Album Review: Jason Aldean – Old Boots, New Dirt
2 min read
When you think country music you tend to think of acoustic guitars and cowboy hats and whilst country superstar Jason Aldean features both of these in his latest album Old Boots, New Dirt the multi award winning singer also brings along a new pop-rock like style which is sure to generate mixed reviews. Beginning his career back in 2005 with his debut self titled album Jason Aldean, the country idol has gone on to great success achieving a mixture of certified triple, double and single platinum for all six of his albums. His latest offering Old Boots, New Dirt which is already certified single platinum is not your typical country album, Aldean while keeping some traditional country songs has opted for more up-tempo style tracks this time however; it doesn’t really pay off.
Aldean kicks the album off with Just Gettin’ Started, a track that sounds like the type of song Nickleback would release if they were to turn country, a bit heavier (for lack of a better word) than your typical country tune, lead by a strong electric guitar presence but still keeping those typical country lyrics. Whilst Aldean provides a variety of different sounds on this album the lyrical content seems to be repetitive, I mean how many songs can you write about love, sex and alcohol? And what’s even worse is that to often the lyrics are cheesy and almost creepy considering they are coming from a 37 year old man ‘I need a sweet little somethin’ like you got/Standing there red hot, tied up little tank top’.
Whilst you can appreciate Aldean for trying to mix things up with a somewhat EDM-like style for tracks like Burnin’ It Down & Sweet Little Somethin’, its the traditional country sounding tracks such as If My Truck Could Talk and Don’t Change Gone that stand out the most, the casual guitar strokes and smooth vocals make for an enjoyable listen. Above all though the highlight of the album falls to Miss That Girl, for anyone who has been through a break up this track is sure to pull on some strings.
Now I’m sure fans of Aldean will certainly enjoy this album however; from a neutral point of view most of these songs tend to sound the same, even with the variety of different styles you can’t help but notice a repetitive vibe. Whilst there are a small handful of tracks that are enjoyable its not enough to make this a stand out album.
