ALBUM REVIEW: Bet You’re From a Small Town – Jameson Rodgers

Jameson Rodgers is one of the fastest-rising country stars in Nashville. This week, he is set to release his debut album – Bet You’re From a Small Town – through Sony Music Nashville.

Jameson Rodgers has already made a name for himself in Music City with his monumental country rock sound of arena-sized proportions. This Friday, he will release his debut record Bet You’re From a Small Town that delivers on the promises hinted at on his previous releases – fresh and rip-roaring takes on the country rock sound, with searing guitar solos, hefty drum beats and authentic lyrics. 

From the first notes of ‘One Day,’ Rodgers is an authentic and humble artist as they come. The track kicks off the project in Rodgers’ signature rip-roaring rock-fuelled country twang as he sings about what he will be like ‘one day.’ ‘One day I’m going to give up barstools and neon lights / One day I’ll get over you / One day I’m gonna die.’ It’s a driving track that visibly throbs with energy, the guitar solos sear. ‘Merle Haggard’ takes the pace down a notch, for a wistfully tender track rammed full of nostalgia for the days of Merle Haggard. Sonically, it allows the tone of Rodgers’ vocal to take centre stage ‘Momma tried to warn me you’d break my heart in two / Merle Haggard would have wrote songs about you.’ It’s a track that shows Rodgers’ versatility as an artist in a more muted track than we have come to expect from his previous releases. Though this is a more muted and heart-wrenching ballad narrating love lost, elsewhere Rodgers has a knack for delivering real emotion and break-up tracks with a fiery delivery. So, on ‘Missing One,’ Rodgers sings ‘I hate the way it hurts like hell, I want to want somebody else,’ yet the track sears simultaneously with energy and emotion. 

‘Girl With a Broken Heart’ is a propulsive and endearing track, a tribute to the girls with broken hearts. ‘Keep your head up honey, I know goodbye ain’t no fun / You’ll set those selfies on fire, keep telling yourself he ain’t the one / Drink that wine you’re going to be fine, give it some time.’ It’s a track bound to be roared back in stadiums internationally. On ‘Bringing It Back,’ Rodgers continues to show his empathetic side to heal a broken heart. It’s a slow burning song that is capable of real staying power.

Rodgers shows his ability to deliver love songs too though on this record, without stepping into saccharine territory. ‘Close To Anything’ is a charming, commercially country love song, where Rodgers sings ‘I don’t want to be close to anything but you,’ but it is on ‘Porch With a View’ that he hits his stride, singing about envisioning a shared future with his wife, it’s a quietly loving track that feels akin in theme to Jordan Davis‘ recent hit ‘Buy Dirt.’ Indeed, the title track ‘Bet You’re From a Small Town’ is an apt summation both of Rodgers as a human and an artist, an ode to his roots, where he sings about the character of those from a small town. ‘If you’ve got a buddy that’s always got your back / If you’ve got a momma that prays for you no matter where you’re at / If you don’t give a damn how fast the world spins around / I bet you’re from a small town.’ Delivered in Rodgers’ signature gritty twang aided with some mammoth guitar licks and solos, it’s a track that exudes an easy and delightful charm, much like a small town itself. It’s a theme continued on ‘You Won’t,’ and ‘Bars Back Home.’ On these tracks, Rodgers delivers the kind of easily endearing humility that has made Luke Combs so intensely popular, the idea that no matter how far his star rises, he will remain the same guy from Mississippi. The final new track on the record is ‘Girls That Smoke,’ Rodgers shows the dangers of the girls that smoke to break a heart. ‘They’ll burn it down to ashes, man it ain’t no joke.’ It’s a track that shows the versatility of Rodgers as an artist, showcasing his own vulnerabilities. 

The final tracks on the project have been heard by fans on In It For The Money, but placed within the context of the record show the versatility, range and underlying humility of Rodgers as an artist. On Bet You’re From a Small Town, Rodgers delivers on the promises made on his previously released EP, creating a captivating sound that is simultaneously stadium-ready and blissfully humble and authentic.