Once the domain of strictly the rock music ecosystem, the independent scene has found country music encroaching over the last decade or so with artists harnessing the vast marketing opportunities the internet presents to get their music to the people, particularly when it’s still very, very hard and very, very expensive to get singles up the major country radio (and rock) charts. One artist who has taken such an approach to get his music to the masses is Eric Lee Beddingfield.
Working with Dolly Parton’s producer Kent Wells, Eric Lee Beddingfield (“ELB”) recently recorded 12 tracks, some self-written, some co-written with friends and produced his second album of original material, This Life Ain’t For Everybody. The lead single from the project, “The Gospel According To Jones” not only became a big ‘indicator’ and music row chart hit for ELB, but it also allowed him to sing with one of his heroes George Jones and also earn his first shot at performing at the Grand Ole Opry.
Written with Randy Barber and Adam Fears, “The Gospel According To Jones” is a song which cleverly weaves in George Jones songs titles into a cohesive song (in a much more unique way than Brad Paisley weaved Alabama titles into “Old Alabama”). It’s a song about ELB’s career and how Jones is one of his heroes and how he wants to keep the flame for country music going “my alter’s this stage, my congregation’s full of lost souls and we hold a Saturday night service from the Gospel according to Jones” he sings. “Great Depression” is a self-written tune which weaves southern-rock melodies with a stone country lyric about a guy who correlates the financial problems with the world with the start of his own depression over losing the love of his life. It’s a song that anyone who got dumped might be able to relate to. It’s aggressive and attitude-filled but it’s to convey the anger and pain felt due to the break-up of the relationship.
“Hard One To Forget” tells a story of a man who, like the man in “Great Depression,” can’t get over the woman who shattered his world when she ended the relationship. The lyrics are, once again, non-clichéd an find Eric Lee Beddingfield showcasing his strong vocals while “Southern Man” rocks as loud as anything from Jason Aldean or Eric Church while remaining firmly grounded by lyrics which find ELB describing being fed-up with the labels from folks in the city to go back home to ‘dixieland,’ his home. It actually serves as a good partner for Eric Church’s “Homeboy,” a song which finds a man trying to get the city-dwellin’ brother home while “Southern Man” takes the place of that City-dwellin’ brother being tired of city life and deciding to return home.
And that’s exactly what makes This Life Ain’t For Everybody such a compelling album. It’s not full of the usual mainstream country clichés but the entire album sounds like it could be played on the radio right next to the latest major label releases. And that’s exactly the point of why indie country artists and labels are changing – albeit slowly – how America finds out about the best talent, sometimes, it doesn’t come from some machine on music row, something that clearly can be said about Eric Lee Beddingfield and This Life Ain’t For Everybody.
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