Shaboozey – The Outlaw Cherie Lee & Other Western Tales Album Review: A Great Concept Ruined by Lazy Execution
For buying merch and Live Tickets, visit Shaboozey’s Official Website
It is hard to believe how fast Shaboozey went from that Spider-Verse hook to blowing up on Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter. 2024 was undeniably his year; you couldn’t go anywhere without hearing “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”. It didn’t just top the charts—it completely owned the summer worldwide, sitting at number one for a record-tying 19 weeks. He even backed up his country credentials earlier this year by taking home his first Grammy for “Amen”. Honestly, I was fully on board for the hits. Those high-energy, chart-topping moments were just undeniable. But lately? The deeper I dive into his catalog, the harder it is to ignore all the filler and obvious wobbles. Now, he’s dropped The Outlaw Cherie Lee & Other Western Tales—a massive 20-track concept record that swaps out barroom bangers for a stark and brooding Western revenge script. It’s an ambitious swing into heavy world-building, but does the actual music hold up? Let’s get into it.
The concept here is undeniably elite on paper. Framing a record like a full-on Western script is a cool play, but this lands straight in the “great idea, terrible execution” tier where the massive ambition completely falls apart. Because almost every track clocks in under three minutes, the songs feel totally hollow, unfinished, and rushed rather than delivering an immersive story arc. The result is a long 20-track project that ends up feeling sluggish and utterly forgettable. Frankly, I only really enjoyed about five tracks on the whole thing; the rest desperately lack the country octane of his previous hits. Even the high-profile spoken interludes from Jamie Foxx and Sam Elliott fail to stick the landing. Instead of building a continuous world, the constant narration just feels like useless filler that kills whatever momentum the record actually had going for it.
On the technical side, the production is admittedly solid, leaning into a genre-fluid mix between Nashville country and Atlanta hip-hop. It isn’t just a shallow crossover either; it tries to view the barroom and the trap house as fully compatible spaces. To get that dusty, widescreen feel, the beats rely on fingerpicked acoustic guitars, fiddles, harmonicas, and resonator guitars. But despite that high production budget, the album hits a massive technical wobble that drives me crazy.
On tracks like “High Noon,” the organic warmth of the country instruments completely clashes with the sterile, ultra-digital precision of Atlanta sub-bass and heavy trap drums. The juxtaposition just feels totally disconnected. The historical, dusty elements bring a nice harmonic richness, but then they get completely drowned out by the surgical coldness of modern 808s. That said, the album gets some solid relief from guest spots. Leon Bridges brings some needed soulful country-blues peaks, and Orville Peck helps anchor the traditional cowboy-ballad vibe near the end. The production team definitely tried to build a deep world using recurring motifs and ambient saloon noises, but at the end of the day, the musical execution just falters under its own heavy cinematic weight.
The songwriting here is decent—solid enough, but nowhere near great considering how massive this concept is supposed to be. It definitely marks a shift toward character-driven myth-making, stepping away from the boring, self-absorbed pop model that dominates streaming right now. By filtering everything through this female protagonist, Cherie Lee, Shaboozey gets the space to explore revenge, doomed love, and moral collapse without getting bogged down in typical personal confessions. Framing the album like a screenplay means every track is technically trying to serve a functional role in the story.
However, the real issue here is the actual performance itself. While the writing wants to be this widescreen Western epic, Shaboozey’s delivery is just sluggish, boring, and utterly hollow. That high-octane energy that owned the summer is completely missing, replaced by a brooding tone that frequently wobbles into a total sleepy disaster.
Whether it’s the sluggish vocal pace on tracks like “Drunk” or the constant filler-heavy narration, his performance completely lacks the charisma needed to carry this kind of lore. Frankly, it’s a serious artistic swing, but the hollow, lazy execution ultimately ruins whatever cinematic potential the album had going for it.
That hollow delivery runs throughout the tracklist, and it starts making itself known right after the title track sets the stage. The opener is actually a decent start, establishing a dusty Western overture with Jamie Foxx that almost tricks you into thinking you’re in for something truly cinematic. But then we hit “Til Sunday,” and the momentum just falls off a cliff. What a rancid country track, honestly. I do think it could have been a banger like “A Bar Song,” but Mr. Shaboozey seemed too lazy to make it that far despite leaning into that bluesy outlaw country lane.
