REVIEW: White Horse

 by Jami Morain

    This is one of the best songs I have ever heard in my life. The instruments have dramatic crescendos that build up so high, you are on the edge of your seat, covered in goosebumps, just waiting for the bass to drop with the perfect pairing of Chris Stapleton's unique and shredding vocals. The music ebbs and flows with precisely placed pauses that brilliantly accent the story he is sharing. 

    When the song begins, I vividly picture an abandon, typical wild west town with tumbleweeds blowing through. Then Stapleton sings, "This love is getting kinda dangerous. Feels like it's a loaded gun." Immediately you are sucked into the story. Is this a love song? A toxic relationship? It's the ideal attention-getter. 

    "My mind, it's turnin' like a cloud of dust, my heart always wants to run." Does this mean he doesn't want to leave her, but his heart is afraid? Is the love only dangerous because he is self-preserving?

    Then the chorus bursts out, "If you want a cowboy on a white horse, ridin' off into the sunset, if that's the kind of love you wanna wait for, hold on tight girl, I ain't there yet." There is the dilemma. She wants this perfect, true love and he doesn't think he can give it to her.

    "Someday, maybe you could have your way, right now's just not the time. Some things a man's just got to do." Is he stringing her along then? Encouraging her to find someone else? What are the things he has to do that he can't with her? 

    "I wish you could change my mind." Is he asking her to stay or shrugging her off?

    Then we hear the chorus again, followed by a killer guitar solo. The kind that you can't help but try to mimic or air-strum along to. He goes through the chorus again telling her to hold on tight because he isn't ready to be that knight in shining armor yet.

    The song ends with one of those amazing crescendos that make you hope the song won't end, but then it does. Back to the empty western town as the dust fades you out. 

    What happens? Do they end up together? I don't know.  The lyrics aren't necessarily what I love about this song. It's the instrumental work and how Stapleton sings the heck out of it. The way it plays out- displaying so many moods. One minute you are wearing boots and a cowboy hat like you have to walk 10 paces before someone says, "Draw." The next you are headbanging to a rockin' guitar solo. In the chorus, you may feel a type of yearning, begging your girl (or guy) to hold on to your love, so you can be better, but then feel dismissive as you say, "If you want prince charming, I ain't him." 

    I think everyone should hear this song at least once. Play it really loud, with wind blowing across your face, close your eyes if it helps. Just let the song take over you and experience it with him.