Jason Boland & the Stragglers
The Light Saw Me
Release Date: Dec 3, 2021
Genre(s): Country
Record label: Proud Souls
Music Critic Score
How the Music Critic Score works
Buy The Light Saw Me from Amazon
Album Review: The Light Saw Me by Jason Boland & the Stragglers
Fairly Good, Based on 2 Critics
Based on rating 7/10
Fundamentally the tale of a 19th century Texan cowboy transported one hundred years into the future as a result of an extraterrestrial abduction, Jason Boland & The Stragglers' Red Dirt country concept album The Light Saw Me explores heavier topics less typical of modern country music. Astrobiological postulations, reflections on love, theology and consciousness, and observations on humankind's place in and out of time are all woven into the lyrical fabric, setting a fairly high creative bar. While such an ambitious feat may initially seem a tall order, one must consider Boland's vast musical knowledge and loyal devotion to his respective genre.
Based on rating 3/5
At its core, country music pillars on a bedrock of relatability, tapping into those time-tested human emotions of yearning and regret, love and desperation, and the crux between quiet moments of humility and the loud restlessness of ambition. So much depends upon a red Solo cup. How, then, might country music confront the raw, unfamiliar realities in our current barrage of "unprecedented times"? Jason Boland's 10th studio LP, The Light Saw Me, delivers one unexpected response: a sci-fi honky-tonk concept album that stands as one of the year's more ambitious, bizarre, and brazen efforts.
'The Light Saw Me'
is available now