Danny Gokey – “It’s Only” – Single Premiere

By On 11/06/2009 · 191 Comments · In American Idol, Danny Gokey

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Danny Gokey premiered his new song, “It’s Only” on the Milwaukee country station, FM106.1 this mornning. Written by Dave and Charles from Lady Antebellum and produced by Carrie Underwood producer, Mark Bright, the song is sentimental, inspirational and full of emotion.

In other word’s, it’s right in Danny’s wheelhouse.

One thing I noted during the summer tour, is how intensely Danny connected to his audience. The crowd loved the little inspirational speech he gave before Rascal Flatt’s “My Wish”, totally soaking up the message of the song. If Danny can downplay his newbie status, and stick to his strengths, he’s got shot at country.

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Interview (sorry, my internet transmission cut out for a few seconds…)

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“It’s Only” will be released for digital download on December 14. The album comes out March 2010.

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  • aek

    And singing a song by highly respected Country Music writers Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood of Lady Antebellum is a huge honor for a new artist. ‘It’s Only’  works because Danny stayed trued to who is as an artist. This is the kind of music he enjoys doing. ‘My Wish’  was a huge crowd pleasure on the tour

    I, too, think it’s an honor that he is singing a song by such highly respected country music writers. Also, it’s impressive that he is able to work with such a highly respected producer in Mark Bright. Danny actually knew what he wanted from early on. He was saying that he had met Mark Bright and discussed what he wanted to do with his music back in June. It seems like everything is coming together nicely for him.

    I enjoyed the song. I don’t really listen to country music and being that I’m agnostic, I don’t listen to Christian music either. But the references in this song don’t bother me at all. I respect other people’s beliefs and I find the message of the song to be a universal message of compassion.

    Danny is singing a type of music that he loves. It has the message that he believes in.

    As far as the negativity, it’s the same people every time…so I pretty much expect it at this point.

    There have been a few idols along the way that I didn’t like, and their personalities rubbed me the wrong way. I just never open threads about them or read/listen to their words or works. It’s actually pretty easy.

  • steph6449

    I’m very interested to learn more about who else Danny has been working with. The fact that his single was written by the two guys from Lady Antebellum didn’t leak out at all, they’ve really kept a lid on any details about song selection and other specifics about who he’s collaborating with.

    This seems to be a very intentional strategy. Even with Danny’s single coming out yesterday morning, it wasn’t until pretty late in the day that Danny himself said anything. It was just the Milwaukee country radio station putting out some news the night before, which some weren’t even sure was true as that was the only source. From there, it was strictly a viral process of word making the rounds on twitter and sites like this.

    The Country Music Awards are next week in Nashville, with a lot of country media types coming into town. I’ve seen at least one trying to arrange an interview with Danny for one of their on-air shows that debuts new music. Perhaps some wily interviewers can pry some more information out of him or Mark Bright than we’ve seen before (which is almost none).

  • FolkFan

    My guess is that this will do well. While it is not the flavor of country that I tend to like, certainly Rascal Flatts does very well, and to me, Danny has a better voice than the lead singer of Rascal Flatts.

  • monte

    I was very surprised that the details of his new single were kept under wraps and thrilled that Charles Kelley and Dave Heywood wrote the song. I love Lady Antebellum. I have both their songs “I Run to You” and “Need You Now” on rotation on my Ipod. I did not excpect Danny to be working with such heavy hitters, they are grammy winners. Makes me very excited for his album and to hear who else he has been working with. You can tell that RCA Nashville is treating him much much differently than Kristy Cook. They just rushed everything out trying to make a buck. They are rolling Danny out slowly by introducing his single to fans and radio and not official releasing it until later.y

  • smartalek

    “The song has a beautiful message ‘“ nothing religious about it all ‘“ It’s Only love.”

    Yeah nothing religious aside from the line, “it’s only Jesus.” But it’s country so what can you expect. On my second listen, I was hearing a Carrie Underwood tune with a Danny vocal. I’m personally just not crazy about country I guess.

