“Look How Far We’ve Come”~Corey Crowder, January 22, 2021

"Lyrics"

Tooth & Nail Records is been know throughout the years for its eclectic catalogue of mostly Christian artists. This came to ahead in 2008 when they signed Country artist Corey Crowder. This one-off album the Tooth & Nail cannon could be easily lost. I first heard this song on a compilation along with pop-punk and hardcore bands and was struck by how different it sounded--in a good way. But more on that later. For context, this was an era of music that Brandon Ebel, CEO of Tooth & Nail, was desperately trying to find the next hit to save the company in the downward spiral of the music industry. Ultimately, the record label survived a divorce with its major label backer, EMI, but a lot of artists were sacrificed in the the restructuring. So, this hiccup--Tooth & Nail's strange venture into Country music--is all but forgotten.

IT'S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY. I listened to an excellent episode of Labeled with Randy Torres today. Torres might be best known as the former guitarist of Project 86, but in this podcast he talked about his career post-Project 86. His next job, an engineer working with Aaron Sprinkle. The host, Matt Carter (Emery, BadChristian Podcast), asked Torres which were his favorite records he worked on. They were Cruel to Be Young by Jonezetta and Gold and the Sand by Corey Crowder. The interesting story behind both of these records is how unsuccessful they were. Jonezetta's fans missed the Killer-esque 80s dance rock and instead were treated to a 70s Shins influenced record.

WE RUSH TO FIND A SIMPLE WAY. Then hearing about this album made me chuckle on my walk. According to Torres, Brandon Ebel had signed Corey Crowder as he seemed to be this hip singer songwriter in the vein of Jack Johnson. But he writes a Country record. And Aaron Sprinkle has to record it. For context, Aaron Sprinkle is basically invented the mid-2000s Tooth and Nail Sound starting with Acceptance's EP, then to Underoath, Demon Hunter, Anberlin, Falling Up, and so many others. It might be interesting to take a tally of how many songs I've chosen at the end of the year and see how many were produced by Aaron Sprinkle. So what do Sprinkle and Torres do to record this country record? Well, you might ask if this is even a Country song? Others on the record definitely are, but this song? The horns make it almost jazz? After watching the video, I understood the crowd's reaction, especially after hearing the context of this album. In the video, you see Crowder dressed in a hipster 1930s hobo clothing. You've got the crowd also dressed up like that. But how do they react? You have to watch it to see the lack of energy coming from the crowd. They're not sure if they're supposed to be getting down at a hoedown or intently listening to a folk singer. 

Musical criticism aside, this song is beautiful. The instrumentation makes us imagine new possibilities for Country music. The lyrical imagery transports the listener to a beautiful place. And as we kick off a new year and a new presidency and a new era for the music industry, look how far we've come. Not very far at all, but at least we're out of the mud.