Songwriters: Toby Keith, Bobby Pinson
At first glance, I was not expecting this to be good. Far from it – I was expecting a throwaway ditty built around its title, with the verses being totally blah. Instead, we get an authentic, humorous ode to the working class, with a fiddle and steel-enhanced production that wouldn’t sound out of place among the awesome country music of the nineties.
The clash between the liftestyles of the city girl and the country boy is hardly new, but Keith offers a take that doesn’t feel like a halfhearted rehash, but that doesn’t take itself too seriously either. Keith pulls off all the right stops for a good fun country boy ditty, from a jaunty, catchy melody to clever lines about “your country club that ain’t really country.” Some might look down on the country folk, but Keith responds, not through hollow chest-pounding “country good – city bad” declarations, but rather by simply demonstrating that he’s comfortable in his own skin – not to mention by actually singing instead of just shouting.
Toby Keith might not be breaking new ground with this release, but he’s got song structure and entertainment value nailed down. I have a feeling I just might be buying that upcoming new Toby Keith album.
The 1-to-10 Country Music Review 