Sam Outlaw — Sam Outlaw EP | Review
Country music has seen a variety of changes in the past decade, becoming more and more glossy and filled to the brim with “bro-country” acts. Much of the male country music of the day I find hard to stomach. It sells, so I guess I can’t blame an artist for going where the money is. There are a rising number of country music artist that are going against the grain and trying something a bit more traditional. One of those artist with a more contemporary take on traditional country is Sam Outlaw. Yes, Outlaw is a real family name. Sam took on the last name, his mother’s maiden name, as a tribute to his late mother. I had discovered his second record, Tenderheart, and enjoyed this light-hearted brand of country music. Outlaw is a Southern Californian artist whose influences in the genre can be heard in his own music. When discussing these with Lonesome Highway he said:
“[I have] too many country influences and heroes to name, but here’s a start: George Jones, Willie Nelson, Ray Benson, Don Williams, Keith Whitley, George Strait, Dwight Yoakam. Non-country influences would mainly be The Beatles I guess. But that’s probably the case for everyone.”
The sound he manifested with this set of songs would fit nicely on the radio with tracks from George Strait and company. I wanted to take a step back and look at Sam’s first EP.
“Cry for Me” is a good old fashioned country break-up song. He is devastated after the woman he loved has left him. He has dived into all of his vices in order to try and recover from his broken heart: “I’m tryin’ not to drink too much/ I feel a whole lot better when I’m drunk/ So I can’t drink too much” and “I’m tryin’ not to smoke at home/ The loneliness is brighter when I’m stoned/ So I can’t smoke at home”. His depressive state has boiled over into anger as Sam sings “I’m tryin’ not to make a scene”. This is all due to his ex-girlfriend not being broken up at all over their break. Though he maybe be a mess, she is not crying over him.
“Kind to Me” see Outlaw getting shot down by the woman whose caught his eye at the bar. She’s not impressed by this guys come ons and lines. He willing to do whatever it takes to make her give him her time, “I coulda dressed a little nicer/ Brushed my favorite hat/ I coulda sipped Budweiser/ Shot Maker’s Mark instead/ Coulda said something cleaner/ Than what I said/ Guess I’m no Alan Jackson/ Couldn’t you and I pretend?”. He comes off as the sleazy guy that won’t leave her alone. This works with the persona that he’s put on with the rest of the tracks here. The central theme is through all his trying, he wants her to just be a kind to him and maybe flash a smile.
“Friends Don’t Let Friends Drink (And Fall in Love)” is all about trying to get over your ex only to get drunk and have an unwanted one night stand. The humor this song has reminds me of other self deprecative country tracks of the late 90s and early 2000s. Sam’s friends are only trying to help cheer him up after a sudden heartbreak. Instead of spirits bringing up his own, they seem to have washed away his good senses, “Now I’m wakin’ up to someone I don’t barely know/ Thought I was in love last night — the whiskey told me so/ Well you left me in that barroom drunk and flirtin’ /And though you were only tryin’ to cheer me up/ Next time stop me from lovin’ so lonely and hurtin’”. In the end, Sam has a message to tell all his friends and this is friends don’t let friends drink and fall in love.
“Something That I’ve Gotta Do” is the classic “I had to leave home to make our dreams come true” western diddy. He’s gone out west and is having a hard time being apart from his woman at home, “Tonight I can’t remember,/ Why I ever left/ Sent home ’n’ torn in two/ There’s just something that I got to do”. Through this, he is letting her know she’s always on his mind as he’s working towards getting their lives together.
“Ghost Town” would appear on Sam’s debut album Angeleno in 2015, which would be slightly longer than the version we hear here on the EP. The song reflects upon a town that has become a shell of its former glory. It’s reminiscent of a lot of old industry towns in the midwest that are just homes to dilapidated buildings and empty streets, “Nothing but one dead highway,/ No blood in these veins,/ You hardly see a car, truck, or train”. The continues on with the theme of loss as Sam sings on the change in his family and loss of his own mother, “I wish that I could hold my momma,/ Just once more before she leaves,/ But I cant, no I can't/ No I cant, no I cant, no I can’t”. The town isn’t just a ghost town from the death of industry, but also a town haunted by the ghosts of Sam’s past.
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Sam’s EP. Having listened to some of his second record Tenderheart, I was already a fan of his brand of country music. It has made me interested in listening to his first album, Angeleno. Since the release of this EP, Outlaw has released two full length albums and one new EP, Hat Acts. His most recent single is “Forever and Always” which is a duet featuring Sarah Darling. My favorites off the E.P:
- “Cry for Me”
- “Kind to Me”
- “Friends Don’t Let Friends Drink (And Fall in Love)”
My overall rating: 6 out of 10 drinks on the house…
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