DILLON CARMICHAEL

                                                               "Son Of A" 

                                                               Riser House Entertainment

Songs such as “Hot Beer” and “Big Truck” have catapulted Dillon Carmichael onto mainstream country radio, but it’s what he’s always done underneath these kitschy type of songs - such as on heartfelt tunes like “Dancing Away With My Heart” and “I Do For You” - that have shown the true depth of who he is as an artist and songwriter as he’s showcased his ability to craft a classic country type of story into his lyrics.

Carmichael continues to unravel that classic country, emotional bent storytelling on his newest single “Son Of A,” the title track from his recently released album.

“I called him everything under the sun,” begins the softer paced song as Carmichael pulls us into a lyric about teenage angst and the struggle between a son and his father.

He paints perfect pictures of the angst as he sings lines about slamming his bedroom door and stomping around on the ground behind it, and while he sets us up to believe that when his dad comes into the room to confront him it will be in anger, Carmichael expertly flips the script as we roll into the chorus on the back of the line that his dad speaks to him, “I’ve got some things I wanna call you too.”

The chorus is then where the heart of the song is revealed as his dad says to him:

“You're a son of a momma

You're a son of a dad

Who will never stop loving you and being there

And giving you everything they have

Someday you're gonna get it boy, you'll admit it, boy

Just like I did with my old man

You're a son of a momma, a son of a dad who give a damn.”

The story continues to unfold with relatable bits and pieces that show the causes of typical teenage angst such as his dad taking the keys to the car and showing him tough love, but it also always progresses with the son starting to understand things a bit more and more with each new challenge; ultimately showing him in the here and now finally understanding how much his parents loved him, even when he probably didn’t deserve it.

The 2010’s era of country music was chalk full of songs that saw a wiser, older man teaching lessons to generation next, and while in some ways that’s exactly what “Son Of A” is, Carmichael has done it in such a relatable way from a fresh perspective that it pulls the string around your heart and tugs hard as it makes you start to realize what you have in your own life.

(Review Written By: Jeffrey Kurtis)