Album Review: Eric Ethridge, Good With Me

Try — seriously, just go ahead and try —not to croon along with almost the whole of Good With Me, Eric Ethridge’s very smoochy full-length debut which takes the idea of accessible to fairly lofty levels, though it must be said that a blind spin wouldn’t necessarily return a verdict of country music from all listeners. 

That’s especially true of singles “Dream Girl” and “Kiss Me Goodbye” which, despite prominent banjo-picking, are highly polished and produced corkers that could be inconspicuously added to pop playlists without causing undue alarm. Ditto the soaring “Out of My League” which tunefully shadows a humble schmuck as he giddily revels in his luck in love. 

Part of the sort-of pop thing could be Ethridge’s bright, clear voice, as prominent an instrument as any here and one absent the kind of whiskey-drenched grit of, say, a Cory Marks or Tim Hicks, both Canuck contemporaries. 

Ballads “Sad Songs” and “Waves” satisfyingly check the broken-hearted box required of any good country record worth its Stetson, and while Good With Me doesn’t leave much sawdust on the floor, its title track makes a credible case for those CCMA nods Ethridge has racked up. It also has some of the snappiest rhyming couplets in the canon. No spoilers here. You’ll just have to find ‘em yourself.

Good With Me was released October 30, 2020 on Anthem Records/Anthem Entertainment.
Listen to it here.