"Harold Saul High" Album Review

On February 9, 2019 I had the pleasure of getting to spend a night in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with Koe Wetzel and his band. Unfortunately due to the permanence of things published on the internet and me attempting to establish my reputation as a professional style writer I wont be able to disclose the details of this night, but trust me it was one of the most memorable nights of my life. The relevance in me reliving this anecdote is to demonstrate the connection between Koe and his

music that was available to the public prior to June 2019, music that is characterized by its seemingly childlike party centric nature, best exemplified by his most recognizable song to date "February 28, 2016." While this is what loyal Koe fans expected with the release of 12 new songs and 3 skits on fresh out of the womb album Harold Saul High (pictured at the top of the page), Wetzel delivers an emotionally raw, gritty, southern rock infused with outlaw country sounding compilation that gives listeners an insight into the vulnerable side of the man that is Koe Wetzel. In HBO's docuseries The Defiant One's, Gwen Stefani talks about her relationship to her producer Jimmy Iovine, and that in the infant stage of her song writing career Iovine encouraged her to keep writing noting that at only 19 years-old Stefani had  not lived through enough to write the emotion provoking songs that leave lasting impressions on listeners. Simply put, this idea applies directly to Wetzel in the sense that as a young song writer he thrived on songs about raising hell and partying because it was what he knew how to do; furthermore, in Harold Saul High Wetzel portrays himself as a man who between the releases of his two most recent albums lived through a time period of extreme darkness, experienced the polarity of love's intensity as well as heartbreak's despair, and ultimately emerged wiser having found redemption as evidenced by the album's closing skit and song ("Morning Announcements" and "Sancho" respectively).

Koe Wetzel unveiling his new song "Ragweed" from Harold Saul High at Cain' Ballroom in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 2018

The main idea of this album is that it is not meant to be loaded with hits that hog radio airtime and dominate streaming services, it is an album Koe wrote for Koe, and the emotional honesty coupled with intense rock and roll instrumentals are what make it worth listening to. Harold Saul High symbolizes the lessons that Koe has learned in taking on a career in music and is representative of his wisdom that has come from accepting the consequences and rewards of his actions, all reflected in his mature writing style on the opposite end of the spectrum from the booze filled anthems that saturated his previous albums. With a more mature writing style has also come an embrace of more mature writing topics like unwanted pregnancy, drug abuse, and domestic violence, and in Jason Isbell-like fashion Wetzel writes about them head on leaving little up to the imagination (see "Children of Children" and "Yvette" from Isbell and "Powerball" and "Make Believe" by Wetzel for direct comparison). Despite embracing challenging subjects, Wetzel showcases his talent as one of the most underrated story tellers in Texas country music as he clearly portrays lifelike characters in emotionally cathartic situations that audiences can't help but relate to, in short even if the experience isn't directly relatable to the listener's life, the emotions being displayed are. In terms of emotion, this album is powerful and introspective allowing for open interpretation and personal application of every song. One of the things that makes Harold Saul High so strong emotionally is that Wetzel's vocal inflection forces listeners to feel what he is feeling and his intensity in the studio makes the effect that much stronger, best evidenced at one of the peak emotional moments of the album during the song "Too High to Cry" when he describes meeting the love of his life, but being "too fucked up to remember her name." Additionally Koe is very intentional with how he chooses to use curse words throughout the album as he doesn't throw them around all willy-nilly-like, rather he uses them directly with the purpose of strengthening his emotional connection to his audience, seen at the end of his song "Make Believe" when he is trying to convey a sense of powerlessness with the line "Fuck all this, I'm giving up." 

Koe pictured with famed songwriter and Texas native Larry Joe Taylor

Stylistically, this album is defiant. Defiant of generalizations that Koe Wetzel sounds like a modern rebirth of Cross Canadian Ragweed, defiant of the constraints of what makes music country, and defiant of the music industry's increasing trend of artists promising their music's quality for commercial success. Song by song, Wetzel consistently writes strong hooks from the top of Harold Saul High to the bottom giving listeners a reason to listen to every song that equally displays Koe's underrated vocal talent and the effect of the combination of thought provoking and descriptive lyrics with punk rock influenced instrumentals that amplify each song's  emotional sentiment. The album can be divided into three sections each characterized by a different common tone amongst each section's songs. Section one starts with the first track on the album "Talent Show" and stretches through the fifth track, "Too High to Cry," with the section being characterized by intense descriptions of love and connection amongst the songs by juxtaposing these feelings with the excruciating pain of losing love. The second section starts with the album's main character seemingly confident in the song "Nothing Left to Say" and watches him descend into darkness similar to Dante's descent into hell with the album reaching its emotional rock bottom at the song "The Worst Part." This section's imagery is dark and life is viewed from a very bleak perspective as seen in "Powerball." Section three starts at "L.T.W.Y.H.M" and runs through Harold Saul High's conclusion with Wetzel writing from the perspective of a man who has survived some sort of emotional trauma and has emerged wiser yet with a sense of nostalgia for certain things that led him down that path, ultimately this section gives the album redemption and holds some of its most jam-worthy songs with "Ragweed" and "Sancho" falling here. 

