Tony Martinez is a 30 year old singer/songwriter, guitarist & multi-instrumentalist from Nashville, Tennessee notable for being the son of Rick Martinez who taught him how to play guitar & to whom this full-length debut album of his is dedicated to. He later met Nashville superstar & former Shady Records/Interscope artist Yelawolf at one of his bar gigs, developing a friendship to the point where Catfish Billy officially signed Tony to his independent label Slumerican Records & helped him produce Everywhere West.
“Ain’t Nothin’ Gonna Slow Me Down” proves to be an exceptional introduction from the outlaw country Slumerican shitizen singing that absolutely nothing’s gonna stop him or get in his way whereas “Someone Else” has a country/southern rock flare asking this individual when did they become so blind to the point where they lost sight of themselves. “Crazy” featuring Yelawolf gives off a more simpler country rock vibe finding Tony & his mentor asking their romantic partners why they have to be insane & the Merle Haggard-influenced “White Label Lies” goes for an acoustic direction criticizing a liquor bottle with a white label that said ‘Truth’ on it.
The introspection gets turned up to 11 with “I’ve Lost More (Than What I’ve Got Today)” continuing the country rock influences singing about the hardships he’s faced just before “Try” goes bare acoustics passionately blaming himself for losing an ex-girlfriend of his. “Believe I’ll Be Leavin’” has a summertime atmosphere that I really enjoy talking about gettin’ done with the show & the party & going back to the hotel alone & calling your significant other way too late time after time after time & the toll it takes on an already rocky relationship, but then “Back to the Wall” hooks up crooning background vocals & guitars fighting the good fight.
“Wrong Like the Weatherman” brings the country rock influences back owning up to being wrong in the past much like an actual weatherman while the warm, catchy “See You on Broadway” written by Yelawolf’s ex-wife Fefe Dobson sings about a woman he knows who always comes around. The song “Alabaster Rose” maintains the country rock sound discussing a lil care & kindness going a long way being all he ever wanted while the title track that Waylon Jennings almost recorded pays homage to Marty Robbins. The instrumental on the closer “Won’t Say No to You” feels like some funky shit brought back from the early 1970s telling his partner he can’t say no to her.
Everywhere West is as much Martinez’s legacy as it is his father’s chronicling all phases of the incredible journey he’s been on & certainly reveals that Tony has a bright future ahead of him in the outlaw country scene joining Johnny Cash’s latest posthumous effort Songwriter, Beyoncé’s 2nd act of her ongoing trilogy Cowboy Carter or even Willie Nelson’s best late career album The Border as some of the best country I’ve heard this year as opposed to Post Malone’s latest album F-1,000,000,000,000. All 13 songs evoke emotions in listeners so they know they’re not alone in whatever they are facing in life giving us a look through his battles with NMOSD & an opioid addiction in addition to Yelawolf honing in on his sound with the production.
Score: 4/5
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