Angaleena Presley Teams with Yelawolf on “Country” (Video Premier)
One thing a Pistol Annie is no good for is keeping their mouth shut and doing what they’re told. Angaleena Presley has just released her second solo album called Wrangled, and one of the most buzzed tracks in all of country music at the moment is her song “Country.” The Kentucky-born songwriter and performer comes out kicking and screaming about all of the countrified posturing that occurs in country music, though not much “country” makes it into the music itself.
You’re not quite sure exactly what message Presley is trying to drive home when you first pull up the track. But things get turned up a big notch when Nashville resident and hip-hop artist Yelawolf, who is a well-known critic of arena rap and corporate country, goes careening into a tirade about the current direction of the genre, name dropping Sturgill Simpson along the way.
Saving Country Music has been trying to warn folks that Yelawolf is a strange, but important key to exposing the ills of mainstream country, and he puts his money where his mouth is on “Country” in one sharp quip after another.
Now we got no Hank and Johnny
No Waylon playing, Dwight Yoakam on the radio
Just a crazy load of these country posers
I supposed a couple are real, but they’ll never make it
So Thank God for Sturgill Simpson
‘Cause Music Row Can Fuckin’ Save It
“If I have to be the whistleblower, so be it,” Angaleena Presley recently told the Nashville Scene. “I’m 40, I don’t have anything to lose. This is my F-you record.”
On having Yelawolf participate, Angaleena says, “What he does is like the backbone of what all of those people were trying to do on country radio, but he’s doing it for real, and it’s honest. So I thought it would be really fitting for him to come and do that part.”
Angaleena’s Wrangled is unhinged, angry, and on point. It is now for sale, and look for the Saving Country Music review coming soon. You can see the premier of the lyric video for “Country” below.
Matty T
April 24, 2017 @ 8:01 am
Never was a Pistol Annie’s fan and I’ve been pretty down on yelawolf ever since that video of him smashing Bones Owens’ guitar amps came out but this was actually pretty decent.
Mo Crawford
April 24, 2017 @ 8:25 am
couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to hear this more than once..songs about how bad country is aren’t the answer. this genre is over!!
Trigger
April 24, 2017 @ 8:37 am
I think one of the points of this song is to be ugly and discordant as a creative apparatus. Listening to it once may be enough to get the point across. It also helps to hear it within the context of the album. But it’s probably not for everyone, perhaps.
Gena R.
April 24, 2017 @ 9:42 am
I thought the rapid-fire Bro Country cliches in the verses were pretty funny, but yeah, it probably would drive me a little nuts with repeat listens. 😀
Anyway, loved ‘American Middle Class’ (as well as the tracks Angaleena wrote and sang with the Pistol Annies) and I’m very much looking forward to hearing the rest of ‘Wrangled’!
Megan
April 24, 2017 @ 11:35 am
Amazing album all the way through, one of the albums I’ve been most excited to review this year 🙂
Cicca
April 24, 2017 @ 2:48 pm
as long as it doesn’t have the female “violence against men is okay” spirit that infuses Miranda’s and Carrie’s songs, which really should be a category in itself that is as bad as Bro-Country, I will be here for it!
wtf
April 24, 2017 @ 8:26 am
awful.
Kross
April 24, 2017 @ 8:32 am
Fun video, shitty song.
Scott S.
April 24, 2017 @ 10:15 am
I like how she got every bro country keyword into the song. Should go #1 just for that.
I picked this up Friday but have been busy with Jason Eady. On initial listen there appears to be a few pretty good songs. Not sure that Country is one of them, but I’ll give it another listen soon.
jessie with the long hair
April 24, 2017 @ 10:47 am
This is crap. She’s trying to get attention because she has no career. The” whoa-whoas” and guitar sound like she just got turned on to the Black Keys as the rest of Music Row. His rapping and phrasing isn’t any better than that ass clown Colt Ford. Angaleena is a product of Music Row and has been groomed by a well known row publisher. She should have never screwed up the “Pistol Annies” gig. That was her ticket to commercial success.
