REVIEW: Cory Keefe — I’ll Keep It Country (LP)
The strings are gentle and the mood is quite romantic long before lyrics ever enter the big picture, but I don’t think the audience starts to feel the complete depth of emotion behind Cory Keefe’s “That’s Where I Want to Take Our Love (And Settle Down)” until the up-and-coming star beings to croon. His voice is remarkably warm, complementary of the guitar melody, and the harmony it conjures up out of the peaceful silence is as stirring as they come. If I hadn’t known as much, I would have assumed this song to have been recorded by a veteran of the music industry, but instead, it’s coming to us from a singer/songwriter whose debut album, I’ll Keep It Country, is one of the best I’ve heard all year.
WEBSITE: https://www.corykeefemusic.com/
Keefe never has to fight with the backing band to get our attention in songs like “Deeper Well” and “Where There’s a Beer, There’s a Way,” mostly because he never has to. He’s able to produce a lot of tenacity with his words without actually stepping into an aggressive style in front of the players supporting him in the backdrop here, and although I have a feeling he could get a little crazier if provided the right rhythm and an electrified melody to straddle, I like that he doesn’t have to do as much in this LP. I’ll Keep It Country wins the affections of its listeners without big bells and whistles, which is always the main goal when creating a compelling country debut.
These lyrics are everything to the story Keefe is looking to tell us across all thirteen songs in this album, but he’s never overthinking their role here. “Young Man Old,” “Anything,” “Brotherly Love (featuring Dustin Keefe),” “Till Now” and the title track allow for him to be loose and flexible in his diction while still sounding really focused in his construction of a theme, no matter how simple or personal it happens to be. Linguistics can only convey so much to us, but in this instance, they’re not being made to bear any more weight than they ought to in a release from a player who appears to be as poetic as this singer/songwriter is.
APPLE MUSIC: https://music.apple.com/us/album/ill-keep-it-country/1557877124?ign-gact=3&ls=1
I’ll Keep It Country is absolutely a complete and immersive affair for anyone who likes premium country music unfiltered and unblemished by the mainstream fluff that often separates the greatest of indie artists from their long-term potential, and if it’s just a preview of what Cory Keefe is going to be creating both in and outside of the studio in the future, this won’t be his last turn in the spotlight by any means. It’s quite obvious that there’s plenty of ground left for him to cover in his sophomore LP, but at this moment in time I don’t think he could have made a better introduction to his sound than the one placed before us in songs like “When I Breathe,” “Going Home,” “I Just Want You (featuring Lorrie Morgan),” “She Calls Me Cowboy,” and every other song found on this terrific new record.
Colin Jordan
