Backslider – Elive Shane

By: Braulio Miranda

Elvie Shane is an American country singer who has recently been in the come up within the country music genre. He was born in Kentucky and is known well for his debut single “My Boy” which reached top charts in many country music airplays. He grew up listening and singing to church and country music that was a big impact in his life growing up. When he was in his 20’s he went through a tough time where he felt that he questioned everything he grew up believing in and he felt like he didn’t know anything anymore. This story of his would eventually turn into some sort of wakeup call or just a time in which he used what he was going through to build on something and that was when he worked on this Backslider album and wrote about the things he was going through. And like always in my eyes anytime an artist can put his life story into his work I feel like that already gives the work a very unique and strong message to what it is trying to portray and say to the listeners as they hear the music.

Overall, with this debut album I say it is one of the best country music releases this year but again that is me not really familiar with what the country music genre looks like, but I feel like I just really enjoy the backstory behind all the tracks in this album. For example, his biggest hit “My Boy” depicts the unconventional road to fatherhood. Overall, this project is a large showcase of his personal story with many fun and captivating songs. This is a very touching project to his own personal self, and I am sure when you take a listen you may also feel like some of these songs are relatable.  I was never really a person to dive deep into the country music genre but as I branch out and find new work from new artists, I get excited to find work like this, and have it now been one of my favorite albums at the moment.

I feel like there may be some cons to this album but in my opinion, I feel like it is very touching and unique that those cons don’t even come into play when you think about this project as a whole. I love being able to relate to an artist’s music and this here is another great example of that. My favorite track of the album is “Miles (with My Mama)” there is just something so soothing and calming about the song even though it is a long one I play it every time now. The album as a whole is the type of music you can listen to on a long car ride when you just want to relax, well at least that is wheat I envision when I listen to it. He is very like himself in this album, he can write, sing, and tell a great life story. Again, take it from me someone who isn’t that knowledgeable about country music at all, I listened and was hooked on to it and I have enjoyed very much.

Favorite Tracks: “My Boy”, “Miles (with My Mama)”, “Nothin’ Lasts Forever” (ft. Tenille Townes), “Heartbreaks & Headaches”

Rate: 9/10