on at radio. It’s not catchy enough and I don’t think country radio is looking for angry power ballads right now.
June 19, 2015 @ 1:44 pm
Wasn’t meaning to insult grunge or post grunge, or even Staind for that matter—though you may have not thought I was either just wanted to clarify that. The only reason I brought that music up was to help describe what we have here, and how Farr is generally unqualified to pull it off as a “country” artist.
June 20, 2015 @ 12:37 am
This Song is not awful.
June 19, 2015 @ 11:11 am
My granddaughter likes Tee-Farr. She’s 2.
Must be the droning raspiness.
June 19, 2015 @ 1:50 pm
She must listen to the music her parents listen to. I have the same problem with my 6yo niece coming over and singing “Something Bad” because her Mom sings to it and I don’t sugar coat it I tell her straight out those songs suck. I think I got her in to Brandi Carlile I told her if she did a show near by I would take her and she was happy about that.
June 19, 2015 @ 11:16 am
You could have put him in a poodle cut blond wig, teased it up with 3 cans of aquanet, put him in tight fitting leather pants, and a shredded pink frilly shirt with a gibson flying V guitar, and not have had to change this song one bit.
Woof. This is literally hair metal circa 1990.
June 19, 2015 @ 11:28 am
I’m a pretty traditional minded guy, my setlists include Hank Sr, Reno and Smiley, and Glen Campbell, but I pack a flying v. it’s a great axe, use her on “Ghost Riders” and “Folsom Prison Blues” and stuff.
June 19, 2015 @ 2:14 pm
This is definitely in the post-grunge style, not in the hair metal style, just based on the chord progression.
June 19, 2015 @ 11:56 am
It’s not a country song by any means, but it certainly isn’t a bad song, in my opinion, and I like his vocals in this song as opposed to his usual Brantley Gilbert imitation, which is a imitation of Matt Kennon.
For the record, I think you’re all overreacting to the expressiveness of the song. Music and art in general is meant to be a medium with which we can express things we really can’t in words. It’s a completely separate entity from the artist. Not everybody has to play along with all of the PC rules created by our over-sensitive dating society where you can’t openly show interest in somebody without getting the “creepy” label. This song is meant to sound vulnerable, and a little pathetic. I think it’s well written and the performance is great. It’s a rock song, but if it’s going to be on country radio, I’d rather hear this than about 95% of everything else that’s played on it.
There are big problems with country radio right now, but this song isn’t one of them. Tyler Farr has a sub-par track record but both singles off of his new album and said album’s title track are a huge step forward.
June 19, 2015 @ 8:59 pm
A-FCKING-MEN man….a-fcking-men!!!!!!!
June 19, 2015 @ 10:09 pm
Hit the nail on the head. Although to me it’s more country sounding then most will give it credit for, but hey it is what it is. Very creative video as well.
I don’t know, but I think this is case of where Tyler Farr is in a sense giving the people what they want, but they are still refusing it for the sake of refusing. Sit back and relax. I mean this in the most respectful manner possible.
June 19, 2015 @ 12:03 pm
It is indeed bizarre that Aaron Lewis is singing respectable country songs while Tyler Farr is releasing EDM psychedelic creep music. What a coincidence that you would mention that, as I have recently discovered a parallel dimension where the definition of country was never perverted and Scott Borchetta never rose to power, among other differences:
Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, Aaron Watson, Wade Bowen, and all such artists are the pioneers in country music’s true evolution, progressing country while keeping it still country. Taylor Swift was always a pop star and never had anything to do with country. Keith Urban became a successful rock star and only made a duet with Brad Paisley once. Speaking of Brad Paisley, he is a very popular country rocker who sometimes sings funny songs, but he has never sold out like with “River Bank” in our world. Jason Aldean sings actual country music, but he never became successful and nobody has ever heard of him. Blake Shelton is slightly more popular, but is still nowhere near like our world, and he still has the mullet and cowboy hat. Luke Bryan is actually a semi-star, but he is much more country and much less metrosexual than in our world. His songs tend to be about beer and tailgates, but he’s the only one who does that on a regular basis, so it’s completely harmless. Rascal Flatts, FGL, San Hunt, and all of the generic bro-country singers like Cole Swindell and Tyler Farr never even got record deals. Miranda Lambert is a star and never married Blake Shelton. Carrie Underwood is a star too, and is more country than in our world. There is no female discrimination, and the likes of Kacey Musgraves and Brandy Clark are almost as successful as Carrie and Miranda. It’s almost paradise. Would you like to go there?
