Morgan Wallen has lots to say on his third album, One Thing at a Time, and it’s almost all fermented in alcohol. If albums came with an alcohol content warning, the 36-track One Thing would easily register 180 proof. Though that’s no surprise, given the undeniable success Wallen has experienced referenced drinking in his previous two albums, when listening to One Thing in one take, the constant liquor references start to blur into each other, aided by the plethora of similar-sounding mid-tempo tracks.
One Thing at a Time has already entered the record books via its lead single, “You Proof,” which became the first 10-week No. 1 in the history of Billboard’s Country Airplay chart. With Wallen’s previous set, Dangerous: The Double Album, still sitting in the top 5 of the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart in its 111th week of release, his fans show no sign of fatigue.
“One Thing at a Time” is a beast of a record, clocking in at just under two hours with a whopping 36 songs. “One Thing at a Time” is a roller coaster of an album — much like the last three years of Wallen’s life have been. He spotlights as many personal highs as he does lows, with only a few filler tracks, and dabbles in just about every genre that has shaped his career thus far, from rock (“Last Drive Down Main”) to hip-hop (“Ain’t That Some”). However, at his core, the Tennessee native remains a country boy. He lets his honky-tonk flag fly high on “Last Night,” a finger-snapper chronicling a relationship that “ain’t over yet,” as well as “Everything I Love,” a standout earworm with a killer melody interpolating The Allman Brothers Band’s “Midnight Rider.”
Cyber Gazing 