Ronnie Dunn, "Bleed Red"

Ronnie Dunn has one heck of a good singing voice. That much is made obvious by one listen to any of those platinum selling Brooks & Dunn records. Ronnie’s first post-Brooks & Dunn single finds him still in fine voice. “Bleed Red” is a pop-infused power ballad that calls for world peace and reconcilation of makind. It makes its point through emphasis of the fact that all men share the same inherent weaknesses and struggles. It’s a strong sentimet, and it’s definitely a timely one. Ronnie’s stellar vocal radiates his conviction in the song’s message. The song also has a hook that adequately sums up its point: “We all bleed red, all taste rain, all fall down…”
 The sentiment, however, is weighed down by a dull and repititive melody that sounds like the same few notes played over and over and over again. While the chorus isn’t bad, the verses never rise above the typical generality of such heavy power ballads as this. Then before long, along comes an all-too-predictable development. Three… two… one… BAM. Cue overdramatic string-laden finish.

Ronnie’s predictably strong vocal performance anchors the song enough to keep it from being a total wash, but the sum of its part still ends up a disappointment. The song’s notable strong point is ultimately nullified by the weaknesses that weigh against it. Thus we are left with a strong performance of a song that just doesn’t pull enough weight to make it a keeper. The concept could have made for a very good song, but the end product is a song that gets very old very fast.

RONNIE'S SCORE:  5
(Scores are given on a scale of 1 to 10)

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