Angaleena Presley
April 24, 2017 @ 2:07 pm
Hi. You’re definitely right when you say I’m seeking attention. Most art exists to provoke thought and emotion thereby making an audience a necessary part of the process. I’m excited about how you’ve publicly proclaimed your passionate hatred for this song. It tells me that what I’ve created has caused quite a stir in you. I also agree that my career is not where I had dreamed it would be. In fact, the first song on the new album, Dreams Don’t Come True, speaks to the sadness that comes with unmet expectations. I wrote it on a back porch with Miranda Lambert and Ashley Monroe about a year ago. The Pistol Annies never had a song in the top 40. By industry standards, we were never considered commercially successful so I’ll have to disagree with the idea that I squandered my ticket to stardom. Country, by design, is polarizing. It’s a love it or hate it song because love and hate can act as some pretty powerful tools to perpetuate conversations about balancing the scales in the Country music genre.. I appreciate you visiting Saving Country Music and taking the time to give me some feedback.
JohnWayneTwitty
April 24, 2017 @ 7:31 pm
Good heavens, this Jessie with the long hair needs to get his hair tangled up in a running motor. If Jessie thinks THIS is a product of music row, he’s unaware of the real mu$ic row.
Megan
April 24, 2017 @ 8:16 pm
What a fantastic record, have not been this excited to speak about/review an album this much in awhile…and I like your comment about “Country” being polarizing, true art and honesty stirs up passion, whether it be vehement love or hatred. For what it’s worth, I happen to love this record all the way through, and it’s the honesty and the originality in it that stand out to me. There are a lot of protest songs these days in the country genre, and yet this one was totally different, and if people misunderstand that, so be it…somehow I doubt you give a shit anyway.
P.S. Thank you for writing the song “Wrangled,” that is all.
LG
April 25, 2017 @ 3:05 am
To me, this album is your second consecutive home run. I love how your lyrics set scenes like well thought-out prose, and I especially love how your melodies don’t land where you’d expect them to. This might seem completely out of left field, but some of the tracks remind me of Elvis Costello’s early 80s dabbling in the country genre.
jessie with the long hair
April 26, 2017 @ 3:25 pm
I don’t comment on here to give any artist feedback and artists shouldn’t come here for feedback. This is a forum for music fans to express their honest opinions and discuss. Taking a stab at bro country in a 2017 song just seems “old news” by now and not that original. Just my opinion. I don’t see this as art as some of you think. It’s really not much different than what most of you bitch about besides the fact that it’s taking a stab lyrically at a bunch of cliche types songs that are on their way out. I get irony but this is just not that clever… to me. To me this song is to music row what East Nashville is to Green Hills… basically same deal, different clothes. It’s a country singer putting a rapper on their song. For what reason? Is this a new and novel idea? Does it rise above the other rapper/country songs? I’m just saying, I don’t think it’s that different or that good and it seems like low hanging fruit and not that badass or sassy or whatever. Also, I don’t see FGL or those other folks coming on here getting all pissy when Trigger gives his honest opinion about their music and he can be pretty brutal, which is okay by me. This is a place for the passionate to vent. I know it’s hard for an artist to put their music, face, and name out there and receive criticism but it comes with the territory. I think its wise for artists to ignore their critics and certainly not engage them. Nothing good can come of it. This is a place for music lovers to mix it up and debate. I was commenting in the spirit that many of us do on here about music we’re all passionate about. If I had said the same thing about Luke Bryan, this would be a whole different story. This isn’t personal. It’s an opinion.
Channing Wilson
April 24, 2017 @ 2:55 pm
Also not a “product” of music row. Just because she has a publishing deal with a big company on music row??? Cmon! Where do you think Isbell, Sturgill, Stapleton’s publishing is handled?? In Lukenbach TX??? It’s the music business and there’s not too many publishing companies on the rural routes.
Kevin Davis
April 24, 2017 @ 10:50 am
Yeah, this is a listen-to-it-once song. I appreciate the message, of course, but it’s simply not an enjoyable song on any level. By contrast, go listen/watch Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” for a protest song done right.