Even when the vibes are present, they feel borrowed. “High Noon” has the atmosphere, but what is Gunna doing here? It feels like a desperate attempt to sound slappy like “Old Town Road,” but it’s not that memorable at all, resulting in an awkward Nashville and Atlanta crossover.
When we get to “Sweet Revenge,” I finally got some kind of Texas vibes in it, and lyrically Shaboozey was pretty nostalgic, which I love—though even then, I don’t think it’s a standout. Frankly, “Burn It Down” is the best track on this album. Bro put some effort here; that’s good. The song has smooth Texas vibes with a smooth vocal performance, sitting in that soulful country-blues lane with Leon Bridges. It makes “If I Was An Outlaw” feel like a complete snoozefest. Wow, that track is a perfect moment if you wanna become bored.
But if you are seeking great country vibes, don’t listen to this; try the new Kacey Musgraves album instead, or even Ella Langley is fine. That track is not an ode; it’s very hollow and dinged. Half the time it feels like he’s just chasing himself, especially on “Cowgirl.” Is this song a clone of “A Bar Song”? Probably, or perhaps I’m wrong, but it sounds way too familiar to me.
The back half is where the sluggish, anti-rhythmic vocals really start to grate on your nerves. “Drunk” is even more boring than “If I Was An Outlaw.” I don’t know why; he suddenly changed the vocal pace, and while the production is pretty good, the vocals are so sluggish and lost. Even the Kehlani feature on “Bullets & Blades” is pretty elegant, but it’s just not the country octane I’m looking for.
By the time we hit “Lone Survivor,” the great vibes are buried by incoherent and goofy songwriting. Also, the vocal performance sounds like a complete filler effort. I’d honestly rather listen to Morgan Wallen’s boring and famous album I’m The Problem than listen to a song like “Bounty On My Head.” This is just boring. The only thing that saves the final stretch is “Born To Die.” Frankly, this track got some hedonistic vibes all around. The chorus actually slaps, and it’s memorable. Perhaps this one is my favorite track from this album.
After that banger, the energy is utterly gone. No, the energy is completely shot on “Kissed By An Angel”—I know it’s minimalistic, but it’s nothing worth replaying again or nothing memorable. And I don’t know why this album has so many interludes like “The Worst of Them All”; they are just useless fillers.
“Coyotes Point” is an immediate skip for sure—not gonna lie, what a boring ballad this is. Even the Orville Peck appearance on the “Epilogue” can’t save the project. The “Epilogue” is not bad, but I can’t listen to it; that’s all I have to say. It’s just a lot of widescreen noise with very little substance to hold the tracklist together.
When you cut through the 20-track clutter, the tracklist execution proves just how undercooked this Western script really is. The opener “Title Track” sets a decent, dusty overture with Jamie Foxx, but the momentum instantly plummets with “Til Sunday”—a shockingly lazy attempt at outlaw country that squanders its banger potential. Crossover cuts like “High Noon” feature Gunna in a desperate attempt to recreate that “Old Town Road” magic, while “Cowgirl” relies on a transparent, familiar clone of “A Bar Song.”
The album only finds its footing when it slows down for genuine soul. The standout “Burn It Down” pairs smooth Texas blues with Leon Bridges for the project’s peak moment, and the late-album cut “Born To Die” delivers an undeniable, hedonistically catchy chorus. Otherwise, the back half devolves into an exhausting slog of sleep-inducing ballads (“Coyotes Point”), goofy songwriting (“Lone Survivor”), and useless interlude fillers that even an Orville Peck feature on the “Epilogue” can’t rescue.
[Rating: 4/10]
- Favorite Tracks: Sweet Revenge, Burn It Down, Born To Die
- Least Favorite Tracks: If I Was An Outlaw, Drunk, Ugly & All, Don’t Count Down, Lone Survivor, Bounty On My Head, Coyotes Point
Read My Reviews:
