Cole Swindell, All of it – Review

by John Gaddis

Colden Rainey Swindell (Cole Swindell) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Swindell has written singles for Craig Campbell, Thomas Rhett, Scotty McCreery, and Luke Bryan, and has released three albums for Warner Bros. Records Nashville. He has released nine singles, of which seven have charted within the Top 5 of Hot Country Songs and or Country Airplay.  He grew up in Bronwood, Georgia, where he cuts his teeth on country music.   Swindell attended Terrell Academy in Dawson, Georgia and furthered his studies at Georgia Southern University, where he majored in marketing. He met Luke Bryan, who attended the same university some years earlier and was also a fellow Sigma Chi member, at the fraternity house when Bryan came back to Statesboro to do a show. They kept in touch, and after Swindell left college in 2007 and moved to Nashville, he sold merchandise for Bryan for three years, and wrote songs on the road.

The new album, All of It, released on August 17, 2018 is a wide-open country album, filled with great writing and superb production and performances.  Swindell co-wrote five of the 12 songs.

“Love You Too Late,” is a tune we can all relate to, letting the “one” go, by not saying the 3 little words that would have made the difference.  Cole sounds great, just the right amount of twang and conviction in his singing to hit the spot, and enough hook in the tune to keep you singing the lyric well-beyond the play.

“Break Up In the End,” offers the listener an acoustic listen and good old fashioned values of love and heart. Cole’s voice deepens as he digs into the marrow of the lyrics and self-examines a love lost but not forgotten.  All of it, has a definite theme of relationships and the intricacies of living it.  Cole has captured that spirit with poignant every day live experiences and a true reading of it.  This is the reason the album is so infectious is you can hear the honesty in the performances and tunes.   This is highlighted in its highest form on “Dad’s Old Number,” a tearjerker tune that anyone who has lost a parent can relate to.  That moment when you need to hear their voice the most and you are reminded how much you miss them.  If you don’t cry after this tune, you might want to check your humanity.

All of It, is a revealing look at this rising star.  Swindell has allowed his listeners to get inside the heart and mind of this country man.  Reflecting his loss, love and honest Southern values is what makes this album so compelling, it’s the red clay foundation of great country tunes, and Swindell has hit the mark on this one.