Country fans have been leaning on the genre a lot in 2020, and as periods of great strife tend to teach us, few mediums are as medicinal as music is in times like these. In his new single “Two Lane Airplane,” country artist Gary Burk III is steering clear of negativity and downtrodden dirges and in favor of exploring an ironic optimism that is as sonically poetic as it is linguistically alluring. This is country music for grownups who need some feel-good grooves right now, and in my view, it couldn’t be arriving at a better moment for listeners than the present.
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Burk always has a way of taking a personal approach to his lyricism, but it’s obvious even at a distance that his heart is invested in the subject matter of “Two Lane Airplane.” From the moment we get started to the second everything disappears into the silence once more, his presence in the mix is the most charming element for us to behold, and not only because of the way he commands the harmony here. There’s an easygoing likeability to his tone that makes this so much poppier than it already would have been, but in the best way I can imagine.
I really like the balance between the strings and the vocal in this mix, and although it’s a little more on the nose than what some of Burk’s more surreal alternative contemporaries have been recording lately, I’ve never got the impression from his music that he’s particularly interested in fitting in with the popular crowd. His are unique harmonies and beats that cross a couple of genre lines when it serves the narrative well, and in this regard, “Two Lane Airplane” is in line with everything this artist has already released in the last three years.
This beat has a little extra oomph that some could make the case for being rather indulgent for the composition as a whole, but I personally think the dash of excess works wonders for the cosmetic profile of the song in general. One of the biggest reasons to get into this single is its hook, and without the slight push from the drums as we get into the chorus, it probably wouldn’t have the aching muscularity it enjoys here. Add in the harmony and you’ve got a perfect pairing, which doesn’t necessarily make “Two Lane Airplane” multidimensional, but it does make it more a product of duality than the competition tends to be.
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He has yet to receive the amount of press that I feel he’s been due, but I think the narrative surrounding the career of one Gary Burk III has a good chance of changing for the better after “Two Lane Airplane” finds an audience on the dial over the next couple of months. This is a superbly well-rounded sound that doesn’t ask a lot out of listeners in exchange for a pastoral charisma I haven’t been able to get out of the Nashville bigwigs lately, and that alone makes it a must-listen for country buffs like myself.
Loretta Kim