A social media advertisement for Koe Wetzel's Incredible Music Festival held in Lindal, Texas on March 23, 2019

Harold Saul High is experimental and each song's unique sound is reflective of the fact that Koe explored several different outlets of influence. One of the album's emotional peaks, "Too High to Cry," (personally one of my favorite tracks as you can probably tell based on how many times I've brought it up) is a Stapleton-esque track that would be the metaphoric culmination of "Whiskey and You" and "Was it 26" having sex on a mattress that squeaked like a rock and roll version of "Drunkard's Prayer" and made a porno directed by Koe Wetzel. This song is followed by "Nothing Left to Say" which reminds me of a country influenced Post Malone track, and the contrast between the two tracks allows them to progress the overarching storyline of the album. The nostalgia induced by the reminiscence of the Cross Canadian Ragweed inspired track "Ragweed" strikes a chord with long time Texas country music fans who always regret walking away from the Cody Canada led band that broke up to soon (although his new band The Departed is putting out some great stuff, definitely different from Ragweed but still good in its own right). Harold Saul High flows smoothly, steadily, and with the direct insertion of connecting songs (songs that don't really invoke strong emotional response but connect together ideas from songs that do) and skits Koe's hand in organizing this album is resemblant of a surgeon's. 

Koe Wetzel pictured with pal and fellow country music artist Parker McCollum 

Overall, Harold Saul High is an above average album that showcases exceptional studio performances vocally from Wetzel and instrumentally from his band, reveals some aspects about Wetzel as an artist fans have been waiting to see particularly in terms of songwriting, and challenges the societal stereotype about men's hesitancy towards vulnerability. Furthermore, I believe this album will be significant in shaping a new generation of Texas country music artists as the ever-evolving genre of country music continues to push the boundaries of what classifies music within the genre. Additionally, I have high hopes for the financial success of this album, so the combination of emotional honesty and commercial reward would in theory at least force artists to reconsider current songwriting methods. Above all, this album is such a fantastic collection of Wetzel tracks because each song has a unique meaning that plays a role in an overarching storyline whose meaning is up to personal interpretation, and their organization is so meaningful that it seems like every song and skit has a purpose and nothing is used as filler. As for what we can expect from Koe and Co. in the future, one can reference the album's closing song "Sancho" to make an educated guess. The main message in "Sancho" is that there is no such thing as a perfect album, so subsequently with that being said there is no such thing as a perfect artist. Seemingly being the most important lesson Wetzel learned while attending Harold Saul High, "Sancho" is the audio representation of Wetzel wisely saying that no matter which way the wing blows he's gonna keep making music and doing things his way, and if this album reveals anything about the potential Wetzel has as an artist, I think its safe to say the future of Texas country music is bright.

Me (pictured far right) with Koe Wetzel at Reggie's bar in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on February 9, 2019

For anyone looking for some good music I think understanding the qualities of what makes music "good" transcend genre. While the purpose of this blog is to discuss country music I also enjoy several different types of music, so check out my weekly playlists posted every Monday night on Apple Music and Spotify (links below). This week's playlist features "Ragweed" from Harold Saul High.

https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/songs-of-the-week-6-24-2019/pl.u-BNA66EjF1zxbdd
https://open.spotify.com/user/xz5ggm5nsxtzphlanu6iwfw2h/playlist/0YXDQe0ihOFwm6mVVhYj8h?si=9IlCQ2FQT4iOj5qOb4VxJA

Is Brooks and Dunn's "Reboot" Beneficial for the Evolution of Country Music?

