If you’re a Nashville fan, you might find cast member Charles Esten’s new radio single ‘Like New’ somewhat familiar. It was originally featured on the show in season 2, and became available on iTunes during Spring 2014 (as the latter half of that season was airing). However, the song reappeared on a recently aired episode (Season 4, episode 7) on Wednesday, November 11, as – spoiler alert – Deacon uses it to launch his bar The Beverly.
This information is key, as there are now two different versions of the song. The latter version has been sent to country radio in a similar way to Hayden Panettiere’s ‘Telescope’ in the first season; every so often, the show attempts to permeate the real-life charts as some kind of promotional tool. They’re rarely particularly successful, but you can’t blame them for trying. Country radio is a fickle beast these days.
The two different versions are actually surprisingly different. For one, the structure of the song has been rearranged, with new sections, new phrasing on the verses, and at times a different groove. The instrumentation has also been changed; while the original version starts off more acoustic and “live”, the new version has that polished studio sparkle and a prominent slide electric guitar line that lifts the production and raises the volume. The latter also sports a much heavier drum beat that drives the song forward and almost makes it feel faster, and although the former was hardly a gentle affair as the solo took off, the new edition definitely feels more in-your-face and suitable for radio. It’s still recognizably the same song, but it’s had a commercial make-over – and not in a bad way.
The track was written by Striking Matches, who themselves have struggled to get airplay on US radio (because US radio is stupid). Appropriate both for them and for Charles, the song has a bluesy swagger and spark to it, with heavy blues rock instrumentation bursting into life during the second half (producer Buddy Miller is also responsible for that). It’s different but it spotlights Charles well, providing a support system for his vocals which can sometimes get a bit lost. It slots well into his range and takes advantage of his natural twang, and the harmonies are in just the right places for when he needs a little more oomph.
Similar to that country music tradition of mentioning things that will never happen and stating that’s when their heartbreak will be over (Dolly Parton’s ‘The Grass Is Blue’, Martina McBride’s ‘Lies’, Carrie Underwood’s ‘Someday When I Stop Loving You’ etc), ‘Like New’ dramatically lists a huge number of extremely unlikely/impossible occurrences that will happen at the same time as the narrator gets over their love and feels just like new. Usually such songs are melancholic ballads, but here everything’s a lot more upbeat, although the line “When I finally face the truth, I’ll be pushing up roses, when I start getting over you,” is rather harrowing. It’s a reminder that no matter how great the groove is, there can always be more to a song buried in its lyrics.
It’s appropriate plot-wise for the character of Deacon to have written back in season 2 while pining over Rayna, and then unearth it to describe his feelings about the death of his sister. It tends to sum up a lot of his story throughout the journey of the show, so in that way it’s a good one to release.
It’s a good song – not the best they’ve ever released, but solid. I’m not sure it will do much on radio, since it doesn’t particularly fit in with the status quo or gently step outside it, but crazy things do happen.
Originally posted here.
