Album Review: Don Amero, Nothing is Meaningless

One could disregard the existentially larded title of the latest EP from country artist Don Amero. But it’s perhaps more helpful to view it as a topical compass for what lies within. Gratitude looms as large here as Amero’s golden voice which bearhugs each song with warmth and tenderness. 

The rollicking, vaguely tongue-in-cheek “My Poor Mama” itemizes all the tight jams the song protagonist’s mother spared him from using her own money, saucily noting how much richer she’d be if she let his dumb ass sink into the morass. Still, there’s little doubt our bumbling hero is humbled. Similarly, in the plaintive and heartfelt ballad “You Can’t Always Be 21,” Amero adds his thumbprint to the esteemed cache of songs lamenting the passage of time with the candor the concept demands.

A pair of sterling duets — “Let You” featuring Raquel Cole and “I Hate That Song” with Rhianna Rae Saj — are arguably the set’s centrepiece, examining the importance of revelling in the good stuff while it’s underway, albeit from different sides of the romantic coin. In the melodic and buoyant former song, that’s the joy of a simple kiss. In the more downcast latter, the past haunts the present via a particular song cruelly recalling life pre-breakup. 

But all that sounds sooo academic. Nothing Is Meaningless is, simply, another solid set from a dude seemingly incapable of putting a wrong foot forward. It’s also very, very nice.

Nothing is Meaningless was released September 24, 2021 on MDM Recordings Inc./Universal Music Canada.
Listen to it here.