Blown Away

Carrie Underwood
Blown Away
Arista Nashville
2012

Bluesy guitars and a mean bass line open up typical Carrie fare with [Good Girl], the quintessential revenge song that stands up well beside [Before He Cheats], [Cowboy Casanova], and [Undo It]. Some good stories fuel this standard country pop album from one of this decades’ best female vocalists belting about lying men, first love, hometowns, and shotguns. It’s what you expect from Carrie Underwood (and country, for that matter) and hardly anything new, with retreaded ground from Taylor Swift ([Nobody Ever Told You]) and Gretchen Wilson ([Cupid’s Got a Shotgun]). But the average is punctured not only by her golden vocals but also by songwriting gems like [Wine after Whiskey], jazzy piano ballad [Good in Goodbye], and the pitch-perfect country pop of [See You Again]. When it comes to country, unless you’re talking about the Civil Wars, you get exactly what you want and need from every release: nostalgic, rehashed songs; big vocals; and a few new, outstanding tracks worth the artists’ salt and Carrie doesn’t come close to disappointing.

~ by vinyabarion on July 19, 2012.