Local musician Nick Carver has spent his career in all aspects of music, from education to business as well as fronting his current project, The Nick Carver Band, an acclaimed cover band that plays private functions throughout the Southeast. With his solo debut, Let Love, Let Live & Let Go, Carver steps into the spotlight as a singer/songwriter with positive results.
The album is pretty evenly split between upbeat country tracks and tender ballads, with the upbeat songs being the highlights of the release. “Drinkin Thinkin’” is a simple, catchy bar ballad with a touch of boogie-woogie piano and fiddle. “Out in the Country” is a straightforward country-rocker and tribute to down-home life that nods to being raised on “the good book” and having a “backwoods boy composure.” “Daydreamin’” kicks off the album with calypso-inspired xylophones, giving the track a vibe akin to Kenny Chesney’s beach-country songs such as “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems.”
Two more album highlights, “Southern Kind of Night” and “Little Piece of America,” fit comfortably alongside these aforementioned tracks as heartfelt, up-tempo ballads. The latter of the two features lyrics reminiscent of the small-town-America themes found throughout John Mellencamp’s catalog.
As for the ballads, there isn’t a bad track among them; however, they may fail to jump out at the listener. This brings up the main flaw of Let Love, Let Live & Let Go; while there are great songs here, Carver doesn’t always give them the delivery they’re worthy of. The material is strong, but at times he doesn’t sound 100 percent comfortable as the messenger. Regardless, the album is an enjoyable listen, and I’d be curious if live renditions of the songs would give the extra push they need in order to stick with the listener.
Carver—along with bandmate Rheal Jannelle, who shares writing credits on three tracks—does show strong songwriting, delivering an album with songs that could easily be cut on Music Row by some of country music’s best.
