Blue Jeans Bracket—Morgan Wallen “One Thing at a Time” Review.
Last Friday Morgan Wallen released a new album. It’s not short. “One Thing at a Time” is 36 songs clocking in at a whopping 1 hour and 52 minutes.
To properly review this record takes some time, and we think a little creativity. The question most people are asking is, which songs should I actually be listening to? Because there are a lot of them.
Well, per usual Pulltab Sports is here to help! We’re card-carrying members of the Morgan Wallen fan club, for a couple reasons: For starters, the man writes his own songs and is a hit making machine the likes of which country music hasn’t seen for some time.
At their best, great Morgan Wallen songs are like your favorite pair of blue jeans. They fit perfect, you can’t wear them out, and you occasionally need to smell the ass to see if they need a wash. The right Morgan Wallen songs can make you want to drink, buy a new Chevy (or Ford), or call your mother.
But when you put out 36 songs, they’re not going to all be great songs. There is bound to be some filler, and the record really tails off at the end. With that much music, they’re not all going to be your favorite pair of blue jeans laying on the floor next to your bed that you slip on the next morning without a wash. For instance, when you’ve already written masterpiece “865,” it’s hard to think of a good reason to write “Tennessee Numbers.” This would be like Journey writing a song called “Continue to Believe.” Sure, there are a few misses on “One Thing at a Time” including “Man Made a Bar” which is a great song, but it’s a great Eric Church song and should have been on his album. “Born with a Beer in my Hand” is a better Instagram bio than song, etc.
Along with some near misses, there are plenty of hits. This is a Morgan Wallen record after all. And since the best Morgan Wallen songs are built like well-worn blue jeans, we’ve decided to review “One Thing at a Time” by putting the best 16 songs in a Blue Jeans Bracket, with the strongest tracks advancing. Note: having 16 great songs on one record should not be overlooked here. Well done, sir!
How does a song win in a blue jeans bracket? We’ve selected the songs that we think will stand the test of time. They might be true ear worms that you can’t stop singing, they might be the most creative and memorable, or they might just kick ass.
Don’t say we never did anything for you. Here is the official Blue Jeans Bracket, and your official breakdown of Morgan Wallen’s new record “One Thing at a Time.”
Think of it as Cliff Notes with a belt buckle. We’ve also put the Blue Jeans Bracket edit of “One Thing at a Time” on Spotify for your listening pleasure. It is March Madness after all.
Enjoy notes and some links on the Sweet Sixteen tracks that made the Blue Jeans bracket, in no particular order:
“Last Night”
While this one tracks on the more produced, shimmery side of Wallen’s catalog— it’s undeniable infectious and the double wordplay of “Last Night” keeps it cooking.
“Everything I Love”
On this gem Morgan shows us he can pull of the old-time country song your parents and grandparents might like. Hints of Waylon, and a knee slapping chorus. This one should feel stadium-sized this summer at the festivals. This is Wallen doing big American Country, to show us he can. Country like Alabama did country. “One more silver dollar” in the Wallen hits jukebox. Great to know he has this gear.
“One Thing at a Time”
The album’s namesake is a pop song that barely makes the cut, it sounds like a John Mayer song. That said, it’s catchy as hell and still sounds like Morgan Wallen. The Grizzly reference might have been the difference.
“’98 Braves”
Nothing like a super specific song choice to write about the 106-56 Atlanta Braves who lost in the 1998 National League Championship NOT even the World Series. These are the sort originals that make you famous, if Wallen wasn’t already. Specific, autobiographical, and awesome. A grower, and a deep cut for true fans to hang onto. In some ways this is Wallen’s “almost” song about the one that got away, his version of Luke Combs’ “Going Going Gone.” If you’re looking for a sleeper hit, that isn’t everyone else’s favorite, this is one of two on the record.
“I Wrote the Book”
Throughout “One Thing at a Time” Morgan proves time and time again that he can write the sort of songs that can hang on a gunrack. Somehow on “I Wrote the Book” he gives us that red dirt feeling while singing about the bible on the nightstand. Dangerous and delicious all at the same time.
“Hope That’s True”
While this one be a low seed in the tournament, it’s quite the good riddance song as Wallen tips his cap to an Ex seeking a “high roller” with a “high rise.” The middle finger never sounded as sweet as it does here. Proving “two kids on a farm” still trumps a fat wallet. Put that in your pipe smoke it!
