Single Review: Back – Colt Ford feat. Jake Owen
12 years ago Liv Carter Comments Off on Single Review: Back – Colt Ford feat. Jake Owen
Songwriters: Colt Ford, Shannon Houchins, Noah Gordon, Mike Hartnett.
Like almost no one else in country music, the reaction you see when you drop Colt Ford‘s name into a conversation is either ‘love’ or ‘hate’. Very few people seem to manage ‘ambivalence’. While I do not expect this to change with new release, ‘Back,’ it may yet surprise some on the ‘hate’ side.
‘Back,’ the first single from Ford’s upcoming album, features Jake Owen and is an ode to the simple life back when. Fitting with the current country vogue, there are people huntin’, fishin’, and sittin’ on tailgates, but, far from being a tick-box exercise, these are genuine elements of the picture being painted. The lyrics do a good job of capturing the romanticized reminiscing without ever going really too far. I don’t live my life in my rearview mirror, and tend to think that those who see their past as an idyllic Eden, suffer from a very selective memory, but I can accept this is entirely my own issue and not at all the point of this story.
Because of Ford’s hip-hop delivery, his songs are almost forced to start with the chorus and, given that nothing about it changes, by the third pass it starts to need something more to stay as engaging as it first was. This is a shame as the chorus itself is very strong. With a great interpretation, Owen inflects just enough melancholy to not topple over into overwrought.
The production might have been more effective had it been kept more stripped down; the song flows just a little too languidly now. It’s also not helped by the double tracking of vocals.
‘Back’ may not convince everyone, but it there is enough to it to stop me from condemning it. There is a warm story being told here, and it is told well.
Liv Carter
She holds several certificates from Berklee College of Music, and a certificate in Positive Psychology from UC Berkeley.
Her main influences are coffee, cats, and Alexander Hamilton.
Latest posts by Liv Carter (see all)
- Well yes, racism, but it’s more complicated - February 13, 2017
- Black River Entertainment had a great reason to party! - October 25, 2016
- Keith Urban returns to the States for US arena leg of his “ripCORD WORLD TOUR 2016” - October 10, 2016
