Single Review: Outta My Head – Craig Campbell

12 years ago Liv Carter 3
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Songwriters: Michael Carter, Brandon Kinney, Cole Swindell

After his impressive, self-titled debut album, Craig Campbell is ready for the sophomore release challenge. He starts out strong with first single, ‘Outta My Head.’

You can sanitize your surroundings of the material reminders of that lost love but you can’t run from your memories, such is the premise of ‘Outta My Head.’ The pictures, rings and [stuff] can be cleared out but it’s no use if ‘I got you off of these walls/I got you out of my bed/But girl I’m no better off/Can’t get you outta my head.’

Songwriters Michael Carter, Brandon Kinney and Cole Swindell came up with highly relatable lyrics by using examples to describe the frustration of lingering memories, and the struggle to move on. Using his warm baritone to full effect, Campbell establishes a character you sympathize with rather than feel sorry for.

Together with producer Keith Stegall, Campbell created a very 21st-century modern traditional(ish) country sound for himself on his debut album, and it seems they, along with co-producer Matt Rovey, are not making any unnecessary production changes. Here, over unobtrusive drums and electric guitars, dance Stuart Duncan‘s fiddle and Dan Dugmore‘s steel. Taking the best of two styles, the thoughtful arrangement turns a pop-country melody into a straight up country song.

It always disappoints me a little when someone who is as great a songwriter as Craig Campbell ends up releasing an outside song as a project’s first single, but who am I to argue if it is this well-suited. ‘Outta My Head’ is a catchy calling card for the new album, and before you get to the end, you will find the phrase ‘can’t get you outta my head’ also applies to the song itself.

 

 

 

Liv Carter

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.
Liv Carter

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