To say that Russell Dickerson’s rise to success has been a slow burn would be a bit of an understatement. He’s been working on building a career in music since 2011 and he’s toured with a wide variety of big name artists in the Country genre including Florida Georgia Line, Canaan Smith and David Nail. In 2015 he released his single Yours, the title track from his debut record, and it’s taken two years for the song to climb the charts and hit Gold certification. Off the back of its success, and Dickerson’s headline set at Nashville Meets London earlier this year, it’s finally time for Yours, the album, to arrive.
Yours appears on the album in two versions. The original, which you’ll likely know, is a sweeping romantic ballad that is perfect for the current Country radio landscape. It’s a big song and one that grows on you with every listen. The second version of the track closes the album and it’s the ‘Wedding Edition’. I have to say this is a very smart move by Dickerson and his team because Yours is perfect for a first dance song choice thanks to how beautiful it is. The ‘Wedding Edition’ strips it all down and dare I say, it’s even better than the original?
Outside of Yours, there’s much to enjoy on the record. Opening track Every Little Thing is an uptempo feel-good start to the album with a catchy hook and a slight rock influence. It’s one of my favourite tracks on the record and sets the optimistic and feel-good tone for the whole record. Dickerson told me recently that he didn’t feel the need to check boxes when making the album and that’s reflected in the collection he’s put together.
Yours strikes a nice balance in terms of mixing up the tempo. It would have been easy for Dickerson to release an album full of variations on Yours but he hasn’t done that. Party track Float embraces Country’s traditional roots, MGNO (My Girl’s Night Out) pays tribute to Dickerson’s wife as he shows her a good night out, and Blue Tacoma is a sweeping mid-tempo number that highlight’s Dickerson’s knack for a soaring chorus.
Elsewhere on the record Dickerson shows off his falsetto on the R&B infused All Fall Down, throws back to summer on the reggae-light Billions, and blends soulful horns into the catchy You Look Like a Love Song.
With Yours, Dickerson has crafted a solid debut album. At times the album suffers a little bit from being too safe. While it is sonically varied, it would have been nice to hear Dickerson take a few more risks. I expect that’ll come on his second album but for now it’s just a relief that Yours is finally here. Dickerson has all the makings of being a big star and I’m fairly certain this is the just the (very long) start of his journey.
[brid video=”153455″ player=”531″ title=”Russell Dickerson Yours (Official Video)”]
Set list: 1. Every Little Thing 2. Yours 3. Blue Tacoma 4. Billions 5. All Fall Down 6. Float 7. MGNO 8. Would You Love Me 9. Low Key 10. You Look Like a Love Song 11. Twentysomething 12. Yours (Wedding Edition) Record label: Sony Music Release date: 13th October 2017
