Ashley Clark started out as a young fiddle player in his family bluegrass band, The Clark Family Experience, which is best known for its song “Meanwhile Back at the Ranch.” Clark also worked as a touring musician for Carrie Underwood and won Fox’s The Next Great American Band with his brother as pop-rock trio Sons of Sylvia. Ultimately, it wasn’t the kind of music Clark wanted to make, his heart evidently being in country music. He recently released his first solo EP Greyhound. The record, produced by Mutt Lange, is available now on iTunes, Amazon, Google play and Spotify. The five-song EP gives listeners a taste of Clark’s upcoming full-length debut, which will be released through I.R.S. Records.
Unfortunately, for anyone who’s looking for a country album, you should look somewhere else. This EP is a pop album and not even a very good pop album. Most of the tracks are over the top, and not in a good way. The production is too loud, featuring lots of drums and other instruments that basically drowned each other out. Some tracks like “Do What You Do” feature instruments associated with the country music genre, but they’re really just token, featured in hopes that the listener might forget how totally not country this EP is.
The two tracks that fall the closest to country are “Greyhound” and “Buy You A Beer”. “Greyhound” is a slower-paced song. The lyrics are catchy and will stick in your head. The song is about a guy missing his lover who has left him and talking about how he needs to get back to her. As the chorus explains, “To get on an airplane, fast train, Greyhound, leave town, quit work, right now, Somehow get to you, That’s what I need to do.” Clark sings that he needs to tell his girl how he really feels and hopes that he’s not too late. The theme has been done many times before, but it is a popular theme that seems to work well with mainstream country fans. My main complaint with this track is that Clark’s vocals seem off. Even weak maybe? This may be due to the production being loud and layered. That combined with the fact that Clark doesn’t have a very strong voice, makes it difficult for his vocals to shine on a track with heavy production.
“Buy You A Beer” would actually fit in on mainstream radio… But that doesn’t make it good. The song mentions a Walmart parking lot, eating subway on the hood of a vehicle, and a boss who is evidently a jerk. It borders on being white trash. Oh and in case you still think there’s hope for this song, it also name checks the duo Florida Georgia Line. The production features the fiddle like you’ve never heard it before, but again, not in a good way. I adore the fiddle and the sweet music it makes, but Clark ruins it on this track.
The oddest track on this EP is definitely “To The Moon”. It sounds like Usher and the Backstreet Boys got together and had a musical baby. It features breathy talk-singing from Clark and lots of oh’s and hey’s from the backing vocals. Honestly, it would fit in very well on a pop station, and probably fare well on the pop charts. But it’s marketed as country…
To sum it up: This is definitely an EP that you should pass by. It’s really not worth the listen. Even mainstream country radio fans will have a hard time swallowing this one. It’s a shame that Clark’s talent (and that of Mutt Lange’s) is totally wasted on this project.