June 19, 2015 @ 12:12 pm
Oh, and Dallas Davidson never even wrote one song. He’s always been in and out of jail for bar fights and racist/homophobic/sexist outbursts.
June 19, 2015 @ 12:55 pm
I would not like to go there.
June 19, 2015 @ 6:31 pm
Can Carrie Underwood marry me in your fantasy?
June 19, 2015 @ 8:13 pm
It is not a fantasy, this is a parallel dimension that I discovered. Carrie Underwood is married to… Brad Paisley! They host shows together all the time in your world. In this other world, Mike Fisher and Kimberly Williams never came into the picture. Brad and Carrie collaborated all the time and eventually got married, essentially becoming this world’s version of Blake and Miranda, except Brad doesn’t say stupid things or sing bro-country.
June 19, 2015 @ 12:24 pm
” I bang my head against the moon “. Pssht! Like anyone could even do that. Idiot lol
June 19, 2015 @ 12:30 pm
Is he trying to do an Isbell thing with his voice? It isnt working.
June 19, 2015 @ 1:22 pm
Why do you guys act like this is news? This guy has always been shit, nothing has changed. Not even worth my time talking about.
June 19, 2015 @ 1:31 pm
What a piece of shit . This is so far from Country it isn’t even worth saying that . Poor title , same four chords that are in every f***** song on the radio , no range contrast in the verse to chorus melody , the drummer is so overwhelmingly busy he must be on crack himself , the guitar solo ( novel ) is generic and only illustrates further how UN-country this shit is . Give me a break …..
June 19, 2015 @ 1:33 pm
Farr comes off as a phoney to me. His music is too hurt, his voice is too distraught, and his body language is painful to watch. He has a very limited voice, and can’t use it to project his emotions so he has to depend on overwrought word play which becomes creepy because there is no vocal foundation for it. Add that to his image of ” redneck hurt” which is branch of bro-country because like Trigger said he has the maturity of a twelve year old. I just don’t buy it. And when did just being a redneck mean that you could sing country music or understand it. He, like Aldean, Gilbert, and Swindell, could never make it in pop music because of looks and age. But there will be some woman out there that gets this song. I only wish her better music someday. She deserves it whether she knows it or not.
June 19, 2015 @ 2:05 pm
I haven’t seen overacting like that since Lebron in the playoffs.
boom roasted.
June 19, 2015 @ 2:17 pm
Honestly, when I first heard the track on its own while streaming the album in whole, I just thought “Eh!”.
It’s rather middle-of-the-road to me. In a time where the airwaves are inundated with break-up songs and songs about coping with the aftermath of those said break-ups, this is just par for the course. And in a time where country radio has had a Freaky Friday moment with mid 90s to early 00s Alternative and Active Rock like you mentioned, this is also par for the course. It’s not as good as the Goo Goo Doll’s or Matchbox Twenty’s take on the subject, but it’s no better or worse than Daughtry’s.
*
That said, the release of the video has abruptly made the song unlistenable for me.
I’m absolutely serious. If the video was decidedly more understated like that of “A Guy Walks Into A Bar” was, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. But after watching the “Withdrawals” video, the first thing I was thinking by the last thirty seconds was that I was expecting he wanted to be waterboarded next. =X
Chill, The. Shucks. Down…………………………Tyler!
*
Of course, with Team Farr succeeding in spades to grab our attention with this creepy and desperate video, we can expect “Withdrawals” to be another decisive hit for him. Because, y’know………………the next Earl Scruggs is here! -__-
June 19, 2015 @ 2:51 pm
I agree the video was a big sum negative here, and the reason it ended up with a “two guns down” grade. I can understand if some see it as a change of pace, because it is. But that doesn’t make it good.
