Review of Farmer's Daughter by Crystal Bowersox

Crystal Bowersox' post-American Idol debut "Farmer's Daughter" is available to listen in full here at the AOL listening party.  Expectations were high because Crystal was such a force to be reckoned with on the TV talent show and anyone with ears realized she was immensely talented.  Could her first record live up to the promise?  It could and it did.

The album opens with the rousing country-pop, Ridin’ with the Radio. I was surprised because I never thought of Crystal as a country singer, but she does a great job. It’s bouncy, it’s fun, and, in appropriate Crystal fashion, it basically challenges you. Keep an open mind, she says, give this a fair listen. Okay, point taken.

For What it’s Worth was an unnecessary cover. It doesn’t improve on the original and it fails to use Crystal’s ample gifts well. Her vocals do nothing to elevate the song and it lost the urgency it had when it first was released. The music overpowers the song and demonstrates the "less is more" adage.  But it is the one and only dark spot on this otherwise illuminating record.

Farmer’s Daughter is the title song. It’s her signature song, it’s her life story, it’s her connection to the audience. She’s in her element when she’s allowed to sing from her heart and not forced into a particular musical genre. This is a Crystal song, not folk, rock, country or anything else.  She wears her heart on her sleeve and can be both tough and vulnerable at the same time. 

Holy Toledo is the highlight of the record.  Passionate, heartfelt and beautiful, it's hard to imagine that this song wasn't enough to get her a record contract and that she had to jump through the American Idol hoops to get noticed.  Her voice goes from angelic to fervent, she shows range both vocally and emotionally that separates her from the pop chanteuse du jour.  This is real and raw and if it were on an old LP, it would be worn down smooth in no time.

Lonely Won't Come Around is catchy, but a little too pop for me, somewhat aural cotton candy.  But her vocals are strong and assured.   I could have done without On the Run and Kiss Ya.  There's nothing wrong with these songs, her voice is great, but the songs just are flimsy, unsubstantial and perhaps I expect more from Crystal.  It may not be fair, but when you can write Holy Toledo, songs that could be on Sugarland's next CD pale by comparison. 

About the time you hear Hold On you decide that democracy was a good idea.  One man, one vote.  Not one prepubescent teen, a gazillion votes. There is no reason that Crystal lost to Lee DeWyze if the criteria was talent.  Her voice is strong, clear, vibrant, mutable.  All of the accolades and attention that came her way early in the contest were actually well deserved.  This song, and FWIW, were the only songs not penned by Crystal, but it fits neatly with the other songs and shows that Kara DioGuardi (the co-writer) can knock out a catchy ditty and that Crystal can take a pop song and transform it.

Speak Now is a great bluesy number where Crystal gets full use of her smoky vocals.  It's also refreshing to hear a song go old school -- was that a real guitar solo?  So retro.  A song that takes it's time and creates atmosphere.  In Mine All Mine Crystal goes into a falsetto that is really pretty and tender and helps make this a really beautiful love song.

Crystal's husband Brian Walker co-wrote the song Mason, named after her son.  Their duet is sweet and a nice throwback to the singer-songwriters of the 1970s.  Brian's vocals are not as solid as his better half, but if your heart is still pumping, you can't resist the lyrics and their meaning.

The ballad Arlene closes out the record.  It's more the Crystal we expected, stripped down instrumentation, her voice conveying every range of emotion.  I don't know if this or any of the other slower songs is what radio programmers will jump at, but anyone who appreciates good, honest, heartfelt music should revel in her efforts to bring back the folk troubadour as an important part of mainstream music.

Crystal Bowersox has put together a great debut showing range and talent that belie her second place finish.  This is a winner of an album with at least three songs that should be remembered long after the TV show that launched her fades from memory.

Disappointing Reviews/Sales for Lee DeWyze's Album

"American Idol Winner" was how Lee DeWyze wanted to be known. But that mantle has proven to be as much an albatross as a gold medal for those on the receiving end. While some winners have had great success as recording artists, most notably Carrie Underwood, others have seen winning the television show as the one and only high point of their musical careers.

It’s too early to say whether DeWyze, winner of Season 9, will be another Taylor Hicks, turning to Broadway to stay in the game, or whether he will have the long-term mainstream music success of Kelly Clarkson. But initial reaction to his post-Idol debut CD, Live it Up, does not bode well.

