Brandon's Buzz

Easton Corbin — “Someday When I’m Old” (from Easton Corbin) —

True story: while I was home for Christmas a few months back, Sherry Ann handed me Corbin’s CD and told me I needed to listen to it. “Who is this child?” I asked, thinking at first that this was one of her inexplicable Jason Mraz-style crushes. “He’s had some hits,” she countered. “Well, he ain’t had very many of ’em, ’cause I’ve never once heard his name,” I replied. She forced the CD into the stack of discs that I was already stealing from her, and I dutifully copied it into my iTunes but didn’t really pay much attention to it otherwise. But then I caught Corbin’s show a couple of nights ago at the Austin rodeo, where my day job is centered for the remainder of this month, and even though the concert leaned more heavily on Kenny Chesney covers than could ever have been necessary — a forgivable offense, I s’pose, considering the kid is touring behind his debut album and has all of two radio hits to his name — I found him to be a charming and extraordinarily talented performer, and this bittersweet, wistfully romantic tune — which lands on the opposite end of the spectrum from “If I Die Young,” The Band Perry’s exquisite instant classic smash from last summer, but which is, in its own earnest way, every bit as powerful and affecting — incited, by far, the biggest reaction from the packed crowd.
Sherry Ann will likely tell you that the moral of the story I’ve just spun for you is Always listen to Sherry Ann — and you have to know, don’t you, that it really irks me when that witch gets the musical scoop ahead of me — but I much prefer that the ultimate takeaway here be Some stuff you gotta hear with your own ears. (And don’t write me a mean response in the comments, Sherry Ann;
you know I love you!)