The Singles Jukebox

I couldn’t decide whether to make a bad “Take On Me” joke or a bad “Domino” joke so I’ll spare you both…

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[5.38]

Thomas Inskeep: Vince Gill is a national treasure as far as I’m concerned, a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, winner of 20 Grammys and 18 CMA Awards, and one of the finest country artists of the past quarter-century. He’s got a gorgeous, clear voice and is a shit-hot guitar picker. He also sang lead on this. So it saddens me to report that the first single from his 15th studio album is an utter snooze, sung and played very professionally (as it were), co-written with Richard Marx, with LBT barely audible on some backing harmonies. Five minutes from now I’ll forget I heard this. 
[4]

Alfred Soto: A sturdy producer, terrific guitarist, and harmonizer of near genius, Vince Gill is a blank when he records his own music. Little Big Town provides the gentlest frisson imaginable. 
[6]

Anthony Easton: Vince Gill is a master of the courtly love song, and Little Big Town has the best harmonies in the business, plus “Girl Crush” proved their ability to make an erotic ode to profound ambivalence. I was curious about how the instincts would end up working with or against each other, but this kind of just rests, pretty enough but not interesting. 
[5]

Brad Shoup: If you’re gonna do Fleetwood Mac, might as well get the next best thing. The acoustic voicing is uncanny: their harmonies just as much so. It’s all Vince can do to summon the fire his guests are starting to wield.
[6]

David Sheffieck: Gill’s voice has grown husky with age, and I’m not sure either of us knows quite what to think of it: this sounds thin at points, like he’s still trying to figure out what to do now that his vocal isn’t silky smooth anymore. But the passion’s still there, and his guitar work is still enough to elevate any rotely midtempo production. 
[6]

Katherine St Asaph: It’s MOR, but more wistful and substantial than the sort of MOR country seems to prefer nowadays.
[6]

Jonathan Bogart: When I was thirteen, about half of the stuff on the radio sounded like this, and I took it extremely seriously. If I can’t anymore, maybe that has more to do with my rejection of my younger self than with any virtues or demerits in the music itself.
[5]

Patrick St. Michel: Probably need to be driving down some dusty backroads off of the 14 freeway to really see how this stacks up, but it sounds fine.
[5]