    Also I would have to disagree with the poster about Danny’s studio voice being better than Adam’s. Danny just took a less processed approach than Adam did for FYE. However, both did studio vocals that fit their respective singles well IMO.

  • http://twitter.com/cara_lee pj

    So the song sucks and the singing sucks? I dunno, I didn’t think
    so. I think it is pretty impressive, the dude can definitely sing. Yes, I will be buying this

    Well, it’s all opinion and taste. Song isn’t to my taste. I’m also not impressed with his vocals. I don’t wish Danny ill will or anything. I’ve tried to like him. Honest.

  • PJG

    When it comes down to it in the end; it doesn’t matter I guess what any of us say. Their success will depend on whether the non AI crowd will like and buy their music.
    I know I’ll be buying Danny’s album, Kris’s album, we’ll see about Adam and Allison.

  • JosieX

    pj, it’s nice that you tried to like him. Not everyone is going to like every song, that is understandable. You mentioned that you only listened to about the first third or so of it, if you want to have a better assessment of the vocals notwithstanding the song, listen to the version on his myspace (posted upthread). I like the latter half of the song the best as it becomes more emotional/intense, that sounds very distinctively Danny. Not everyone will, but I really love the way that his voice sounds. There’s a video of a religious song that he did at a conference recently that I’ve listened to over and over, just because I love the way his voice sounds on it.

    I like this better each time I listen to it. I feel good about its prospects. I know that the country songs that Danny did on tour were extremely popular, and I think that this one seems to be very current and very well done.

  • steph6449

    I like the latter half of the song the best as it becomes more emotional/intense, that sounds very distinctively Danny

    .

    This is an interesting song, it definitely builds as it goes, but has a lot of heights and softer sections that don’t follow a purely linear progression. I like it. It lets Danny use a lot of different textures and levels in his singing, from the softer parts that one reviewer I read called “tender”, to the raspier edges, to the occasional full growl, some all-out power moments, and a lot of range vocally including the falsetto.

    It’s very striking to hear all that in a country song. It’s quite unlike most male country singers these days, and most of the women for that matter. I can see why the one reviewer made a point of saying that there is room for a “vocalist” in country who can do what Danny does vocally in delivering these country songs.

    This might be a challenging song to sing live, but I could well imagine Danny lighting it up when he’s at his best in live performance. I can also envision him getting the audience into sections of it, as he’s done over and over again on videos I’ve seen, or when I saw the AI tour. (Saw the same thing that mj commented on in her intro article above for Danny’s single.)

  • monte

    The more I listen to “It’s Only” the more I love it. I am really excited for Dany’s album now. I did not expect Danny’s debut single to be this good. I’m also looking forward to hearing him sing it live. Do we have any dates yet on upcoming performances? I remember hearing something about North Carolina and also a radio tour.

  • sylvanaire

    Idk, I think he lost me at “la da da da da”, and again with the over production, I can barely make out his voice. It’s “pretty” I guess, but not what I would expect from a male singer, and there’s no hook to speak of. I don’t think Kris or Adam will have to look over their shoulder for him, lol.

  • canuck

    Yup, Kris or Adam don’t have to worry for sure about Danny because they have a completely different audience(hopefully).

    Danny really suits country. It is also a great market for him to be in.

  • lifeisgood

    Didn’t like the song that much but I like Danny’s voice.

  • Kliggie

    Hey Danny I really liked it

  • useless

    Never liked Gokey himself, but it is a pretty song. Bland, but pretty. I won’t be downloading it anytime soon.

  • thisisourturn

    “It’s Only” is tailor made for the kind of music Danny has always represented himself with as a performer. It is also the kind of song that is tailor made for Country pop fans – in the mode of Rascal Flatts. And it has the whole distinctive Mark Bright and Lady Antebellum production all over it. This is not the type of song that will likely be a huge hit in the mainstream, teeny bopper, hip hop, MTV rock crowd. But that was never the intent. Just like I doubt any of the releases by Adam or Kris will be hits on the Country charts. Country music has always had its own unique culture. And a lot of country music is faith based – it’s roots from the church and gospel music – which is Danny’s background.

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