My introduction to Stevens, and his music, came via the Bull's overnight show, where I heard his debut single, "The Power of a Love Song" for the first time. I liked what I heard, but still just kind of had it in the back of my mind.
It was actually one of my own little quirks that got me to buy Stevens' self-titled debut CD. I have a favorite songwriter, and when anyone records one of this writer's songs, I'll buy the CD. In this case the songwriter has two songs on Stevens' CD; so off I went in search of another addition to my collection.
It's funny, because I almost passed by the CD in the store. I saw it, however, before reading the title, I saw the photo and thought the person was Chris Cagle. Not an exact match, but at a glance, it was close. I then realized it was Tate Stevens, so I bought it, and popped it into my CD player as soon as I got in my car.
From the first track, to the last, Stevens is definitely a country singer. It's as though old school, 90's and new country were all tossed into a blender and pureed into what Stevens delivers to listeners.
Several times while the tracks played, I was reminded of other artists and songs. For instance, "That's Where We Live" had me thinking of similar Craig Morgan tunes. It speaks of small towns, families, and other staples of the country way of life.
"The Last Thing I Do", is a song I've heard before, first by Brooks & Dunn; then James Otto, and also Montgomery Gentry. Stevens' rendition of this tune is almost spot on as good as B&D, yet still different enough to stand on it's own as one of his songs.
There's also humor in some of the tracks; subtle little things, like describing the car in "El Camino" as a "car with a bed". Or "Sweet", where the singer is telling his mama about the girl he found. He compares his love interest to being "sweet like a Cadillac, sweet like a stack of cold hard cash," and "sweet like a diamond bling dangling down from a belly button ring". Honestly, how many songs can say that and still convey how much the guy really does love the girl?!
While I truly like every song on this CD, my favorite has to be the true country ballad, "Ordinary Angels". Again, it reminds me of other songs and artists I've heard, yet is still totally unique to Stevens and his style of singing.
Though as I stated at the beginning of this post, I'd never heard of Tate Stevens until recently; though from the sound of his debut CD, I'm pretty sure this isn't the last any one has heard from this man. "Tate Stevens" is definitely a CD worth buying!
