This was the first decent single Luke Bryan had released since his breakthrough hit “Do I”. Since then, he has been known mostly for either dull, near-identical midtempo ballads or idiotic, posturing Pop-Country party songs. The reason for this song’s unusually high quality is obvious when one looks as its writing credits today, but of course in 2013 no-one had any idea who Chris Stapleton was yet. Yes, the current Messiah of Neotraditional Country was responsible for penning this song, which makes this sort of a pattern for Bryan, since “Do I” was penned by the members of Lady Antebellum. But regardless of who really deserves the credit for this song, about the one thing country music still did as well as it had ever done circa 2013 is dirges for the wartime dead, and this one was the most touching to make the Country charts since Lee Brice’s CMA-winning “I Drive Your Truck”.
Verdict: Good.