Little Rebellion Music

Songwriters: Neil Thrasher and Michael Dulaney

Singing about rural life has always been a staple of country music, and rightly so. The problem in recent years has been that it often dissolved into lyrics constructed from sloppily thrown together markers of ‘countriness’, which failed to make any sort of point (if they were even trying). The worst were the countless ‘I’m country’-songs which, either explicit or implicit, tried to add “which means I am better than anyone who isn’t.”

There is not a hint of any such self-indulgent schmaltz on Jason Aldean‘s new single ‘Fly Over States.’ We hear the internal dialogue of the narrator as he watches two people on a plane ignore the landscape below – if only they knew what was down there, they’d know it’s just as significant as any modern metropolis. It is a point many have made before, but done so in a new and powerful way.

When you have driven through the kind of state many people only get the bird’s-eye view of (hello to West Virginia!), you indeed know what slice of American life you are looking at when, during a long-haul flight, you see an isolated farm without any other buildings for miles around. Thrasher and Dulaney crafted an imagery-rich lyric and make you curious about the stories of the people who ‘wanna live down there/in the middle of nowhere.’

With a sweeping, melodic chorus, and a thoughtful production which for once isn’t swinging for the fences, ‘Fly Over States,’ carries shades of ‘Amarillo Sky’ with it, and has Aldean vocally at his best.

‘Fly Over States’ is an excellent country single in every way possible.

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Liv Carter

Liv is a career coach for creatives, and the people who work with them.
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.

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