Usually I don’t combine music reviews but given that the most recent season of “American Idol” spawned two teenaged country singers I figured it would be appropriate. The winner of the tenth season was Scotty McCreery, an 18-year-old country singer whose voice is well beyond his years. McCreery is from North Carolina and his first single, “I Love You This Big,” peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Scotty McCreery’s “Clear as Day.”
The young prodigy debuts a well polished album in “Clear as Day.” The album’s theme showcases the lack of experience with relationships, with nearly each of the 12 tracks touching on the subject of girls. On “I Love You This Big,” McCreery sings the lines, “I know I’m still young, but I know how I feel.”
With the assistance of a group of talented country music writers, it’s definitely “clear as day” that this phenom has a well-produced effort on his hands. Only time will tell if McCreery will follow the same path as country greats like Alan Jackson and Garth Brooks. With Country Music being so fastidious with its products, in the sense that first year artists rarely get to write their own material, don’t be surprised if McCreery’s big voice takes him a long way.
Lauren Alaina’s “Wildflower.”
The runner-up behind McCreery was Lauren Alaina, the 16-year-old Georgia peach with the Carrie Underwood-like voice. Underwood plays a key role with Alaina; not only did Underwood sing a song with Alaina on the show’s finale, she also co-wrote the song “Eighteen Inches” off of “Wildflower.”
The first track on the album is rightfully called, “Georgia Peaches.” It’s a fun, dance filled country song that sets the theme for the rest of the album. The rest of the debut effort, like McCreery’s, is comprised of perfectly selected tunes courtesy of wonderful country music writers. However, fans do a get a taste of Alaina’s writing ability on the album’s song, “Funny Thing About Love,” a song about wanting someone at the wrong time.
“Wildflower” debuted on October 11, 2011 and sold nearly 70,000 copies the first week. Her status is slowly rising and so long as Alaina can handle the pressure of being a big time country singer, she will find herself in the same company as her idol, Carrie Underwood.
Both “Clear as Day” and “Wildflower” are available.