
When I first heard a Ray Scott song it was completely by accident. Remember those old Totally Country CDs they used to release regularly in the mid-2000s? This was before digital music became real popular and people still bought CDs. I picked it up from the store one day because it had a handful of songs on there I enjoyed hearing on the radio. I’m not telling you which ones because it’s embarrassing what my taste in music was like during this time. In fact after coming across this CD again recently it’s amazing how different and much better country music sounded in 2005 (maybe a future post). Jason Aldean and Blake Shelton actually made decent music! But anyway back to Scott. His single “My Kind of Music” made the album and I remember it vividly since hearing it. For those who don’t remember it’s a song about Scott dating a woman who doesn’t like country music and can’t name any great country songs. By the end of the song Scott tells her to hit the road and kiss his ass (he actually says this) because of this.
“My Kind of Music” really sums up what you get when listening to Scott’s music. It’s important to keep in mind that Ray Scott isn’t always serious with his music, similar to the style of Big & Rich. Scott loves to incorporate humor into his music and if the subject is immature he’s probably joking around with the song. He actually prides himself on sounding traditional with his music though and he’s been consistent with this over the years. My approach with every album is to consider the style and approach artists take with their music. So keep this in mind if you’ve never heard Scott’s music before when I review his new self-titled album because his style is certainly unique compared to most country artists today.
I’ll break this album down from the beginning to the end in order to really demonstrate how Scott can flip a switch between being serious and silly. The first four songs alone demonstrate this. The album begins with “Cookin'” and immediately you hear a harmonica at the beginning of the song, which I would love to hear in country songs more often. The song is about a man’s wife who can cook pretty well, but not in the kitchen. I think you know what I mean. Now keep in mind this song isn’t trying to be serious. This is just a silly song to get a good laugh, depending on your sense of humor. The instrumentation is pretty good and the beat is easy to get wrapped up in, even if you don’t find it funny.
Scott then switches to his serious side with “Ain’t Always Thirsty,” a drinking song that deals with heartbreak. The man in the song explains he doesn’t always drink because he’s thirsty, but because he’s heartbroken or feeling down. His emotions sometimes force him to do things he doesn’t want to. This is a throwback to what drinking songs should be about like in the days of Jones and Jennings. Scott’s vocals are great and the instrumentation is spot on. Once again Scott goes back to his not serious side with “Drinkin’ Beer.” It’s about drinking beer of course and in several different locations. Now some might point out the themes of this song are sort of bro country esqué. But Scott drinking on a John Deere tractor sounds more believable than the likes of Luke Bryan and Cole Swindell. The lyrics are bit repetitive, but that’s the point I think. Again at least the instrumentation is decidedly country, even if you don’t agree with the theme approach.
Scott then does a complete 180 degree turn with “Papa and Mama,” going from silly to downright dark and morbid. This song is about a boy who watches his papa beat his mama and cheat on her. He finally has enough and saves enough money to buy a 12 gauge shotgun. One day he waits for his papa to arrive home and kills him as he walks through the front door. The lyrics really paint a vivid picture in the listeners’ heads of the situation and Scott’s vocals really add emotion to the song too. This is arguably his best song ever and proves that when serious, Scott can shine just as bright as he does with lighter material. See what I meant about him switching between serious and silly now?
The next two songs Scott isn’t being too serious, yet both situations are quite plausible. “Tijuana Buzzkill” is about Scott and a buddy going down to Mexico and getting into trouble at a bar. It’s really a funny song that will make you laugh at least once. The use of the horn really helps drive the beat and pace of this song. This is one of his better fun songs. His next fun song, “Wheels on the House” isn’t as entertaining to me. This song is about living in a trailer, or how this song describes it as a house on wheels. It describes living in this manner to be nice and if you ever need to change the view, you can always move it across town. It’s sort of half serious, half funny. The theme is a little boring.
Scott gets serious again with “It Ain’t Gonna Be You,” which is about a woman trying to come back into a man’s life, but he isn’t allowing it. He says if he’s going to have his heart-broken again, it’s not going to be because of her. Scott really does spoken word well in this song and it helps advance the story of the song. Tyler Hubbard needs to listen to this song and take notes. This song has some rock influences and is especially evident during the brief electric guitar solo towards the latter half of the song. The song is simple, yet describes a complex feeling that has been felt by many in this situation. Scott shows his softer side in the love ballad, “Leave This World.” He professes his love for the woman of his life. It’s nice to see this side of Scott because it proves to his detractors that he’s multi-faceted and not a one trick pony that only does humor songs. I would’ve liked to have heard a tad more emotion in his voice, but that’s nitpicking. The songwriting is solid.
“Her Old Man” is about a man who’s in love with a woman, but he’s quite fearful of her father getting out of jail someday. It’s another song with humorous undertones, but then again I’m sure there’s guys who have been in this situation too. The sound of this song is a throwback to the late 80s and early 90s sound of country, which is nice on the ears. I’m going to skip the next song because I want to save it for last in my review, so let’s look at the final song on the album, “I Miss The Days.” This song is about Scott reflecting on his simpler days as a kid and misses those innocent times. It’s a nostalgia based song that I’m sure will make many listeners connect with this song. This is the kind of emotion “American Kids” was going for, except this song doesn’t sound like a commercial jingle with the songwriting and Scott actually conveys emotion in the song. It’s a nice way to cap off the album for Scott.
The final song I want to look at in this review is “The Ugly One.” This one is definitely not on the serious side. Basically the song is told from the point of view from Ray who’s trying to help his buddy Scotty get back out in the bar scene after dealing with a bad breakup. They spot two women, with one looking pretty and the other not so much. Ray tells Scotty to go after the pretty woman and he’ll “take one for the team” by dealing with the “ugly one.” Ray is pretty much an asshole the whole song, ragging on this poor ugly woman. You’ll laugh at his horrible jokes at least once and feel awful about it in the process, but the payoff at the end of the song makes it all worth it. I won’t spoil it, so I recommend listening to this song just to hear the end of it. This is another one of Scott’s great humor songs.
I had surprisingly a lot of thoughts on this album, but when dealing with unique albums such as this one it’s bound to happen. Scott is always trying to inject humor into his music, yet the sound of the music always maintains a traditional country sound. This album made me laugh, yet also think about more serious subjects. I guess these are the things that in my mind elevate Scott above Big & Rich, despite their somewhat similar approaches. I would’ve loved to hear Scott parody bro country or make a song mocking it, but that’s just me being greedy. This album is under the radar and it’s a damn shame too because this is Scott’s best album of his career. If you don’t mind humor in your country music and love the traditional sound, this album is highly recommended.
Grade: 8.5/10