Corncaster
April 24, 2017 @ 11:00 am
it captures a little of the spirit of the phrase “f*** you” and some of its intellectual content
Craig
April 24, 2017 @ 11:26 am
This is actually one of the more forgettable songs on the record, which is overall really good, and has a cool fifties / sixties vibe that combined with the country makes for a little cowpunk. And what Presley and the other Annies have always done very well is take men’s music and not just sing it in soprano but keep the sets and stages and backgrounds but reimagine the characters from a woman’s perspective – just like Loretta Lynn has always done. That’s probably poorly stated but I hope some of the idea gets across.
Megan
April 24, 2017 @ 11:38 am
Can’t believe my enjoyment of this song is in the minority. Fantastic record too.
Trigger
April 24, 2017 @ 1:25 pm
That’s because you actually took the time to try and understand what Angaleena is doing here.
If you say you hate this song because it sounds like crap, you completely missed the point.
seak05
April 24, 2017 @ 11:53 am
This week in, it’s totally cool if someone rips off another genre/culture, we only care if someone rips off country. Yelawolf is a problem period. He’s ripping off another culture/musical genre, without giving back to the genre/culture he’s taking from or acknowledging where it comes from.
I’m glad Yelawolf has shown he understands southern/country culture, but since he wants to rap, that isn’t the culture he’s taking from/needs to understand.
Ronald
April 24, 2017 @ 12:06 pm
This might be better than Sam Hunt but that is about it. Horrible song. If Yelawolf cares so much for country he needs to quit trying to be a redneck Eminem wanna be and play country.
jessie with the long hair
April 24, 2017 @ 1:14 pm
Yes, I agree. Trigger always talks about how Sam Hunt pales in comparison to real R&B music. Well, Yelawolf clearly pales compared to Eminem or Macklemore.
Trainwreck92
April 26, 2017 @ 2:50 pm
Man, I don’t think there’s many people that pale in comparison to Macklemore. Yelawolf may not be Eminem caliber, but his music is a lot more interesting than Mack’s bland top 40 pop-rap.
jessie with the long hair
April 26, 2017 @ 2:56 pm
I was speaking specifically to Yellawolf’s phrasing, rhythms, and use of rhyme that I hear on this track. I don’t think it’s terrible, I just feel like it’s not that interesting or different when compared to rappers in the mainstream. Mack’s pop-rap may be bland to you but he put out one of the biggest social commentary songs of our time a few years ago. No one on country radio is doing that, or at least to the level he did.
LG
April 24, 2017 @ 1:01 pm
I love her. That is all.
jessie with the long hair
April 24, 2017 @ 1:11 pm
You’d feel different if you spent any time with her.
Turd Ferguson
April 25, 2017 @ 3:12 pm
You’re acting like she kicked her dog or stole your bf/gf. Chill out and just stop.
Turd Ferguson
April 25, 2017 @ 3:14 pm
*your*
Corey
April 24, 2017 @ 2:30 pm
I’ve been looking forward to this album since American Middle Class. Angaleena has a great voice and a lot of interesting things to say about culture, people and shortcomings. My first listen through Wrangled, I found “Country” to be a little tongue-in-cheek, hilarious, while also being obnoxious (intentionally I imagine). Although I appreciate her artistic approach and rant on the subject it’s still a tough song to swallow in the middle of an otherwise outstanding album. Second and third listens later, I appreciate and even enjoy the song a lot more, although I still feel it would’ve been better placed at the very end rather than the middle of the album. Hilarious and sassy regardless.
Cosmic cowboy
April 24, 2017 @ 2:58 pm
In your face I Love it You go at them Girl Your doin just fine
WRS
April 24, 2017 @ 4:10 pm
I think it’s easy to say she is one pissed off woman and that emotion bleeds through on this album.
Nathan38401
April 24, 2017 @ 4:17 pm
Love it. I heard this song over the weekend, then got on Amazon music listened to a few other songs off this album, then immediately ordered a cd and a vinyl copy.
