Country? Wtf?

Yup, my next cover is a country song. If you know me well, you know I'm not too fond of country music overall. Well then, why did I choose to cover "I Won't Let Go" by Rascal Flatts? If you're curious, continue reading. If you want to just watch the video, skip to the bottom of this post. If you care about neither the backstory nor the video, then why the hell are you reading this in the first place?

Anyway I am in an a cappella group called the New Dominions. These people sing. And make drum sounds with their mouths. And tell very weird jokes. And are very odd people in general.

Which is why I love them.

That, and one of the songs we're performing this semester is this very song. Since I was going to be forced to take part in this one way or another, I figured I'd listen to the song ahead of time just to see what it's like. And you know what? It's pretty damn good!

When I think of country, I think of bluegrass "Weeeel ah waz born een Texas in mah daddeh's pick up truuuuuuuuck...." Nah, this song's more of a ballad. You could easily replace the lead singer with Luther Vandross or Brian McKnight and pass it off as a 90's R&B hit.

Anyway, I and every other guy in the New Dos auditioned for the solo for this song. Alas, I did not get it likely due to any or all of the following reasons:

1. The song is very high and out of my range.
2. There are plenty of better singers in the group
3. My voice has a bit of a raspy quality to it, not ideally suited for power ballads or anything like them.

So since I love this song so much, I resorted to my default option for any song that gets stuck in my head: make a YouTube cover. Doing my own version would also alleviate the problems that plagued me during my audition:

1. I can now lower the key and sing it in a more comfortable range.
2. I don't have to compete with other singers.
3. Yes, my voice is still raspy. F%$# it; it's my channel and I'll sing a country ballad if I want to!

Anyway, enjoy: