You love Rascal Flatts? Brian Littrell? 4Him? Then chances are good you\u2019re going to love new INO Records group 33 Miles. <\/p>\n
And what\u2019s not to like? Vocalist Jason Barton has pipes of gold and the power to put behind them to push those country-pop choruses to the stratosphere. Guitarist Chris Lockwood certainly knows his way around a guitar and acquits himself well in his solo opportunities. Keyboardist Collin Stoddard\u2019s fingers supply just the right touch whether providing a delicate bed of notes for Barton to rest on or driving a tune over the top with Billy Preston touches.<\/p>\n
And all three of them are cute. And they harmonize real well. And they are endearing in their comments about their mission: \u201cWe just want to love on God\u2019s people\u2026and remind the church and ourselves of who we are in Christ,\u201d Lockwood said. Aw, shucks!<\/p>\n
So why do I keep thinking throughout this entire debut, \u201cI\u2019ve heard this before\u201d? Because I have. Because I have heard Rascal Flatts. Because I have heard 4Him. Because I have heard Avalon, Greg Long, David Meece, Counting Crows, True Vibe (Barton used to be in that group), and on and on. And this is a real problem.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the thing: I\u2019m not hearing echoes <\/i>of these other groups in 33 Miles songs. I\u2019m actually hearing the other groups. In the song \u201cStand Amazed\u201d for instance, Barton sounds just like 4Him\u2019s Mark Harris on the first verse. On their first single, \u201cWhat Could Be Better,\u201d he channels Gary LeVox from Rascal Flatts. Add a couple female singers into \u201cThere Is A God\u201d and you\u2019ve got Avalon. <\/p>\n
And with the talent these three guys have, why do they need to sound like anyone else? Barton\u2019s vocals are stunning. Why not turn him loose to be who he is rather than having him (and the rest of the group) mimic these other successful powerhouses? Why not? Because it will sell really well this way.<\/p>\n
I want to like this. I really do. And I do find the songs sticking in my mind, particularly the spectacular \u201cThere Is A God.\u201d And I do have a soft spot in my own tastes for this particular brand of power pop country. <\/p>\n
But as someone who is involved in the creative arts myself, I also value originality. And when the first person you think of when a song starts is not the artist singing it, then you\u2019ve fallen down in the originality arena.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":28895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7997],"rating":[11204],"class_list":["post-40395","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-33-miles","rating-rating-c-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40395\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40395"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}