This Ear Worm Of A Song Comes From Maverick, A Lovingly Curated Compilation Album Featuring Tons Of Up-And-Coming DFW Talent.

Welcome to Song of the Day, where we hip you to all the new local releases you should be caring about. By highlighting one new North Texas-sprung tune every week day, our hope is that you’ll find something new to love about the rich and abundant DFW music scene five days a week.

Drugstore Cowboy — “Sour Patch Kids”
RIYL: variety, the spice of life.
What else you need to know: This should really be 12 Songs of The Day, as today’s track comes from a compilation album that contains an array of guest appearances from the world of DFW music. But alas, it has to be one song, so here’s the one that’s all Drugstore Cowboy, the duo that put this album together.

In a Spotify playlist world, it’s easy to forget the days of compilation albums. The accessibility of streaming platforms means the ability to curate of a collection of songs lighting fast (and maybe give some the false idea that they can DJ), but there is something to be said about the care and time it takes to source talent in order to build up a compilation album. Drugstore Cowboy, a pop-rock duo we’ve written about a couple years ago, put that good work in to appreciate and highlight the talent that can be found in and around Dallas. Hey, we know a thing or two about that.

Maverick features 12 local up-and-coming artists across varying genres, like The Bogart Brothers, Loren Kole, help and TwoTwntyToo, to name just a few. R&B, rap, alternative, pop and country are all represented here, making for an LP that has the power to please anyone.

The duo aimed to create a collaborative project that “shines a small light on the individuality and the promising future of DFW,” and they did just that.

It was a difficult feat to try to pick one of the featured artists to highlight, so we had to go with the ones that made it all happen. “Sour Patch Kids” is the only track on the album with no guest artist, so make sure you give the rest of the tracklist a listen to get the full, well-rounded experience.

“Sour Patch Kids” is built to be a radio hit. It’s catchy, mood-boosting and easy. It almost seems like it was formulated to appeal to a wide audience — and we mean that as a compliment. We’re not saying it’s generic-sounding, but rather it’s extremely well-produced and has a firm grasp on what makes a pop song a good pop song. It takes you back to a good high school party, or driving fast down the highway on a warm summer night with friends.

Pop gets a bad rap, and we can understand why, some of it can be pretty soul-less. But it’s clear a lot of creativity and passion went into this. If that’s not evident to you by this fun and free song, it must be evident by the labor of love that is Maverick.

Cover photo by Matthew Yarnell.

No more articles