Jolie and the Wanted
Jolie and the Wanted
Dreamworks
Depending on where you grew up, country music holds a different meaning to everyone. No matter where you’re from, though, it doesn’t exactly get the best rap, and maybe with reason. How serious can you be about music that talks about “calico cats” and makes “ain’t” as common as “the”? The newest of newcomers to the world of twang and cowboy hats is the Nebraska-born Jolie Edwards and her band, The Wanted. If you measure county success by how “real life” the songs are, then in the country circuit, I’m sure they’ll do really well. The self-titled first CD is good; it’s a solid county record with ballads, the token “dance” songs and the common over-usage of the word “baby.” Everything seems to fit in its place, and frontlady Jolie even co-wrote a few songs, but there is an underlying separation on many of the songs that undoubtedly set everything off. It’s as if you can really hear the mechanical construction on a lot of the tunes. Jolie sings, The Wanted plays, but they don’t do it together. It’s simultaneous, but they’re not together as a band should be. Now don’t this wrong, not all the songs are like this, but on quite a few tracks, it feels rather emotionless, which hurts not only the potential song, but also Jolie as a frontwoman. Being their first CD, maybe a little weirdness can be expected, but in general, I can’t see any reason why country fans wouldn’t like this CD.
Dreamworks Records Nashville, 1516 16th Ave. South, Nashville, TN 37212; http://www.dreamworksrecords.com, http://www.jolieandthewanted.music.com
