12/15/2023 0 Comments Burn out midland lyric![]() Like a cutting-edge vintage shopper, Midland chooses the coolest old stuff and repurposes it in a way that feels new and seems effortless. Velvety-elegant, wistful, louche, the song stands out amid the twanged-up arena anthems, turbo-folkish club thumpers and singer-songwriter earnestness that dominate country radio, which still plays an essential role in deciding who gets to be a star. But “Cheatin’ Songs” sounds less like the Eagles than it does like what would happen if Player or Little River Band or some other scrupulously coifed soft-rock outfit of the era teamed up with Conway Twitty, and they recruited a bunch of high-end session players who had worked with both Tammy Wynette and Steely Dan. Midland’s high harmonies and the studied unction of its sound have prompted frequent comparison to the Laurel Canyon country-rock of the Eagles, which Midland’s members admire to the point of worship. ![]() To a non-traditionalist’s ear, the song’s back-to-the-’70s feel brings up other period associations that stray far from the honky-tonk mainline running from Hank Williams through Merle Haggard. (Midland’s Washington-area tour stop in Bristow, Va., scheduled for July 18, has been canceled.) The music industry’s touring-centered business model would crash, at least temporarily interrupting Midland’s unlikely rise to the top. The pandemic still felt far away at the moment, a coastal crisis that hadn’t really hit the heartland yet, but Nashville’s Cassandras were already foretelling a long hiatus in live shows brought on by the imminent national shutdown. This would be Midland’s biggest headlining gig to date, though the coming of covid-19 cast a shadow over it. ![]() ![]() Other stars lined up for subsequent nights at the rodeo included Lizzo, Chance the Rapper, Willie Nelson - big-time company. Midland would be playing a dance hall outside Goliad that night, and on the following night would play the opening of the Houston Rodeo at NRG Stadium. On the highway out to Goliad, Tex., driving through open country past chemical plants and horse-head oil derricks and the occasional scatter of pastured cattle, Midland’s “Cheatin’ Songs” came on a Houston country radio station. ![]()
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