Overall, Shelton’s past two albums haven’t been bad. Sure, “Boys Round Here” was out-and-out crap, but beyond that, there wasn’t a whole lot to complain about. He actually made relatively smart decisions when it came to the singles he released (with the exception of the aforementioned “Boys Round Here”).
Does “Neon Light” live up to what Shelton is promising? In some ways, yes, in others, no. There’s some very good banjo and steel guitar work in the song and it has a solid country beat to it. And while it does qualify as a drinking song, it at least veers away from the current bro-country trend and goes back to territory of country drinking songs where the narrators were drinking for a reason other than the fact that it was something to do on a Friday night.
But the song is certainly not what Shelton claims it to be…a song George Strait or George Jones would sing. It’s a good dose of contemporary country, but certainly not the traditional country music Shelton would have us believe it is. But it’s better than a lot of what’s being offered up in the mainstream right now. | "It...goes back to territory of country drinking songs where the narrators were drinking for a reason other than the fact that it was something to do on a Friday night." |