video review: 'whiskey & lace' by krystal keith

Okay, so I covered Krystal Keith first. Next up is Parmalee, I promise. Stay tuned!

album review: 'whiskey & lace' by krystal keith

It's a healthy response to feel wary whenever you approach music from the children of major artists. Not automatically denigrate it because of its lineage - good music can spring from anywhere - but some skepticism can be expected. After all, I haven't exactly forgotten the 'legacies' that acts like Hot Chelle Rae and LMFAO have landed courtesy of their family connections, when in any sane world neither of those groups would been signed or gotten airplay in the first place. And I've got the same issues with nepotism that everyone does - more qualified, experienced, or just plain better artists getting turned away in favour of a famous son or daughter.

That being said, I was actually anticipating the debut album from Krystal Keith more than I initially expected. She's the second daughter of Toby Keith, a favourite country singer of mine and one who I reviewed earlier this year. It's interesting to note that Toby Keith hasn't exactly had a great 2013, especially when it comes the tumultuous year country music had as a whole, and while I did mostly like his album Drinks After Work, it hasn't really stuck with me. Indeed, Toby Keith seemed almost amused that critics took his album as well as they did (another sign that some elements of the country critical press are too soft on big name artists). 

But if there's one thing about Toby Keith I've respected, it's that he has a fairly good head for business, and if he was more focused on helping his daughter get started over his own solo record, it'd make some sense to why Drinks After Work felt a bit light-weight. And considering she's signed to his label Show Dog-Universal Music, he produced this album, and he contributed a few songs, it'd be wrong to ignore Toby Keith's watchful eye on his daughter Krystal's debut album Whiskey & Lace. But putting that aside, how did the record turn out?