Single Premiere: Cole Diamond, “Golden Rule”
Take a listen to the Minnesota country artist’s new single, a classic honky-tonk shuffle and the second of six tracks he’s releasing over the next few months!
Cold Diamond’s “Golden Rule” single artwork, 2022.
One of the core tenets of classic country music is that sad songs don’t need to have a slow tempo. “Moanin’ the Blues” by Hank Williams Sr. is a desperate lament about an absent lover, but it’s also one of the most fun and listenable songs of all time (in this writer’s humble opinion). That’s just one of countless illustrations that with country music, you can be in your feels and still out on the dance floor.
If Hank Sr. is my north star of country music, Twin Cities artist Cole Diamond would likely say his is Alan Jackson, whose music in the 1990s helped re-establish the honky-tonk side of country, preserving a core of traditional sound while revitalizing it with modern touches.
Diamond—who already has an EP and a double-single under his belt and is now releasing a slew of new songs—appeared on the Twin Cities scene in 2018. His biggest influence would be evident in his sound even if he didn’t occasionally do entire Jackson tribute shows under the name Tropical Depression. His music carries on Jackson’s style, which now sounds thoroughly throwback and steadfastly country in light of the current Nashville pop era.
Alan Jackson (unlike Hank) tends to keep his uptempo songs happy and his sad songs slow. Diamond’s sound may hew close to Jackson’s, but he also honors the Williams tradition of making party songs about pain and regret. His new single, “Golden Rule” (which officially drops Friday, June 3) is a danceable number that seems like it’s about to tear into a cheating lover from the opening lines: “Woke up this morning and wondered why / You’re layin’ next to some other guy / I thought I had you figured out but I was a fool.”
But it soon flips that expectation on its head as the jilted lover owns his part in the failure of their relationship: “After all the things I have put you through / I should’ve tried that Golden Rule.” It ends on a note of resigned acceptance: “We’re no angels and never claimed to be / And I think we’re better off apart living as two.”
Cole Diamond. Photo Credit: Theresa Otte.
Despite its less-than-happy lyrics, the song bounces along buoyantly thanks to standout instrumentation from some of the best journeymen country musicians in the Cities, including shimmering pedal steel from Josh Braun and AJ Srubas expertly wielding his fiddle both as a percussive instrument and in a killer solo. Rounded out by Dan Lowinger’s lead guitar, Diamond’s rhythm guitar, Sean Hoffman on bass and Andrew Bartelson at the drums, “Golden Rule” has a satisfyingly layered sound with plenty of interplay between the instruments.
This is the second of six new singles Diamond plans to release monthly, so keep an eye out the beginning of July, August, September and October for more to come! Meanwhile, here’s a first listen to “Golden Rule,” which will be available for purchase and streaming tomorrow (June 3)!
Song Credits
Self Produced
Recorded at Pearl Recording Studio
Engineered and Mixed by Zach Hollander
Mastered by Jacques Wait
Cole Diamond: Vocals, Rhythm Guitar
Dan Lowinger: Lead Guitar
Josh Braun: Pedal Steel
Sean Hoffman: Bass
AJ Srubas: Fiddle
Andrew Bartelson: Drums
Carol Roth. Photo credit: Dan Lee.
Carol Roth is a full-time marketing copywriter and the primary music journalist and social media publicist for Adventures in Americana. In addition to studying the guitar and songwriting, Carol’s additional creative side hustle is writing self-proclaimed “trashy” novels under the pseudonym T.A. Berkeley!