Travis
April 24, 2017 @ 4:56 pm
I guess I’m with the minority who really liked the song. It sounds like it would have been a lot of fun to record and a bit cathartic at the same time. I still haven’t given yelawolf any time and I don’t see this changing that but I did really like the song and will likely check out the album. On another note, the SCM demographic seems to be changing lately (or maybe not so lately) but I think it’s great to get a wider range of opinion if everyone can stay respectful.
JohnWayneTwitty
April 24, 2017 @ 7:29 pm
She has a cool voice and Yelawolf is the ONLY person who can make country rap the right way. Hell, he knows more about country music than everyone involved in bro country put together and tripled.
Amanda
April 24, 2017 @ 7:48 pm
Angaleena is fucking awesome. Enough said.
Amanda
April 24, 2017 @ 8:31 pm
I’m also in the minority, as I actually like it. I thought it was kinda funny and quite brilliant, as it pokes fun at bro-country in the most epic proportions. It is witty, and I thank Angaleena for that. Hell, I may even show this to the FGL and bro-country fan I got into a heated argument with a couple days ago. He really needs to hear this.
Once again, Angaleena Presley, you are one hell of a songwriter. And you are fucking brilliant.
musiccityman
April 24, 2017 @ 8:41 pm
Ehhh. Just hipster bullshit. There’s a reason some people never “make it”….
Chad Perry
April 25, 2017 @ 3:13 pm
You must be a Chris Lane fan.
Robert
April 24, 2017 @ 11:48 pm
Seen Angaleenas show last night in Newport ky. I bought the album and listened to it today. I like the album and the overall attitude she puts forth on it. She knows country radio isn’t going to play it..so she wrote and recorded an honest album of her experiences etc.I respect that. This particular song may not be in everyone’s taste but it does convey a message in a somewhat humorous way.
Distorted Culture
April 25, 2017 @ 5:01 am
Kind of an old punk rock vibe to it. I like it.
Trainwreck92
April 26, 2017 @ 2:52 pm
Yeah, the drums feel very punky to me.
Robbi
April 25, 2017 @ 5:04 am
Amazing song writer and beautiful person!!!
scott
April 25, 2017 @ 5:39 am
Not nearly as bad as I expected, after reading some of the vitriol here. I actually kinda enjoyed it, although probably not repeatedly.
Jack Williams
April 25, 2017 @ 7:00 am
I agree. I think it’s a fun novelty song with a good message. Sonically, it made me think of Hayes Carll’s KMAG YOYO.
scott
April 25, 2017 @ 10:05 am
Yeah, Jack, I’m with ya on the KMAG thing. Never really thought about it until your mention. Good ear.
Trainwreck92
April 26, 2017 @ 2:55 pm
Also kinda sounds like ‘Down the Road Tonight” by the Von Ehrics, which is of course a Hayes Carll cover. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ_DCSO69O4
Mike Blackwell
April 25, 2017 @ 6:13 am
I listened to the whole album Saturday morning and was blown away. Angaleena, like Sturgill Simpson, represents the best country music has to offer, and the fact that they are fellow Kentuckians makes me all the happier. 12 songs, not a bad or predictable one in the bunch. Her lyrics are smart, funny, heartbreaking at times. Vocals and production are top notch. Even among songs co-written with legends like Guy Clark, Wanda Jackson and Chris Stapleton, her own solo writing shines brightest. “Country” may not be everybody’s red solo cup of tea, but give the album a chance. It’s the real deal and then some.
Megan
April 25, 2017 @ 11:20 am
This.
Orgirl1
April 25, 2017 @ 1:55 pm
Lol! Omg, I just watched the whole video. That was awesome. Hilarious. “Catfish” thrown in. Lol! Brilliant. I’m going to watch it again. Great.
Willie Potter
April 27, 2017 @ 5:41 pm
Song Blows
ShadeGrown
April 30, 2017 @ 3:27 am
I think it was a poor idea to put this song 4th on the album but I don’t mind the sentiment. I think it’s absurd that Nashville, which for all of you who aren’t aware IS A CITY(!), more or less makes fun of those of us who actually live in the sticks. Even though they don’t have any fucking clue.