June 19, 2015 @ 9:30 pm
Noah or Trigger, just out of curiosity I looked up the songwriting credits for TFs album. There’s a couple songs that are written by Rhett Akins and Dallas Davidson. Songs called ” criminal” and ” poor boy “. Didn’t know if either of u have listened to them. I previewed them on iTunes and thought….. There’s no way those are DD or Rhett Akins songs. Not saying they were good by any means nor did I even think of purchasing them, but just thought to myself….. Those cant be Peach Pickeresqe songs ( if u will ). They just sounded a step above what they normally write. Not a big step, but a step nonetheless. Wonder if there’s pressure from some big wigs for more substance. Just curious anyways.
June 19, 2015 @ 10:13 pm
Before bro-country took over, Dallas Davidson could sometimes write really good songs. Here’s an example from Justin Moore in 2011:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55GAUgjpDQA
To add to the irony, this song was originally recorded by Rhett Akins!
June 19, 2015 @ 10:35 pm
I stated in an earlier thread here (can’t remember which one) that I actually liked a fair bit of “Suffer In Peace”.
Much like Brantley Gilbert’s “Just As I Am” (the original edition) surprised me with the number of fairly decent tracks that featured on it to counter the terrible first two singles and several other lousy to forgettable cuts last year, Farr’s sophomore album has surprised me with its share of quality.
Honestly, only two tracks infuriated me on the album for completely different tracks; which, oddly enough, happen to be the album’s bookends. “C.O.U.N.T.R.Y.” was completely needless and just smacked as absolutely juvenile, and “Why We Live Here” pissed me off in how it takes what could have been a great, pure pro-troop anthem, but can’t resist injecting jingoism into the lyrics which single-handedly renders it unlistenable in the end.
Otherwise, the album’s tracks range from forgettable at worst to solid at best.
And to serve as further shock, “Poor Boy” stood out as one of the album’s four deep cuts I most enjoyed upon first listen……………….which as you pointed out is a Dallas Davidson co-write. (Hey, sometimes even a blind hog can locate an acorn, right? 😉 ). I know to some the lyrics can smack as hokey and remind you of Trace Adkins’ “Marry For Money” (which was, in itself, polarizing but I interpreted it as him singing it tongue-in-cheek) but there’s just something kind of endearing about the delivery and phrasing.
The other three tracks I most liked was the lead single itself, the title track, and “I Don’t Even Want This Beer”. “Damn Good Friends” was actually pretty good as well.
“Criminal” was forgettable to me. It tried too hard to apply a more experimental form of arrangement to the tired old seduction theme, but it’s still a tired old song about a supposed country boy feeling horny because of a hot country “girl”. Still, I get why that stood out to some ears because of the arrangement.
June 19, 2015 @ 2:41 pm
i have been looking for a thread that made sense to talk about an experience i had a few weeks ago, and this one is good enough. my wife and i went to see Jason Aldean a few weeks ago at the Xfinity Ampitheater in Hartford CT. Opening were Tyler Farr (see the tie in here) and Cole Swindell. Although not my main point, i had heard next to nothing by either opener and they were both terrible, with Swindle winning (losing?) hands down. no voice, no stage presence, no songs. Just horrible.
My real point though is to raise the issue yet again that Trigger has raised of the drinking and fighting at these shows. Although there were numerous stupid examples i could give, i will focus on one that exemplifies the poor state of affairs at these shows. As my wife and i got into the outer area of the amphitheater, basically a large area with stand after stand serving alcohol to the already clearly inebriated attendees, we saw a fight break out. Although i could not see what happened, by the time we rounded the crowd and could see, we saw one person prostrate on the ground. He was white as a sheet, clearly unconscious and had obviously been hit so hard, probably from behind, that one of his shoes had fallen off. As no one of any authority appeared to be there, my wife and i went in search of security. At least 5 minutes passed during which time the best we could find was a guy sweeping up debris, who we dragged back to the area where the fight had been. Despite the passage of time, still no security or other authority figure had arrived and the kid was still laid out unconscious and white as a sheet. The other fighter was of course long gone. In addition to this silliness, we had to fight with drunk people pushing in front of our designated seats, watch big trucks attempt to crash over concrete barriers rather than wait in line to get out of the parking lot, have a drunk girl trample my wife’s coat climbing over the seats and then i had to almost get into a fist fight with her neanderthal boyfriend when i asked the girl to step off the coat. I also read the next day that a drunk driver leaving the show hit a policeman directing traffic at the event.
