It's a welcome return for Macartney Reinhardt who completely blew us away with her debut single "Shadows" and seems set to do the same with "Old Country Song". If "Shadows" sound was gentle and subtle then be prepared to hold on to your hats as "Old Country Song" may well send them flying!
Produced by Lee J Turner who eagle eyed folk might recognize from Darius Rucker's band, this takes Macartney's sound to another level, it's punchy and poppy yet still finds room to let her undoubted talent shine through.
Opening to an attention grabbing guitar riff Macartney wastes no time in setting the scene and establishing quite how strong her feelings were
"When I first saw you I knew that sparkle
in your eyes could really save me
I never thought we'd end up like this
But i'm glad, cos you really changed me"
Macartney had a lovely sense of phrasing, words tumble from one line to the next in those opening lines, while the slight pause after the word "glad" is just enough to keep the listener on their toes as to how the song will develop.
The chorus sees the relationship flourishing as we shift forward in time
"Got your picture on the radio, listening to some Haggard & Jones
Never wanna let you go
You know I fell off at the deep end, hoping it would never end like an Old Country Song"
The second verse sees a further advance in time and things are not necessarily going as well
“Now we know where we’ve been and we’re going
Didn’t know how much I wanted this
You said this would never end but I think, this is the last chance"
Only to eventually terminally deteriorate
"You know this is how it was supposed to go
But you had your chance and now you’re in my rear view window"
The final visit to the chorus sees a lot of the instruments fade away and we are left with almost just an acoustic backing before Macartney unleashes a marvelous rising sustained note that sees that track explode from the speakers, giving just another glimpse of the weapons in her vocal armoury.
As you’d expect from someone who has played with Darius Rucker, Lee j Turner's attention to detail on the keyboards throughout is highly impressive, and he has managed to create a highly impressive overall sound that has boosted but never threatens to overshadow Macartney, on what is another highly impressive outing, a further small step on what promises to be a long career.