After All – Rob Baird Album Review

Track Listing

After All
Losing Hands
Give Me Back My Love
Greedy Eyes
Ain’t Going Back to You
I Tried
Burning Blue
Green Grass
Best That I was

One of the trickiest things for a singer/songwriter to achieve on an artist album is diversity and range. Hailing from Memphis, Tennessee, Americana singer Rob Baird debuted his fourth artist album Friday, weaving several different styles and tones into an audibly pleasing 10 track album. After All isn’t the best album Rob Baird’s put out, but it is a competently written, confident one, making it a successful return to the studio after 3 years absence.

Opening the album with After All, Rob Baird diversifies his range with three predominant style of track across the breadth of the run time. The first being a more upbeat, almost commercial style flirting the line between folk and country. The second is a more gritty, progressive sound that relies heavily on drums and guitars to accentuate the vocals. The third makes use of a reflective, heartfelt style that, while still upbeat, feels a lot more focused on the emotion behind every word. It’s a clever mix too, and one that helps the album never feel stale and each track stand out.

There will inevitably be some songs that hit that sweet spot and this is likely to differ depending on what you’re looking for with this genre of music. Personal favourites include I Tried, Give Me Back Your Love and Ain’t Going Back To You. These three tracks in particular really show off the best of the different ranges Rob works with in this album and, for the most part, complement one another perfectly.

Fans of Rob Baird are sure to love this Americana singer’s new album. The lyrics are heartfelt and well written, the vocals emotionally charged and the driving basslines with its range of different guitar and drum sounds work really well throughout this 10 track album. If you haven’t been a fan of Rob’s work in the past, you’re unlikely to be swayed by his latest offering but After All has enough here to satisfy fans of Americana music.