Trigger has brought this problem up repeatedly, but this was really my initial experience seeing it first hand. Each of the performers made comments in one form or another that effectively boiled down to “where all my drunk homies at?”. The amount of alcohol available was ludicrous and the absence of security was just pathetic. In my posts on this site, i have stuck up for Jason Aldean and i still do. i think he has good songs and a good voice, but i do think all these guys should back way off the whole encouraging the drinking thing and urge some responsible behavior. There were young kids with their parents there, and after what i saw, i don’t understand how any parent could bring a young child into that environment. it detracted immensely from my wife and my enjoyment of the headliner’s performance. i have been to a million rock, hard rock and heavy metal shows and, yes, people drink and fights can happen, but i sure never felt as uncomfortable as i felt that night. This was much more pervasive and unsupervised, and the atmosphere seemed to be one of exclusionism, meaning that i felt like an outsider, maybe due to my age, maybe the way i was dressed, but i sure felt unwelcome.
as an aside, you may be interested to know that Aldean did play Two Night Town, which Trigger sited as the best song on aldean’s recent release and which some commenters predicted he would never play live. iy sadly got a pretty muted reception from the audience. That said, i also thought the reaction to My Bed’s on Fire (or whatever its called) and Tonight Looks Good On You was also pretty tepid.
June 19, 2015 @ 2:49 pm
Thanks for th4e story and perspective Marky Mark.
June 19, 2015 @ 3:15 pm
very bad song same as c.o.u.n.t.r.y and Redneck Crazy.
June 19, 2015 @ 3:15 pm
The song itself is probably somewhere around One Gun Up/One Gun Down to 1 1/4 Guns Down.
But if this winds up becoming another hit for him like I expect it will (although I will say I’m surprised they didn’t release “Damn Good Friends” first because having back-to-back depressing songs can be overkill, and the only reason I can think of as to why they’ve held off on that release is because Aldean’s label Broken Bow is not ready to commit to the promotion yet and want to focus on “Old Boots New Dirt” in the meantime)……………..the video is what is going to stand out.
Videos still matter and can often either redeem the song, or at least make the song more tolerable, or flat-out tarnish the listening experience. The video for “Withdrawals” does the latter, and is a Two Guns Way Down video.
*
Edit: Not sure how intended direct replies to posts wind up surfacing as new posts on threads. =/
June 19, 2015 @ 3:25 pm
I watched what I could handle of this. My dog got up and left the room before he got through the first verse.
June 19, 2015 @ 4:48 pm
Pathetic. Another not-a-country song. Embarrassing video.
June 19, 2015 @ 8:19 pm
The production’s a bit much, but overall, I do quite enjoy this song.
However, that video is god awful. Just embarassing.
June 19, 2015 @ 8:55 pm
I thought this was one of the best songs on the album, along with suffer in peace and i don’t even want this beer.
June 20, 2015 @ 12:11 am
Who the hell is listening/buying /paying for concert tickets to see this stuff ? Most younger people I know agree ….they don’t listen to this because they find it boring ( my son’s bandmates and friends , several of my students and , apparently , their friends…..people that come out to our gigs etc.. ) They all claim to listen to pop radio and/or the ” acoustic-y” side of things ..Mumfords , Ed Sheeran , Mayer … . Is this a ( pardon my ignorance ) a ‘southern ‘ thing ? I mean , this stuff does get played up here in Canada but doesn’t SEEM to have a following ! Would this stuff be popular in L.A or New York , or Chicago ? Inquiring minds wish to know cuz “we baffled “
June 20, 2015 @ 6:14 am
I’m from cold-enough-to-give-a-snowman-hypothermia Michigan, and yes, this bro stuff is all the rage here. My former high school sidekick, who now has more mistresses than a pig has flies, and my current boss, who somehow is the coolest guy in the world, as well as my just-got-rejected-on-the-voice singer friend and my clueless-but-somehow-has-a-government-job friend fall all over themselves for this stuff. Chase Rice is the big deal, Swindell just did a show here at a amphitheatre/bowling alley. I should note that I live close to Interlochen, and the arts academy has tons of great stuff, Willie, Krauss, Nickel Creek, et. al.
