By Lauren Sloss | August 14th, 2011
Oh, Rayland Baxter. Why are you so pessimistic? Why are you so certain, as you sing beautifully in your countrified folk tune “The Woman For Me,” that you will never find her? I mean, come on. You’re a stellar singer-songwriter from Nashville. You’re tall. And you’re kind of a babe. I can’t imagine that you have all that much trouble with the ladies.
Then again, where would our favorite singer-songwriters be without their heartbreak? It seems to fuel some of the most effective and memorable songs. “The Woman For Me” is an excellent example of this. As Baxter croons over a slide guitar, describing his ideal mate (whom he claims could never exist), that prime combination of depressing-but-beautiful presents itself.
This is, after all, the reason sad music is worth listening to; that sense of poignancy, of the unattainable, and the stinging beauty of both.