Devin Dawson earned the most added single to country radio last week with his latest release, ‘Asking For A Friend.’ The song will be familiar to fans of the country newcomer, since it is included on his debut album, ‘Dark Horse,‘ and was part of the setlist at Dawson’s recent New England performances. The vulnerable single does not fall short of what we expect from the ‘All On Me’ hit maker. With a made for radio upbeat chorus and lyrics that uniquely tell a familiar story line, ‘Asking For A Friend’ produces a song with room for the audience to make it their own.
Songwriters, Brett Beavers, Connie Harrington, and Devin Dawson, perfectly crafted this song. A twist on the classic story line of a boy vying for his dream girl after previously messing things up, Dawson approaches her, but is only “asking for a friend.” Like many country hits, the song’s chorus picks up speed and grabs the listener’s attention; What do you say? It’s Friday night and you’re beautiful, so beautiful, What man wouldn’t think you were the love of his life? He’d be a fool, he’d be a fool. The hook picks up the song’s mid-tempo speed, giving it some energy, and perfectly balances the coffee house vibe produced by remainder of the tune. These lyrics alone disguise the true message of the song with their carefree tone and loving message, but the next lines complicate things by mentioning that he is just asking for a friend.
It doesn’t take much reading between the lines to infer that Dawson probably isn’t just asking for a friend. Devin sings, He ain’t ever been any good at laying it all out on the line, possibly as an excuse of why he insists on keeping his guard up while still attempting to expose his true feelings. Throughout the song, Dawson poses several unanswered questions while revealing his true motive; Let’s say this friend of mine went and messed up real bad, And he’d do anything in this world, girl, to get you back, Hey what kind of sorry would it take for a man to erase his worst mistake, And would this even begin to make a dent? Devin further confirms our suspicions with, Yeah, what if I told you he hadn’t slept in weeks? And he was standing right here in front of you instead of me, Is there any way you could ever love him again?
A sense of urgency is created from the beginning of the tune with, Let’s say that someone wanted to dance, Would he have any snowball in hell of a chance, To get you out on the floor before this slow song ends? Any listener is also hoping for a resolution by the end of the song, but we never get an answer as to how this pleading turns out. ‘Asking For A Friend’ leaves us to ponder what could have happened and how we would react in a similar situation. This is only complemented by the use of direct questions. It is extremely intuitive to relate this track to past experiences while it prompts us to create our own answers. This makes for great songwriting and creates the personal connections we feel with music that strikes us.
If you missed his recent shows on The Long Way Tour with Brett Eldredge, Devin will be accompanying Brett on the Fall leg of the same tour with two New England Dates. On October 11th they will perform at the Ryan Center and on October 13th at the SNHU Arena. Tickets go on sale for these dates Friday May 11th.
Favorite Lyrics: If you can find it in your heart just to cut him some slack, He’ll be Johnny-on-the-spot here in two seconds flat, Yeah, he’s holding his breath, come on give him a second with you.
You can connect with Dawson on his Website, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter and listen to ‘Asking For A Friend’ on Apple Music.