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Lee Brice I Don’t Dance Review

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With ITunes now selling “I Don’t Dance” for the miserly sum of £3.99 (price may fluctuate) (non deluxe) you have no excuse not to buy.  If you’re still unsure, here’s why you should

It seems that Lee Brice has broken into the top 10…..of wedding songs.  Joining the likes of LoneStar (Amazed) & Brad Paisley (Then), ‘I Don’t Dance’ is now a bona fide wedding first dancer.  Perhaps the uncomfortableness all men feel trying to dance in front of their peers is made easier with Lee Brice coming from the speakers.

The title track, written specifically for his wife Sara, and first single from the new album is a good opener.  It’s the story of a man finally finding this wife and then having to have that previously talked about uncomfortable first dance.

The next single ‘Drinking Class’ is a paean to all the blue collar workers out there and one that will no doubt be sung with long necks & red cups held high in the air at every festival and concert Brice plays.

Always The Only One is a really curious one, it definitely has an 80’s soft rock feel to it, especially the chorus and the guitar breakdown.  I was half expecting a saxophone to come in at some point.  I started out hating it but the more I hear it, the more I like it it.

“Sirens” does share a lot with “Good Man” both with urgent beats and even more urgent lyrics.  The speed at which they fly by dovetail the slower, more quieter elements of the album.

Hard to Figure out is probably the only track I know to start with someone queuing for   airport security.  It’s a beautifully worded song about taking a moment and actually thinking about what you have and not stressing over something that you cannot control.

The less said about ‘Girls In Bikinis’ the better.

To be fair any album that included ‘Somebody’s Been Drinking’ & “Panama City’ is going to be a winner in my books.  The former taps into the same themes as Lady Antebellum’s ‘Need You Now’.

Whether you’ve just split with someone or it’s an old break up that you just can’t get over , getting drunk and calling an ex has probably come to all of us at some point in time.  The song builds and shows Brice’s voice off perfectly. That deep throaty voice fills your ears,  an absolute belter of a track.    ‘Panama City’ is a stripped down summer romance track, a near perfect ballad. The first 20 seconds start with silence before the roar of a motorcycle fills your ear and he launches into that one summer night where everything was perfect, a piano softly playing in the background.  It’s a raw song, one of wistfulness, as if written and recorded after a bottle of Jack Daniels has been downed and it’s actually three in the morning.  It builds to a slow, powerful climax harmonised to perfection.  If it’s not a 10 then it’s a 9.9

He has surrounded himself with some great writers and whilst an accomplished writer himself, he co-wrote Garth Brook’s “More than a memory” and Tim McGraw’s “Still” amongst others, his best known songs, the current ACM record of the year “I Drive Your Truck” and “Hard To Love” wasn’t written by him.  Perhaps with “I Don’t Dance” picking up the same nomination and 13 out of the 16 tracks co-written by him this may go some way to changing that.   Released towards this end of 2014 where we seemed to have a brilliant album every week, this album does hold its own and is an essential purchase.

By @EnglishCowboy73

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Annette Gibbons
Hi, I’m Annette, I have been a huge country music fan since the early 90s those were the days we were lucky enough to have CMT in the UK. I enjoy nothing more than listening to country music whilst having a cold beer (or a moonshine) with friends. I try to as many gigs as I can here in the UK and in the USA; I think of Nashville as my second home and I am lucky to have made some amazing friends in Tennessee. Think Country is something I am very proud of, I just want to share my love and passion of all things country music related with you all.
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