By calling his third album
Dirty South,
Lucas Hoge makes it clear that the native Nebraskan is laying claim to the musical tradition that lies beyond the Mason-Dixon Line.
Hoge doesn't have much interest in old-fashioned country -- there's nary a twang on this 2017 album -- but rather a smooth Southern sound that falls somewhere between
Rascal Flatts and
Luke Bryan at his most sentimental.
Hoge pays lip service to "The Power of Garth" but whenever the tempo gets kicked up on
Dirty South -- which is rare -- he indulges in a bit of the big bro beats of
Florida Georgia Line ("Halabamalujah"), not the stadium-filling anthems of Garth. This nod to
FGL isn't the only way
Dirty South takes stock of the state of country in 2017: it opens up with "Shoo Fly Pie" and "Boom Boom," a pair of lighthearted pop tunes powered by skittering R&B beats straight out of
Sam Hunt. Unlike
Hunt or
Thomas Rhett,
Hoge doesn't feel the need to borrow hip-hop phrasing for singing.
Hoge is a straight-ahead guy, riding the trends instead of setting them, and while that acquiescence to fashion illustrates situational awareness as well as an eagerness for hits, it also means that
Dirty South feels pandering at times. With its tales of flip flops, mad dog, whiskey, and the Dirty South, the album seems to touch all the good-time bases of contemporary country without ever truly engaging in any of them. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine