Kyle Park – “All Night”

Kyle Park is a promising young singer and guitarist with a burgeoning following across Red Dirt country. He fills bars and festivals throughout Texas with his easy-going tunes, prodigious six-string skills and his Gary Allan minus the rasp vocals.

“All Night” is another laid-back number, a mid-tempo track reminiscent of Tim McGraw’s “Just to See You Smile” in instrumentation and feel. The simple arrangement—mostly acoustic guitars, drums and bass—is refreshing and Park’s delivery is crisp, gentle and honest.

Beyond that, there’s not much to hang your hat on here.

The story of a recently dumped dude whose friends are taking him out for a night of forgetting his ex might not seem so “been there/done that” if it weren’t for the unremarkable lyrics. The chorus begins: “Even if it takes me all night/I’m gonna be alright,” and it gets no less-straightforward from there.

When it comes to hook melodies, there’s a fine line between subtle and unmemorable; “All Night” falls into the latter category. It’s likable enough, but there aren’t many people who’d claim a peanut butter and jelly sandwich as their favorite food.

Granted, every song doesn’t have to be a Ruth’s Chris steak, but “All Night” just isn’t strong enough to stand on its own as a single. Sure, it would make a decent filler cut, but as a selling point for an album (Park’s Fall 2010 EP, in this case), it’s just not enough of a showcase for what he has to offer.

Kyle Park has a lot of good years yet to come and fine songs left to write, play and sing; this just isn’t one of them.