Review- Colby Acuff: Western White Pines (Deluxe)
Surging singer, songwriter, and “troubadour” musician Colby Acuff added six more songs to his anticipated major label debut album, presenting us with Western White Pines (Deluxe), via Sony Music Nashville. Produced by Eddie Spear (Zach Bryan, Cody Jinks) and recorded at Nashville's Sound Emporium Studios, Western White Pines (Deluxe), finds a way to up the ante, and illuminate the tremendously endless magic Colby Acuff has up his sleeve.
Colby Acuff is poised for a breakout year as he recently made his Grand Ole Opry debut and will tour through 2024, including several stadium shows with Luke Combs, as well as dates this fall supporting Lainey Wilson, Charles Wesley Godwin, Paul Cauthen and Flatland Cavalry.
Photo by Matthew Berinato
Spoiler alert: History often repeats itself. Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in! I again find myself smack in the middle of trying to pull the words out of the ether to finish another review when I am peremptorily pressed to push pause and add to what I already felt was a pretty comprehensive review of Western White Pines, available here. Then seemingly out of nowhere, Colby Acuff pulls another rabbit out of the hat and goes, “Ta-da. I have six more spellbinding songs to throw down.” They say that lightning doesn’t strike the same place twice. I disagree and Western White Pines (Deluxe) provides the marvelous wizardry to strike down whatever lingering doubts that may remain about the poetic prowess of Acuff who once again flat out delivers! “These extra six [tracks] really round out the project as a whole and complete the story. It was always meant to be this way.”
Colby Acuff is now closer than ever to realizing everything he has ever imagined. He is well on his way to being wanted wherever he may roam and seen as an Outlaw no more. The new additions to this album seem to complete the introspective journey surrounding the challenges and sacrifices, or rather more aptly, reflections on the overall glide path of chasing down a dream on his own terms. Moving from the comforts of Coeur d’Alene to the newness of Nashville and completing the transformation from being an outlaw to being seen as he has always seen himself, a troubadour.
From Outlaw to Troubadour in the course of six sweet, short songs. Six fine and fitting additions to close out this chapter as Acuff begins to reap the rewards of a job well done and begins the next. Fortunately, his work isn’t done yet and I am again thankful for the opportunity to offer a few words and witness, his progress traversing into the next ethereal plane. Perhaps fortuitously, this time around, due to the lateness of the assignment all my spins are going directly toward his total iTunes play count as I listen to the Western White Pines (Deluxe) non-stop and as a mere mortal via Apple Music.
One of Colby’s true talents lies in the fact he is able to weave fragments of his life into his songs and still have each song stand on its own merit. When strung together they become a force multiplier. In each and every spin I hear something new, another delicious turn of phrase that makes me smile and I believe that it will, too, make you smile that Cheshire grin as you revel and delight in the enchantment of this record.
There is not enough time to cover each of the new songs in depth, but here are a few thoughts which are not necessarily ranked in order of preference. The fact that you can choose any three songs on this album and be just as thrilled remains a constant.
“Through My Windowpane” begins with a Jim Croce "Box #10" sort of cadence and at first listen, it blew me away straight out of the gate. The message was simple, poignant and powerful: be true to yourself, don’t try to be something or someone you're not because you can’t outrun yourself no matter how hard you try; everyday is a blessing. I quite enjoyed this lyric:
“The window’s looking back at me and this life I am living ain't no pipe dream / Its the residue of the memory that I can’t seem to clean”
“Movin’” is a song about leaving everything you know behind in order to chase down a dream. Despite being scared to death, living life to the fullest is about mustering up enough courage to take a leap of faith. This equation has other principles in the balance and change isn’t always an easy pill for everyone involved to swallow, even if you are all on the right path. “Well, it’s you and me, and the dog makes three, just chasing down a song.” This is as good as any place to also point out that in my previous review, I forgot to directly mention the fiddle players. I believe they took that personally and they came out swinging. Bravo!
Away from home, in an unfamiliar place searching for the semblance of something to hold onto that feels safe. “Ain’t No Time to Die” is about putting on a facade, not wanting to let on that he feels like a fish out of water and/or missing home. He experiences sacrifices, pressures to succeed and escape the pitfalls of the rise to success, and remain on course. You only have one life to live and no time to ruminate on the choices you have made.
“Livin’ Too Close to the Dream” is a song about not wanting to let friends and family down, but more importantly, not letting yourself down, while being so close to the dream you can taste it. He is second guessing, feeling some regrets, living that outlaw life, singing and writing a little too close to the dream. There are parallels of Icarus flying too close to the sun and trying to stay one step ahead of the devil, hoping not to succumb to the pitfalls and fall back to earth, especially being so close to realizing the dream, all while finding balance in an otherwise chaotic rise.
The pedal steel/slide guitar was screamingly delicious and certainly a guilty pleasure of mine on this track. A pleasant reminder that while his light shines brightly, Colby Acuff isn’t alone. Colby’s entire band on this album are out of this world, lights out, crazy good and deserve high praise. I can’t wait to see them all perform live!
“Cherokee Rose” will be the talk of the town and indeed the highlight of this record. Going forward it will be his most requested song. Without question, this will be the song other reviewers will latch onto, and for good reason. The lyrics are first rate and transcendental with Colby Acuff's storytelling pluckiness on full display. For the sake of time, I will simply say that his songwriting is as good as it gets and I believe that this is a merely small sample of what the future has in store.
Now to put a bow on this review.
I chose "Troubadour" in part because of the nod to it in “Outlaw In Me,” and because when you strip away all of the flourishes from this album, you are left with droves of quality poetic lyrics. It is quite the rare find these days in country music. I also couldn’t get the thought of George Strait's song "Troubadour" out of my mind. To me, perhaps to the world and certainly to Colby: the parallels within this album of not being what the world sees - or in the case of not what the mirror sees - was deep.
Well, The truth about a mirror,
It's that damn old mirror.
Don't really tell the whole truth,
It don't show what's deep inside.
There is more to Colby Acuff than what the world sees and when “he emerges there will be no discrepancy on exactly what he's worth.”
Don’t delay getting this album into your ears. I provided a score of straight fire in my previous review. An infinity emoji adjacent to a fire emoji won't make it past my editor. So we will all have to settle for: Western White Pines (Deluxe) is a transformational record that is full of fire, grit and heart. Colby musters up the will to succeed despite all of life’s challenges. This album is a welcome addition to any record collection. In my opinion, Colby Acuff furnishes just enough propellant to take this album to the next level and place it among Jason Isbell’s Southeastern and Sturgill Simpson’s A Sailor’s Guide to Earth.
However, Colby Acuff is not exactly across the finish line. A line only known to himself, and perhaps by his own design, which will remain tantalizingly out of reach in order to continue to stoke the fire deep inside.
What an amazing time to be a Colby Acuff fan!
Find out more about Colby Acuff at the links below:
Website
