About the Country Music of this decade-> [View all]

[PM Martin]

http://www.roughstock.com/reviews/justin-moore-outlaws-like-me

"Why are (some) country folks so darn defensive? If Justin Moore is any cultural weathervane for the South, these modern day outlaws sure act like musical defense lawyers. However, if Southerners are so overtly proud of their lifestyle -- which they express with Confederate flags, among other symbols -- why do they work so hard to justify their way of life? It just doesn’t make sense.

Moore’s first single from Outlaws Like Me, “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away,” is a beautiful meditation on man’s innate desire to get back in touch with friends and loved ones that die too soon. Unfortunately, this classy and sincere track is an exception to an otherwise classless effort.

One track called “Guns” even gets defensive about self-defense. It makes a weak sauce case for gun ownership. Instead of presenting examples of why having a gun might make some sense, Moore merely defends owning guns simply because he wants to have one. On “Bait A Hook,” Moore looks down his nose at anyone that doesn’t know how to bait a hook or skin a buck. [Uh, when it comes to skinning bucks, that would make most of us unqualified, Justin. I don’t think we’re all idiots merely because we don’t hunt beautiful defenseless creatures with high-powered weaponry.] Then on “Beer Time,” Moore has recorded a song readymade for a beer commercial. It’s as though he’s replaced the word “Miller” with the word “beer.”

It seems since 9/11, the country music community has become very jingoisitic, and worse since Obama won in 2008.