June 20, 2015 @ 7:49 am
There’s a large contingent of young males up here in the near-the-Canadian-border Midwest with severe masculinity issues so they latch on to this hyper-dbag shit and hold on for dear life. They think it makes them a man. Of all the silly things.
I’m not being facetious. This is a real, sadly hilarious thing.
June 20, 2015 @ 8:44 am
That’s interesting to me . I know I’m more IN than OUT of the music loop up here ( it being my business for so many years ) and I recognize the popularity of these guys but mostly from a media perspective ….not , as I say , from first-hand experience with too many listeners . I mean , I see it on the award-fests etc and I see the charts ….but somehow it has this ” hype ” thing written all over it …..like media TELLING us its something it isn’t ( “Oceania IS winning the war ” ). However your comments would suggest that my take is certainly more than a little off and your feedback here indicates there are obviously some pockets of fandom that eat this stuff up . Now I’m REALLY afraid !
I’d love to be a fly on the wall at a conversation on contemporary commercial songs and songwriting between James Taylor , Kristofferson , the Bergmans , Don Schlitz and some other greats
June 20, 2015 @ 3:01 pm
Agreed. I personally think it has a lot to do with the fact mainstream Rock music has really declined in terms of it’s popularity and mainstream impact. Most of the mainstream Rock/Metal bands left seem to be holdovers from the post-Grunge/Rap-Rock days like Linkin Park, Staind.
I think a lot of that audience has drifted over to Bro-Country now.
September 13, 2015 @ 5:56 pm
I think in order to save rock radio we need more thrash.
Stuff like Slayer and early Metallica
June 20, 2015 @ 12:21 am
This song is not very good and the video isn’t anything to write home about. Frankly, it seems so bland/forced/boring that it hardly seems to be worth an article to begin with.
June 20, 2015 @ 5:35 am
This video would make a great pro-concealed carry ad. “Look at the psychotic weird-asses out there, carry a gun!”
June 20, 2015 @ 7:29 am
Nice to see Limp Bizkit still trying. I do like Fred Durst better without the backwards hat.
June 20, 2015 @ 7:42 am
The banjo you speak of is actually a dobro, I play dobro so I find that mistake to come often. Certainly doesn’t mean anything to what you’re saying about the song but was only clarifying lol!
June 20, 2015 @ 8:00 pm
Tyler Farr is a joke. But to be honest, if I heard this on the mainstream rock station, I’d probably think it was just ok, nothing terrible. Nothing about it is country, but for generic post-grunge rock, it’s not an abomination.
June 22, 2015 @ 6:24 pm
Pretty much. But I’ve long thought grunge and everything after it mostly sucked ass, so…
Recommended ear bleach, from Judas Priest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM__lPTWThU
June 20, 2015 @ 9:31 pm
When I hear Tyler Farr the word that comes to my mind ain’t shit or bro-country but disappointment. The first time I heard of him was when I watched him at the opry in October of 2012. It was just him and another guitar player and they did hello goodbye and I hope I don’t live to see that day which is still a song I really like. Both of those are solid and pretty damn country. I thought he was gonna really help the cause out but we see how that turned out. It’s a shame how guys come to town with great songs but chase the money
June 20, 2015 @ 9:37 pm
2 GUNS DOWN INDEED!!!!!!!!!!!! very bad song.
June 20, 2015 @ 10:46 pm
Jesus, between Redneck Crazy and this, you can’t help but wonder of songwriters are just screwing with him at this point.
I don’t know how the music industry works in this regard, but damn, maybe this guy should take a step back and say something about singing songs which make him sound like he is some nut who can’t handle rejection.
June 23, 2015 @ 2:00 pm
fail song