Sawyer Brown

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So I'm driving into work and I hear a commercial on the radio for some music group coming to Mystic Lake casino. Not really paying attention until I hear the announcer say:

"Come to Mystic Lake to see the Rolling Stones of country music... Sawyer Brown!!!"

Whaaaaa?!?!</moe>

First I had to search my memory on who heck Sawyer Brown was, but it didn't take long, they started playing snippets of his songs on the ad and I heard "Some girls don't like boys like me.... awwww, but some girls do!" and it clicked. Back in the early 90s I believe Sawyer Brown was performing at the Mason City Iowa county fair. This goes back to the days when I used to watch Star Trek on KIMT (yes, I enjoy the Star Trek) and every commercial break had an ad for Sawyer Brown and that song was played over and over and over again.

Ok, so that's who they are... a crappy country band that is performing at Mystic Lake, and 12+ years ago, they were performing at country fairs in Iowa. So how exactly do they get the title of "Rolling Stones of Country Music"? Are they from England? Do they have hits from multiple decades? Or are they just really really old?

After some digging:

Sawyer Brown
Can You Hear Me Now, 2002
Curb
When the first sentence in Sawyer Brown's current press release reads, "they've been called the Rolling Stones of country music, and really, that's no exaggeration," you know there's a problem. Call it ego, call it misinformation or just plain stupidity. Whichever, SB's 18th album, "Can You Hear Me Now," just doesn't cut it. However you wish to view them, as a poor rock band or an even worse never-will-be country band, their latest 10 tunes strikes an awful stench. From the opening title track, a blatant and blissfully poor stab at a Stones-like sound, vocalist Mark Miller & Co. go nowhere fast. They exude cardboard ("Hard Hard World") and curdled milk ("Someone"), lob lyrically lame ballads ("Come Back Baby") and even a goopy gospel-ish "I Got A Plan." Fueled on lyrical clichˇs ("I see that river, and I see the shore") and this year's best example of bad lyrics ("Looking for an I, Oh I you girl, she's an I oh I, I'm looking for an I, she's an I, I got to have you..."). Sawyer Brown's latest smacks of a polecat promenade.
- Tom Netherland

Well Tom, wherever you are, thanks for the review! Tom also has this to say:

The Hits Live', 2000
Curb
There's a lot to be said for great live artists. Not only do they attract hardcore followings, but they also tend to sustain lasting careers. Like Sawyer Brown. Few would have given the one-time "Star Search" participants much of a chance in country. Too pop. Too loud. But here we are, nearly two decades later, and Mark Miller's band keeps crankin' 'em out. As shown through 14 live tracks and four studio cuts, Sawyer Brown has maintained a sound that's driven into the hearts of scads of fans. Makes sense, then, to record a live album. Right? Not when hits like "Step That Step" and "The Dirt Road" sound like the studio recordings with an audience track tacked on. Okay, so "The Boys and Me" differs. Yet what's with a so-called country band doing its best to record its take on hard rock? Too bad the boys didn't include its concert staple "Takin' Care of Business," a 1970's rock hit for Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Reckon that one rocked too much. If that's the case, then how about "Perfect World," one of four new studio recordings included? Its "oh oh ohs" and "sha la la las" pour pop. Organs, guitars and silly lyrics point East, West, North and South away from whatever country sounds still inhabit this band. Don't even ask about their copping bits of David Bowie-like vocals on "Garage Band."
- Tom Netherland

So now I'm really baffled. Ok, they've been around a couple of decades, and have 18 albums...wow, they really are just like the Rolling Stones, except that they play country music!!!

Oh, and I think the Stones were on Star Search too... right?

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