According to HeadlinePlanetNews, preliminary estimates show his CD as selling around 45,000 units its first week, the worst sales numbers for any American Idol winner. According to an article in Zap2It, following the release last year of Kris Allen’s first CD, Season 8 was the first year that the winner sold fewer that 100,000 units.  But as poor as Allen’s anemic 85,000 units sold seemed last year, DeWyze’s numbers are far worse.   Here are the rankings for first post-Idol album sales by each of the winners:

1. Ruben Studdard, "Souful," 400,000+
2. Carrie Underwood, "Some Hearts," 315,000
3. Taylor Hicks, "Taylor Hicks," 298,000
4. Kelly Clarkson, "Thankful," 297,000
5. David Cook, "David Cook," 279,000
6. Fantasia Barrino, "Free Yourself," 240,000
7. Jordin Sparks, "Jordin Sparks," 119,000
8. Kris Allen, "Kris Allen," 85,000
9. Lee DeWyze, "Live it Up," 45,000

And it is not just sales that are disappointing. The reviews for "Live it Up" far have also been underwhelming, with reviewers wondering if the album was rushed to capitalize on DeWyze’s win and suggesting it has been homogenized and watered down in an effort to offend no one.  Of course, the reviews haven't been universally negative.  Newsday liked the album, saying DeWyze "crafted the best post-"Idol" debut since Carrie Underwood."  IGN Music said the album does a nice job of balancing grit and warmth.  And while Hitfix mostly panned the album, the reviewer praised Beautiful Like You, interestingly, the only song DeWyze didn’t co-write.

Crystal Bowersox cheerleader Michael Slezak of Entertainment Weekly not surprisingly gave the record a “C” and called it generic. USMagazine gave it 1 ½ stars and, riffing off of the frequent description of DeWyze as a “paint salesman” (despite his two previous records), called it “as exciting as, well, watching paint dry.” The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel online said “it tacks toward the safe and bland.” Even his hometown paper the Chicago Sun Times was pretty mean-spirited in their review, giving the album one star and saying, “Live It Up"? Curling up on the couch and flipping between PBS and C-SPAN would be more exciting." While their competitor, the Chicago Tribune, found the album something they could agree on, giving it just 2 out of 4 stars, saying it “sounds like it was created in a laboratory; it’s designed to be inoffensive, clinically precise, airless.” Blast.com called it “a musical form of Ikea.” 

In fairness to DeWyze, it has become cool to malign American Idol and its contestants recently and many reviewers would not be caught dead praising an Idol contestants record out of fear of losing their street cred.  Plus, the type of album usually  put out by the winner is often safe and inoffensively mainstream as the target audience is American Idol viewers, not necessarily music fans.  Despite DeWyze's comments before its release about writing every song on the album and having so much input, the bottom line is that every song was written by committee and the product released was meant not to inspire and excite, but to put at ease.

The good news for DeWyze is that he has fans and they have come out in support of him, posting positive comments on Amazon.com where his album has been reviewed 26 times and is rated 4.5 stars. Not being in possession of a review copy, I’m relegated to listening to the sample clips on Amazon and that is not enough on which to base a review.  I did hear all of Sweet Serendipity and gave it a generally positive review, which you can read here.



From what little I've heard on the rest of the tracks, however, I am a little surprised by the sound of his voice. On Idol, while DeWyze consistently struggled to stay on key, the tone of his voice was decent and nicely Daughtry-esque. But what I’ve heard so far is not that rough-around-the-edges sound, but a more inconsistent and unappealing John Mayer with a bad head cold sound. And the songs, with the exception of Beautiful Like You, all have a Jason Mraz-like inoffensive/pop quality that is pretty forgettable.

American Idol Season 9 runner-up Crystal Bowersox will have her first post-Idol album released next month.  There was some early grumbling, from Bowersox, that the first single (Hold On, co-written by Kara Dioguardi) was not what she wanted.  But recent news appears to indicate that she is getting her way and that her original, pre-Idol song Farmer's Daughter will be the album' first single.  I hope for her sake that the album was not subject to the same amount of white washing as DeWyze's apparently was and her talent is allowed to shine through.  I'll go on record, however, that Hold On was a good song and probably would have sold well.  It'll be interesting to see if the less radio-friendly, more folky Farmer's Daughter is a commercial success.  It's already been a favorite among her fans.