“Whiskey Friends”
Morgan Wallen knows his way around a bottle. “One Thing at a Time” is filled with 80 proof drinking songs, and “Whiskey Friends” is one of the best. “It’s just me, Jack, and Jim. Won’t you play a little Willie for me and my whiskey friends.” But it’s the guitar riff that gets this bad boy into the tournament. Overall, on the new record Wallen seems to be embracing more prominent guitar, and it works brilliantly here.
“Keith Whitley”
Only Morgan Wallen can write a love letter to whiskey and a 33-year-old country star who drank himself to death in the same song. But like “’98 Braves,” our second sleeper track is so specific and interesting that it will have people Googling Whitley and his .47 blood alcohol level when he met his untimely demise in 1989.
The love letter to the things we love “gettin’ gone too soon” works here, the same way sometimes the best nights have you tasting the hangover before you start to get drunk. “Good whiskey, Keith Whitley, and you.”
“In the Bible (feat. Hardy)”
While at a Wallen show at Madison Square Garden last year, I overheard someone watching Hardy’s opening set say, “He sure ain’t George Straight.” Well, he’s a hell of a songwriter as some of Wallen’s best work is when he’s working with co-conspirator Hardy. “In the Bible” is one of the few spots on “One Thing at a Time” where you get to truly hear Wallen wail. And that’s a good thing. Wallen makes a lot of nighttime country, songs that would feel good amidst the street lights and chrome rolling down Broadway in Nashville. “In the Bible” turns the lights on, like a breath of fresh air, this one is all daytime green grass and blue sky.
“You Proof”
A bonafide hit, the only thing that hurts “You Proof” is we’ve all been living with this song for a while now since its release in May of last year. Wallen may sing “the only thing fading is me,” but the truth is this one doesn’t have the momentum to advance far in the Blue Jeans Bracket.
“Thought You Should Know”
It’s usually Tim McGraw that delivers this type of elite country music with a moral in the story. If “Thought You Should Know” doesn’t make you think about your mother for three minutes, you don’t have a mother. This is one of those country songs that we’ll be listening to twenty years from now. Sometimes on “One Thing at a Time” you don’t believe Morgan. When he gets overly religious it doesn’t seem to work, or when he’s singing about quitting drinking on an album full of drinking songs for instance. By contrast “Thought You Should Know” seems like it was pulled straight out of the diary of the kid who has had his mother “losing sleep since 1993.” Just wonderful stuff.
“F150-50”
It would appear Morgan Wallen is truly bipartisan. After oodles of wonderful songs that had you shopping for a sunburnt Silverado, Wallen walks across the aisle to pen another beautiful song that will have you shopping Ford as he describes the coin flip that can be true love.
“I Deserve a Drink”
“You’re burnin’ hotter than a bourbon with no water.” This one is a grower not a shower, but it gets into the tourney because it’s both different and the strong chorus will have you wanting “I want you buzz in my veins.”
“Me + All Your Reasons“
This track also needed a play-in game to make the bracket, but ultimately made it for the “Down down” groove, plus a Copenhagen reference never hurts in a good country song.
“Tennessee Fan”
Another stick of Fruit Stripe gum from the hit making king, Wallen. At his best being autobiographical, and how about starting with the line, “they beat us every damn year.” And the fact that he dropped this track when his beloved Volunteers upset Alabama last year only makes this song more legendary. Not to mention rhyming “Alabama” with “deep South Delta Gamma” a few lines apart. More brilliance from the Wallen candy store.
“Don’t Think Jesus”
Of all the religion on “One Thing at a Time,” it works best here. The spiritual sequel to Waylon Jennings’ “Are You Sure Hank Done it This Way” is clearly personal for Wallen who felt he should have been forgiven quicker when he got in hot water for using a racial slur a few years ago. At the core of this song is the idea that while people like to be seen as religious, too often their behavior isn’t modeled after those same beliefs. Wallen underscores this hypocrisy here. Like “In the Bible,” Wallen takes his voice off the chain here and really lets you feel his pain. Wallen said he cried when his friends wrote this song for him about his situation, and we expect it to remain a deeply personal track for years to come.
In the end the Blue Jeans Bracket ends with a Final Four of “Thought You Should Know,” “Tennessee Fan,” “In the Bible” and “Everything I Love.” And while the “Deep South Delta Gamma” put up a good fight, “Thought You Should Know” wins out in the end. Call your mom!
