If you like country music and political commentary on where our country has been — and where it’s going — you should probably check out Brian Lambert’s new music video for “Don’t Ask Me.” Lambert’s video displays footage from the Great Depression era and incorporates lyrics that comment on today’s economic woes. The overall feeling of the video could be described as the love child of Bob Dylan and Ryan Adams. 

The video opens with audio from Herbert Morrison, a 1930s radio journalist, describing the infamous Hindenburg disaster. As the sound clip plays, the viewer is met with black and white footage of the zeppelin bursting into flames. Text appears, introducing the song in a simplistic way that counteracts the old footage’s dramatic appeal. It appears that Lambert is reflecting on how humanity has a long-standing tradition of sensationalizing disasters as they happen.  

The song comments on how our country's status never seems to change throughout the decades — we all put our economic hopes into the next big idea. The lyrics are scrolled throughout the video in a style reminiscent of karaoke, teasing the viewer to sing along to the song-and-dance we all know so well. 

Lambert is smart to mix images from years past with lyrics about today’s issues. Images of a newspaper detailing the 1929 crash are matched with Lambert’s lyrics: “Things hit bottom in March of ’09 / People were pointing fingers instead of catching crime.” In another part of the video, the viewer is met with images of brutality enacted upon Civil Rights protesters of the 60s and photographs of women protesting during the Women's Suffrage movement. The juxtaposition of the visual and the aural gives the viewer an understanding that history continues to repeat itself as our nation makes the same mistakes. 

Lambert remarks on America’s tendency to turn a blind eye in the song's clever chorus: “So don’t ask me where I’m goin’ / Cuz I ain’t been there, so I don’t know.” It’s refreshing to see Lambert use irony in the middle of a country melody that is pure to the genre itself. Check out more of Brian Lambert’s music at his website and YouTube Channel below. 

Header image design by Brittany Keeton