(DJ Rinehart / deepinthemix.com, July 23 2023)
They sort of represent the opposite bookends of a musical bookshelf: the catchy banger and the smooth ballad. They are the flamboyant, which thrills and the mellow, which triggers feelings. Not always do they catch the broad public's attention. Maybe because the timing just isn't right, maybe because they are deep cuts that not everyone gets to hear or simply because the artist is not well enough known (yet). And although musical tastes always are personal and subjectiv, this spot here shall give those songs a little stage to shine.
Ballad: a song or poem that tells a story, or a slow love song. (dictionary.cambridge.org)
Growing up in the state of Alabama, Danny Riley comes from the deep south of the USA and is one of an increasing number of artists of color who are openly committing to country music. Of course he also incorporates hip-hop elements into his music, but at the core his focus remains on traditional country elements, produced in a modern way.
He released his first song, the self-written 'Moonshine Kidneys' in May of 2022. With this quite unusual title he describes in a catchy way the longing for a lost love, which he hopes to get over with some home-made liquor. He is still fairly unknown, but his sonorous voice sticks with you, once you have heard it. Just like on the self-written ballad 'Standing In The Rain', which was released in November of 2023 and is another lament on broken hearts.
Banger: a popular song or piece of music with a loud, heavy beat (= rhythm) that people like to dance to. (dictionary.cambridge.org)
He also comes from (northern) Alabama, but his influences lie somewhere between modern country and southern rock. "My dad would be playing Lynyrd Skynyrd on the boom box when he was working, so a lot of Southern Rock. […] He was into 70s rock kind of stuff, and my mom, I would ride to school with her every day, and she would listen to whatever was current on The Highway or a Sugarland CD", 26-year-old Reid Haughton recalls.
In May of 2023 he released his first studio project by the same name, containing 7 songs plus an additional acoustic version via River House Artists whose clients include a.o., Luke Combs. "Reid Haughton" was produced by Sadler Vaden, who is known from Jason Isbell's band The 400 Unit and for discovering and producing Morgan Wade. Consequentially the musical result is a few steps away from traditional country.
At the beginning of this year (January 2024) Reid Haughton's latest song was released, the Southern rock-influenced catchy tune 'Man Made Money', which he co-wrote with Adam Hood. "I had taken that idea from my grandpa. I once heard him say to my grandma years ago, ‘I got the money, honey if you’ve got the time’ while they were out shopping", he tells allcountrynews.com.
This variation of the most famous song title by Lefty Frizell ('If You've Got the Money, Honey, I've Got the Time') from 1950, plays into 'Man Made Money' and the no longer entirely appropriate gender role distribution in which the man brings home the money to make his woman happy.
(Man Made Money / Adam Hood, Reid Haughton)
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