Single Review: ‘Pretty Little Lie’ – Blackberry Smoke
11 years ago Liv Carter 7
Songwriters: Charlie Starr, Danny Meadows
One of the bands rapidly working themselves into the public consciousness is Blackberry Smoke. The Atlanta, GA southern rockers found a musical home at Zac Brown‘s Southern Ground and are gaining fans with their third release, The Whippoorwill. They are now pushing their first single to country radio, ‘Pretty Little Lie.’
The song addresses the lies we tell ourselves when navigating the complexities of relationships, and describes the kind of love triangle in which, ultimately, everybody loses. ‘Come over here and sit by me / Tell me everything I wanna hear / I’ll pretend that I don’t see / The reason you’re back over here,’ Starr starts the story.
The song is driven by a laid-back beat and relaxed guitar groove, with the mix staying very even throughout. It’s at risk of sounding a little flat because of that, and some of the key phrases could have used some accenting. As the first single to introduce them to a wider radio audience, this is, however, a good choice.
Blackberry Smoke make music at the intersection of Nashville and Texas; their songs’ natural habitat is a stage rather the radio. The band has been touring for over a decade, comfortable with who they are and how they sound. Luckily for them, country radio is starting to embrace rootsier sounds again and 2013 will be a big year for this band. They are among the first bands who also fit under the roots and Americana banners to find their way to country radio playlists and, aside from good news for them, let’s hope they can be trailblazers for many more quality act like this.
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.
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