According to my mother, from a very early age it was fairly obvious that I was going to grow up into a country music super-fan. As an infant my nursery had a radio in it and the only way my parents could get me to sleep was by playing Brooks and Dunn's hit preview album Brand New Man. Upon learning to talk I discovered CMT and every morning paraded around in my diaper and cowboy boots, sporting a wooden spoon as a microphone, and belted every word to B&D's single "Only in America" from the album Steers & Stripes. With that being said, you can only imagine my level of excitement when I caught wind in January 2019 of the fact that there was a new Brooks & Dunn project in the works; however, I couldn't help but wait for its release without a looming sense of curiosity as every song on the album was one I already knew. After listening to it, despite usually being a loyal fan to more traditional sounding country music, I couldn't help but loathe it for the masterpiece it was. To clarify, although I didn't want to enjoy the modern reinterpretations of these songs that I grew up loving, especially attributable to the amount of pop country music influence, I couldn't help but find myself driving way too fast with my truck windows down playing air guitar riffs along with Brothers Osbourne while listening to their collaboration on the sixth track of the album "Hard Workin' Man." As a result of these mixed emotions I spent a lot of time thinking, specifically on one broad idea: In the grand scheme of things, was this album beneficial for the evolution of country music?

Brooks &  Dunn performing "Neon Moon" with Kacy Musgraves on March 1, 2019 at the Rhyman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee

Growing up in a time that saw country music contract a disease-like subgenre referred to by its easily entertained fan base as "bro country," admittedly it was tough for me to decide how I felt about these Country Music Hall of Fame caliber artists willingly allowing less respected musicians come in and tamper with music that was already widely considered to be great. However, in coming to a final decision I had to venture back into the depths of my memories to a concert I attended my senior year of high school that featured Jessie Raub Jr., Mike Ryan, Cody Johnson, and iconic 90s and early 2000s singer Tracy Byrd. While seemingly normal, the obscure part about getting to see Tracy Byrd in concert was that he was the third act and Johnson was actually the headliner. Regardless of the lineup, the most memorable part of that concert was the way in which Byrd described why he chose to be an opening act for Johnson. To summarize, he basically said that he could have been headlining his own shows but chose to be Johnson's opening act so that he could expose younger audiences to his music, thus allowing his legacy to live on beyond his days of performing, metaphorically keeping himself young by having his music enjoyed by a younger generations. The significance of this is that the idea of remarketing music to younger crowds is the main idea of Reboot and Brooks & Dunn took it a step further by rebranding their songs with artists recognizable by younger country music fans ultimately leading to the initial commercial success the album has already received since its release on April 5, 2019. To elaborate, while the album has caught the attention of long time fans like myself looking for new interpretations and thematic changes based on the changes to their classic songs, it has received the majority of its appreciation from a younger audience most of whom unaware that the duo had more songs than "Boot Scootin' Boogie" and "Play Something Country." 

Ronnie Dunn and Kix Brooks in the studio with Luke Combs working on their collaboration on Reboot''s opening track "Brand New Moon"

Although certain tracks from the album lose some of the things that made them memorable to traditional country fans, like the sentimental acoustic guitar intro to "Neon Moon" being swapped in for an electronically produced beat for Kacy Musgraves' rendition, the album's symbolic meaning in terms of the evolution of country music as a genre is ignorable. In a country music world that is seeing its fans being polarized further and further apart as time passes similar to the division between the Republican and Democratic parties in congress, Reboot is Brooks & Dunn's way of conveying that there is somewhere to meet in the middle. By expanding their area of influence upon younger audiences Brooks & Dunn are stating the fact that country music can be both traditional and have influences from "bro country," but still be audibly pleasurable for both fan bases. More generally, by releasing Reboot Brooks & Dunn have created a means of connecting older and younger country music fans by coupling familiar songs with new sounds and techniques like the funky, modern saxophone outro on Brett Young's collaboration for a new "Nothin' Bout You" (which is pretty bad ass if you haven't gotten the chance to hear it). To tie it all together, while only time will be able to tell if Reboot is beneficial in the large-scale terms of the evolution of country music, what is definitive is that Brooks & Dunn have kickstarted a revival of uniting country music fans, despite years of tension and polarization between traditional and "bro " country fans.

Brooks & Dunn following a reunion performance at the 2015 ACM Awards Show

For anyone looking for some good music I think understanding the qualities of what makes music "good" transcend genre. While the purpose of this blog is to discuss country music I also enjoy several different types of music, so check out my weekly playlists posted every Monday night on Apple Music and Spotify (links below). 

https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/songs-of-the-week-6-17-2019/pl.u-BNA66XXs1zxbdd

https://open.spotify.com/user/xz5ggm5nsxtzphlanu6iwfw2h/playlist/0FwAfGclDalibcrCNsFOZ5?si=M6aGgaR9QhC5bDy5RKAWOQ