The trouble with artists that come from TV talent shows is that they arrive post-show with a whole heaping of buzz and commercial validity, a pre-conceived fan base waiting eagerly in the wings for the first taste of original music. That first release, provided it’s released relatively quickly on a major label without sacrificing the sound and quality fans invested in in the first place, is bound to be a hit, or at least fairly successful. The trouble with these artists, of course, is securing longevity. Too many of them have become flash-in-the-pan stories, casualties of folks’ short attention spans and the fatigue that comes with over-saturation.
Take Bucky Covington, for example. His eponymous debut album went to #1 with Lyric Street Records in 2007, selling 427,000 copies to date and spawning three consecutive top 10s and a top 20 hit. His time on American Idol (albeit one that saw him place eighth) meant that listeners were already familiar with his voice, his sound, and his personality, vital components in getting fans to jump on board early. However, the spanner in the works came when, a few singles into a sophomore album that was yet to be released, Lyric Street announced that it would be closing. They rushed out two EPs of Bucky’s material within a week of each other, but didn’t make good on their promise that he would be transferred to another label owned by Disney.
Instead, Bucky signed with indie label E1 Music Nashville in 2011, releasing his second full-length album ‘Good Guys’ in 2012. Five years on and with little momentum, the album debuted at #30 on the country albums chart and has sold 3,000 copies to date. Two singles were released from the album, but the first was pulled due to label budget and the second only went to Music Row stations with zero promotion.
The downwards model of reality stars had been accelerated for Bucky by the music industry essentially screwing things up, and it wasn’t long before he left E1. Like many country artists who saw success in the mid-2000s he is now entirely independent, and this week self-released a new EP titled ‘Happy Man’. It features the little-promoted 2014 single ‘Buzzin’’ (a track name that has become so over-used in the past couple of years that the mere mention of it introduces multiple songs into my own mental jukebox), and new single ‘I Feel Ya’, both of which have little to say for themselves. The former is built from a simple R&B drum loop and minor key banjo, and showcases a lyric that is a lesson in clichés, lazy songwriting and word painting. Bucky’s delivery is distinctly lackluster, and even the introduction of the twangy electric guitar isn’t enough to inject some excitement into this sleeper of a ‘party’ song.
The new single, meanwhile, is similarly boring. The mid-tempo track is filled with overblown electric guitars (plural), an arena-style drum beat and lashings of reverb, leaving Bucky to fight to be heard above the noise and not helped by the fact that the repetitive chorus is pitching at the top of his range. Lyrically it fades right into the bro-country pack, just sadly for Bucky not in a way that’ll give him a #1 hit. From there it starts looking up, however. ‘Girl You Get To Me’ doesn’t have the most inspiring narrative ever, but it has something of that soulful mid-noughties country sound that reminds us of less-polarizing times. ‘I’m Saying Something’ is modern country power ballad, grounded in a subtle but beautiful lyric about not being good with words, but how small actions convey the narrator’s true emotions and intentions in his relationship. “Some things are so hard to say and I don’t know why,” he admits.
Overall, the title of ‘Happy Man’ is an appropriate one. The songs on this EP are not without recognition of pain and heartbreak, but they exist in a state of mind that will be familiar to those who have found their stride in life. ‘Somewhere Looking Beautiful’ is to all intents and purposes an expression of heartbreak, but it’s tinged with a smile when thinking about the girl that he lost – through his own fault. There’s a maturity to the track that also is present on the title offering, an all-too-honest, tongue-in-cheek admission that he’s happy despite struggling to make ends meet, among other things. “I’ll get my redemption and all kinds of attention when radio starts playing this freaking song,” he jokes on the first verse, set against a backdrop of cheery banjo and a bouncy beat. He is sure to make further sly reference to his own music career, implying the pressures of bro-country that make his friends think he’s crazy for not “playing the game”, and even points out that “all that silly stuff just sounds the same”. Still, it’s clear this song is less for making digs at bro-country and more for making fun of himself, something which a lot of artists could learn from.
It’s a little ironic that this message is included as a closer to the EP, considering that at least two of the tracks are pretty pandering, but it does show a human side to Bucky that is not afraid to speak his mind. He may never have the commercial success he enjoyed with his first album, but something tells me that it’s not going to sweat it. And in this crazy, bipolar industry, that’s the best way to be.
Originally posted here.
