Also Danny said himself he wanted to take the twang out of country music. Well that didnt work Danny.

Danny has never said he wanted to take the twang out of country music. He’s made only respectful comments about country artists, twangy or otherwise. What he did say is that he himself has no twang and didn’t envision getting any. As he was going through his process to work out his record deal, that was clearly a point where he wanted reassurance that his twang-less style wouldn’t be an obstacle.

After hearing his song, doesn’t appear to me that it will be. I didn’t hear any pseudo twang in Danny’s song, at all. I did hear a fairly subtle country styling in the delivery, but more in the timing and phrasing to give it just a bit of country-ish swing. Similar really to what I felt Danny developed this summer as he performed the two country songs on his AI tour set.

As a country music fan (among other genres), when I first heard them, I didn’t get much country feel out of Danny singing those two songs although I enjoyed them anyway because I enjoy Danny’s distinctive vocal qualities and emotionally connected singing style. Toward the late stages of the tour though, I did start to pick up a hint of country vibe in Danny’s singing, and in the way he performed to the audience.

Hard to describe exactly what it was, but definitely felt there was a subtle difference he’d developed over time that was working for him. Part of it may simply be that he generally got more comfortable and relaxed deeper into the tour. I think this song uses Danny’s vocal strengths very well. I can really envision him knocking it out of the park in a live performance.

Posted this in the other thread also, but since there are two running in parallel… Danny’s single got great comments from the well-respected country music blogger Matt Bjorke. Good for Danny, and for Mark Bright’s role in giving Danny a country-oriented production that (finally, for the set of AI8 singles to date) isn’t ott heavy-handed, and lets Danny sound like Danny.

When Danny signed his deal he said that he loved the fact that he could sing mainstream songs which had messages and didn’t hide his faith, something he does with ‘It’s Only.’  With a voice that recalls Larry Stewart of Restless Heart at times and Lionel Richie in others, Gokey sings a message song that proclaims that love can and is all around us from various places, including Jesus and church. This is a song that recalls ‘Jesus Takes The Wheel,’  in that it melds a message of faith and love and giving one’s self up to a higher power in a time of need. The production from Mark Bright is crisp and never over the top. You can hear the acoustic mandolin and fiddle in the background while Gokey singls the message-filled lyric in a soft, tender and tuneful way.

…it’s hard to argue with the first results of his new deal with 19/RCA Nashville. ‘It’s Only’  is a smartly produced song that proves that Danny Gokey can sing and the vocalist does have a place in country music’ ¦ this one is a perfect winter/spring single and a good lead-off track for a new artist to release to radio.

I did also ran across comments by at least one Christian/’family friendly’ radio station personality who loved it and said that it should have no trouble crossing over into her market.