Music Review // Nancy Wenstrom "Alabama Song" (WCM Records)

https://open.spotify.com/album/6IhXg2Hy00dcHJ7mZAoUEm?highlight=spotify:track:2AFZFWvbKBVUolcynMcbEI#_=_

The first thing I think when I see a first name and last name with the song title "Alabama Song" is that this is going to be country.  And it's not wrong to call this a country song as it has those slow feelings like Willie Nelson or Dolly Parton- just when I think of country music (but country music which I also like) my mind goes to this type of sound.  It's mostly a slow song filled with guitar and vocals and I do feel like it's the type of song you'd hear in "King Of The Hill" which just makes it feel more country somehow.

But the more I listen to the song I wonder what it is that makes it country.  Is it because it is about Alabama?  I feel like the way the guitar is played could be somewhat like the blues or even a rock n roll ballad.   If this was about a different state- not Alabama- then perhaps it could be experienced along the same lines as B.B. King, for example.  It's just that old slide guitar and the way the vocals hit which make me feel the country in this, but at the same time it is rather close to just taking that turn into rock or blues with one simple push in the other direction.

Lyrically this song isn't about Alabama in the sense of it being like an anthem but more in a personal way to the artist- their experience with the state.  I don't think I've ever been to Alabama and I wonder what it might sound like if someone was to create a "Connecticut Song" (and then I make myself sad)  I've spent my life living in two different states within the U.S. though so I think I kind of take for granted that other people who have lived more places can relate memories to certain states.  Most of my memories just go back to CT because it's where I've lived the longest.  

With lines like: "I'll always keep these sweet memories safely stored in the heart of my song" you can't help but relate with this one.   It's just that pure, raw emotion that we all feel.   We've all been through things, we've all had life events and so I think to that extent you can see something which happened to you the same way that Nancy Wenstrom sees Alabama.   This is really a song of the people in that I feel like everyone can share an aspect of it lyrically but also we should all be able to come together on this specific sound musically.