A young act has some success in his own right, with songs that keep him on country radio and a strong marriage that brings him to the pages of magazines. As a token of their appreciation, the label gives the artist his own imprint with which to sign acts who make the same sort of music as him. In fact, the artist knows some guys from the time he auditioned on a TV talent show so he chooses to bring them on board. That act gets to open for the artist on a UK tour and, a year later, that act is going to headline a Transatlantic country festival.
That paragraph describes the careers of Kane Brown and Restless Road. Kane signed the trio to his Sony Music imprint Zone 4, and they were soft launched to UK crowds when they opened up for Kane on his visit to Europe in early 2023. You are correct to think that Restless Road is the kind of name Simon Cowell would think up for a boyband: the trio finished fourth in the 2013 series of The X Factor, progressing to the semi-finals.
It took them until 2020 to release their first EP, which was Produced by Dann Huff, and their debut album finally comes out in autumn 2023. It’s a boyband record masquerading as country music. There are 18 tracks, which is far too many and which means I can bring out the Country Way of Life patented way to go through a packed album which offers suggestions for playlists into which the listener can drag tracks.
Last Rodeo: Breakups Make Me Miserable
Head Over Heels: Meet-Cute (in association with the colour red because the girl has a ‘red sundress and ruby red lips’)
Growing Old With You: Country Wedding Song (written by Charles Kelley)
Could’ve Been A Love Song: Breakups Make Me Miserable
Roll Tide Roll: Breakups Make Me Miserable (that’s three in five…)
Bar Friends: Country Music and Alcohol (well, it’s about hanging out with pals in a bar, but you’re not going to drink orange juice are you? Written by another former visitor to the UK, Tyler Filmore)
Tell Me Not To: Country Wedding Song (‘I’m gonna love you till you tell me not to’)
Go Get Her: To Have or Have Not (‘she ain’t that gone yet’)
I Don’t Wanna Be That Guy: Don’t Mess Me Around (‘Louisville slugger/recover’ is a great rhyme)
10 Things: Breakups Make Me Miserable (‘I hate that I wasted my lovin’ on you’ is the climax of a list of memories tossed out in the verses of a song in 12/8 time)
Leave Your Boots On: Breakups Make Me Miserable (especially when you could have stopped yourself from making a mistake)
Easy For You To Say: Breakups Make Me Miserable (three in a row, six of the first 12 tracks)
You Don’t Have To Love Me: Country Wedding Song (remember ‘boyfriend country’? This is that)
No Can Do: Country Music and Alcohol (remember the Luke Combs song Beer Can? This is that)
That Town and You: Breakups Make Me Miserable (remember the Sam Hunt song Break Up in a Small Town? This is that)
Most Nights: Breakups Make Me Miserable (but ‘those nights’ were good while they lasted)
Sundown Somewhere: Written by Cole Swindell
On My Way: This Is Me (another song in 12/8, this one is effectively a sobriety prayer where the narrator says he’s getting better every step of the way)
The album will appeal to fans of Parmalee and Dan + Shay, but it remains true that almost half the songs are different versions of the same thing. The arrangements are mostly organic rather than full of processed drum loops, and naturally the vocals are flawless and free of autotune. I am positive they will be at Country2Country next year, due to label machinations. If I were in charge of putting together a gig, I would send Restless Road on a joint-headline tour with King Calaway so we could have a Country Boyband Off!
In fact, I would bet a large amount of money that NSYNC and Backstreet Boys will do the same thing next year. Maybe Restless Road can open for the pair of them.
A Country Way of Life 