The mid-tempo ballad, written by Travis Denning, Jared Mullins and Ben Stennis, highlights what Wallen does best - wallow in love’s misery. Though the melody is ridiculously bouncy (think Kenny Rogers mid-‘80s), Wallen is shattered that he can’t go to any of his old haunts or enjoy his old lifestyle because everything reminds him of the gal who broke his heart. An interpolation of The Allman Brothers’ “Midnight Rider” includes several lyrical references to “one more silver dollar.” Wallen, a co-writer here, kicks it old-school country on this chugging tune framed by solid slide guitar. ![]() Here, as he catalogs how he comes from a long line of drinkers, he also paints a picture of someone trying to stay in the light no matter the temptation as he embraces sobriety, at least for a while: “I ain’t saying I swore it off for good/ I’m just sayin’ I’m doing the best I can,” he sings in this mid-tempo swayer. Written by Wallen with buddy HARDY and Zach Abend, the album opener sets a tone that runs through much of the release: Wallen wrestling with his alcohol-fueled dark side. Image Credit: Matt Winkelmeyer/GI for iHeartRadio For the rest, best to take the album in smaller bites.īelow are our recommendations for the best 10 tracks on One Thing, listed in order of their appearance on the album. For devout Wallen fans, too much of a good thing can just be wonderful. Vocally, he sounds more assured than ever before, letting his twangy voice slip and slide over the melodies. Wallen co-wrote 14 of the tracks, but makes even the 22 compositions he didn’t write his own. While there are traces of the latter two on the album (including “180 (Lifestyle),” which interpolates Rich Gang’s 2014 rap smash, “Lifestyle”), most of the set falls squarely in the contemporary country pocket that has made Wallen the genre’s biggest star of the past five years. When Wallen announced the new set, out on Big Loud/Mercury/Republic today (March 3), he said the songs represent the last few years of his life and drew upon the three musical genres that have influenced him the most - country, alternative and hip-hop. With Wallen’s previous set, Dangerous: The Double Album, still sitting in the top 5 of the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart in its 111th week of release, his fans show no sign of fatigue. ![]() 1 in the history of Billboard’s Country Airplay chart. Speaking of proofs, the Joey Moi-produced One Thing at a Time has already entered the record books via its lead single, “You Proof,” which became the first 10-week No. How many ways can Wallen try to dull the pain of heartache with alcohol? It turns out the answer is infinite. Though that’s no surprise, given the undeniable success Wallen has experienced referenced drinking in his previous two albums, when listening to One Thing in one take, the constant liquor references start to blur into each other, aided by the plethora of similar-sounding mid-tempo tracks. If albums came with an alcohol content warning, the 36-track One Thing would easily register 180 proof. Morgan Wallen has lots to say on his third album, One Thing at a Time, and it’s almost all fermented in alcohol.
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