"'Whirlwind' is another superior example of Wilson's ongoing collaboration
with producer Jay Joyce, and how it generates grabbags of songs that sound
completely diverse from track to track and yet all authentically country and
certainly all utterly her."
The album contains 14 songs, which interestingly does not have the artist's name on its cover. 4 of them have already been pre-released. They include the bold first single 'Hang Tight Honey', which made it to number 13 on the radio (Billboard Country Airplay) charts in July 2024, despite its driving tempo, which is rather untypical for a radio single.
'Country's Cool Again' was released in February of this year, not only giving the title to Lainey Wilson's current tour, but also summing up the most significant musical trend of the year.
The "Whirlwind" project is a thoroughly convincing one. With the help of famed producer Jay Joyce, Wilson once again manages to walk the fine line, by combining classic country elements with influences from other styles without blurring one with the other. The courage to produce the album with a state of the art modern approach pays off and ensures variety from song to song. Not least thanks to surprising bridges in almost every song.
For example, 'Ring Finger', with its rock guitar intro and its funky rhythm, is the most difficult to describe. The song does score additional points with its lyrics about a cheated wife who throws her husband out but keeps the (bling bling) ring. And whoever has the damage doesn't need to worry about the mockery, because in the end all he gets is the (middle) finger: I got the ring, he got the finger.
In 'Call A Cowboy' the quiet expression of respect for an honest, trustworthy man -after a contemplative bridge- turns into a passionate declaration of love for her cowboy.
Not only for
billboard.com, 'Bar in Baton Rouge' is perhaps the best song on the album: "The relatively
complex song could be a good roadmap for where Wilson goes next, as it’s clear
that no style is beyond her reach."
With its more than 5 minutes, the
Southern Rock influences and a passionate bridge, the lyrics also plays with
words:
Got a heart that's got a mind
to drink the Pontchartrain bone dry.
The more I drink about it,
the more I'm silver bullet proof,
steady staring at these mountains,
in a bar in Baton Rouge.
To get the double meanings, one needs to know that the label of the Colorado-based Coors beer (sold in silver cans, also known as Silver Bullets) shows the Rocky Mountains because it is brewed with water from the Rocky Mountains. Only the reference to Lake Pontchartrain is a little off because it is not in Baton Rouge, but south of it in New Orleans.
The common thread on the mid-tempo 'Broken Hearts Still Beat' is the subliminal heartbeat that picks up broken hearts and lets them know that life goes on. Along with the suggestive reframe that bed's got a little more room and fridge has got a littlе more beer in it.
Things get even more quiet with the supportive 'Middle Of It' (one of these days you're gonna miss these days, when you didn't even know you were on your way), while the album ends with Lainey Wilson's personal favorite track. 'Whiskey Colored Crayon' is a ballad that originated from a game of trying to write songs from the randomly chosen words whiskey and crayon.
Lainey Wilson, along with Josh Kear and Wyatt McCubbin, turned it into a story
about a kindergarten boy who is given the task of drawing a picture of his
family. When he asks for a whiskey-colored crayon to draw his father, it
becomes clear that there is a problem.
He drew a big orange sun,
shining down on
a little red house with
a little green tree,
a little blue car parked out on the street.
Brother
with a football, sister with a puppy dog,
Mama with a smile and a
church dress on. Then he raised his hand,
said, "Teacher I can't draw
daddy
Do you have a whiskey colored crayon?"
(Whiskey Colored Crayon / Lainey Wilson, Josh Kear, Wyatt McCubbin)
"I come from a family of teachers. My mama was a teacher, all my aunts, my grandma, my daddy taught for a minute," Lainey Wilson tells billboard.com. "I see how much of a difference they make in kids' lives and I know they hear so many different things from these kids. In country music, I think of sad stories and storytelling, but even when I’m telling a story like that, I can't help but have some kind of triumph or resilience." Which she realizes in the song's ending.
Nevertheless, probably the catchiest song on the album remains the title track with its chorus and the burning passion in her voice.
At the moment, Lainey Wilson is musically so much everywhere, that one would like to tell her to keep herself a little more rare. But the duets with Cole Swindell, Hardy, Jelly Roll, Keith Urban, Post Malone, Ernest, Miranda Lambert, Wynonna and the song ('Out Of Oklahoma') on the Twisters soundtrack most likely aim to increase her popularity with a wider population. Looking at the inital reaction to "Whirlwind", it seems to have paid off, as it has become her first top 10 pop album on the Billboard 200.
And even if she is not the sole trigger, she and her music is a crucial reason why country is cool again!
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