In his latest album, “35 mph Town,” Toby Keith trades in his red solo cup to take his sound in a new direction. Released on Oct. 9, the ten-track album shows Keith experimenting with different genres of music including rock ‘n’ roll and reggae. While he may have been trying to target a broader audience with this album, his new sound lacks coherency.
The first song off the album, “Drunk Americans,” has a traditional country melody paired with cliché lyrics. Throughout each verse Keith sings in a slightly slurred voice about the common love of drinking in America, despite one’s race or class. With its repetitive and simple melody, this song comes off as unpolished and unoriginal.
The artist incorporates the same predictable lyrics the into other drinking songs from the album, “Every Time I Drink I Fall in Love” and “Sailboat for Sale,” but throws listeners for a loop with the song “Rum is the Reason.” While Keith attempts to add uniqueness to “Rum is the Reason” with steel drums and a reggae beat, the lyrics are just as stereotypical as the rest of the album. In the first verse, Keith croons to listeners about the luxuries of island life and the comfort of Mexican Tequila, which only seems like a poor attempt to emulate the reggae-style songs of fellow country group, Zac Brown Band.
Like most country singers, Keith dedicates half of his album to the most popular theme in music — love. While these songs unite in a common theme, they diverge in their sound. In the album’s most somber song, “What She Left Behind,” Keith lists the items a former lover forgot to take with her when she left him. Even though this song contains some rock ‘n’ roll aspects, it also retains typical country styles. However, in “Good Gets Here,” Keith again throws listeners off by opening this song with a jazzy beat that sounds incongruous when paired with his deep country voice.
“35 mph Town,” the album’s title track, is the most disparate song of the album. Throughout the song, Keith describes the degeneration of teenagers in his hometown as they move away from religion and abuse drugs and alcohol. While Keith’s intention may have been to assert a positive message, the tone of the song sounds as though he is preaching a sermon, a potential turn off for listeners.
Overall, the album is disappointing and for the sake of his fans, Keith should stick with the genre he knows best.
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