Canaan Smith EP (Mercury Nashville, 2015)
Canaan Smith
Reviewed by Bill Caruthers
The lead off, "Love You Like That" is a tale of a self-proclaimed "nitty-gritty boy" who wants to love his "girl" (her name, stated repeatedly) "slow like the Mississippi, strong like a fifth of whiskey" and "steady like a Tom Petty track." While well done, it doesn't really distinguish itself musically from any number of similar anthems.
A modern-day hook-up song, "Two Lane Road," follows in which he asks another "girl" to leave her "mama," "drama," "if you wanna?" and head down a two-lane road. This track is complete with six-syllable "roads," "goes," and "grows;" and a near obligatory rap in the middle.
"Mad Love" does the improbable teaming of a banjo and meme-speak like "haters gonna hate," with an unexpected, and possibly disingenuous, Johnny and June reference, to illustrate said "Mad Love." The most country effort here is "Hole in a Bottle" which even with its beat track, brings to mind the David Lee Murphy anthems from the mid-'90s. It's not traditional country, but it's close, and it shows Smith's capabilities. Other than the irritating opening refrain of "stuck" sang 10 times, "Stuck" is a slow, love song that is nearly country too.
Smith is young, handsome and talented (co-writing all these cuts with hit maker Brett Beavers and others) with all the tools to shine bright, but he runs the risk here of being lost in a carbon-copy crowd.
CDs by Canaan Smith
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