Josh Gracin: We Weren't Crazy

Label: Lyric Street
Sound/Style: Contemporary, rock-influenced country

By Steve Morley

Josh Gracin was the first high-ranking American Idol contestant to score a number one country hit—a hallmark of sorts for a show that features a mostly pop music sensibility. The distinction, though, isn’t too significant, given country’s current infatuation with pop and rock sounds. Carrie Underwood, who followed Gracin but became the first country megastar to be spawned by the TV competition, is doing the same brand of pop-country crossover as Gracin. The question isn’t whether the popular show can birth gigantic careers, but whether it produces performers with strong personalities who aren’t entirely dependent on song choice and style of presentation―the two criteria perhaps most often emphasized by the show’s judges. Gracin’s long-delayed second release, We Weren’t Crazy, doesn’t definitively answer that question, despite credible performances of rocked-up Nashville-styled fare embroidered with banjo and steel guitar.

Recent interviews with Gracin reveal the singer to be an affable ex-Marine and young family man who has included Christian pop hits like Third Day’s “Cry to Jesus” in his concerts. His record company’s press materials promise an album featuring “moral tales rich with Middle-American values and a strong spiritual core,” though evidence of this is slight at best on the new album, which Gracin says “is more me” than his debut. That may be true in terms of his songwriting contributions, most of which contain autobiographical lyrics about his wife and himself. The title track is a well-meaning “I told you so” to parents and others who thought Gracin’s marriage wouldn’t outlive the couple’s initial flush of youthful energy. (“We were lovin’ blind, borderline reckless/ We were livin’ for the minute we were spinnin’ in/ Maybe we were a lot of things/ But we weren’t crazy.”)

Gracin’s self-written dedication to his wife, “Unbelievable,” focuses somewhat uncomfortably on the singer’s own gratification, limiting the particulars primarily to the bedroom. (“The way you make me feel/ Unbelievable/ Got your breath on my skin/ And the taste of your kiss/ Every inch and every curve…”)

“Invisible,” meanwhile, is a lively and innocuous track in which the singer longs to see the object of his affection in spontaneous and unguarded moments. (“Sometimes I wish that I could disappear/ So baby, without you knowing I’m here/ I could fall in love all over again with the way that you move/ “Cause when you’re all alone/ And you don’t know that I’m watching, you’re so beautiful/ Sometimes I wish I was invisible.”)

“Found,” the album’s brisk, guitar-fueled opener, brushes a thin, spiritual-sounding veneer on an otherwise typical love song, while the Top 30 hit “I Keep Coming Back” misses an opportunity to reference faith by focusing on unspecific experiences relating to identity and roots. (“Time after time/ No matter where I’m at, I can’t pretend/ I found something better than where I’ve been/ ‘Cause where I’m from is who I am/ And no matter how far that I run/ I keep coming back.”)

“Livin’ It Up,” while an enjoyable enough windows-down summer song, again focuses on temporal sensory pleasures. (“I wanna empty my tank/ Leave nothing left in the bank/ When they lay me in the ground/ I want a front-row seat, I wanna rock all night/ “Cause baby, I can sleep when I die.”) The track could hardly be called offensive, yet the lack of any initiative to leave behind something of value behind poses a provocative question about the values of today’s youth, and threatens to define the theme of the entire album.

Gracin’s robust baritone voice and surefooted performance are powerful calling cards on this collection, which shows promise despite moments that are forced and formulaic. We Weren’t Crazy is a well-crafted and energetic pop-country record, and one that a perfectly sane country fan might find totally satisfying. However, the listener who desires inspiring music that resonates deeply and consistently with faith-based values wouldn’t be crazy for wanting something more.

Audio Clips

"Found"

"We Weren't Crazy"

"Invisible"

"Let Me Fall"