Charles Esten Has “Incredible Feeling Of Contentment” With ‘Love Ain’t Pretty’ Release

Charles Esten's debut album, Love Ain't Pretty, has finally arrived, and to say he's proud of the 14-song collection would be an understatement. The actor/musician poured everything he had into his music over the last number of years.

Esten co-wrote each of the songs selected for the highly anticipated independent debut album produced by Marshall Altman. A culmination of a lifetime of growth, Love Ain't Pretty covers everything from romance to reflection and more.

"Honestly, I have this incredible feeling of contentment. This has been something that I've been thinking about for so long. I didn't just start thinking about it when I made it. I was thinking about making an album in this town since I got here. So it's over ten years," Esten said.

He continued, "The biggest feeling I can give you is contentment. Completion. I'm so proud of it. I'm so grateful for everything everybody contributed. The songwriters, the musicians, and certainly Marshall."

In recent weeks, Esten has spent time sharing a livestream series on his social media platforms leading up to the release. The 58-year-old performed his new songs acoustic and even brought his fans to the beach a few times, you can watch those videos here.

Esten admits, "The only thing I really care about now is that it finds its way into different folks' homes and headphones and hearts that people find a chance to listen to it. And hopefully, it can move them and I can make some kind of connection through these songs to them. That's what it's there for."

Charles Esten will kick off his 2024 Love Ain't Pretty Tour this spring.

Love Ain't Pretty Track List:

1. “Love Ain’t Pretty” (Charles Esten, Marshall Altman, Jimmy Yeary)
2. “A Little Right Now” (Charles Esten, Jacob Lyda, Brian Maher)
3. “One Good Move” (Charles Esten, Sam Backoff, Zarni deVette, Elise Hayes)
4. “In A Bar Somewhere” (Charles Esten, Jason Gantt, Neil Medley)
5. “I Ain’t” (Charles Esten, Brad Crisler, James LeBlanc)
6. “Another Song About You” (Charles Esten, Colin Elmore)
7. “When Love Ain’t Love” (Charles Esten, Jeffrey East)
8. “Candlelight” (Charles Esten, Kenny Alphin, Eric Paslay)
9. “Back In My Life Again” (Charles Esten, Marcus Hummon, Bryan Todd)
10. “Make You Happy” (Charles Esten, Gary Burr, Jon D’Agostino)
11. “Willing To Try” (Charles Esten, Gary Burr)
12. “Maybe I’m Alright” (Charles Esten, Leslie Satcher)
13. “Down The Road (feat. Eric Paslay)” (Charles Esten, Eric Paslay, Dylan Altman)
14. “Somewhere In The Sunshine” (Charles Esten, Jon Nite)

Lainey Wilson posted a clip of her new commercial for Wrangler now long ago. It features the country star in her Wranglers surrounded by wild horses. Of course, she's wearing her many Wrangler bell-bottom styles. At the end of the commercial clip, Lainey says, "Wrangler, long live cowgirls."

Wilson captioned the video clip on Instagram, "Turn heads and capture hearts (smiling emoji with cowboy hat). I partnered with @wrangler to show y'all some of their new Fall styles."

Many of her die-hard fans reacted to her post, including one who wrote, "Lainey Wilson do a Flicka remake." Another fan commented, "My favorite new ad or commercial! I'm loving it. Way to go, Lainey." One more fan gushed, "I absolutely LOVE the trail you are blazing for women in country music."

See that post here.

Over the decades, country stars have lent their talent to promote many items through print, TV, and radio commercials, from the 1970s, when Loretta Lynn was talking about Crisco Oil to Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson doing Taco Bell spots. It was actually Toby Keith's Ford commercial that started to get him more noticed by a wider audience. Some credit that commercial with cementing his superstar status.

Even country icon Dolly Parton teamed with her goddaughter Miley Cyrus for a 2022 Superbowl commercial for T-Mobile. Kelsea Ballerini also became a commercial girl when she announced in 2022 that she was an official "Cover Girl" for the makeup brand. Faith Hill has been in Pepsi commercials, Shania Twain has done Revlon commercials and Garth Brooks has done Dr. Pepper commercials.

The news of Wilson's commercial got us thinking: what other country stars have teamed with companies and made commercials? So we dove in and found seven commercials that some of you may recall through the years as companies turned to country music royalty to promote their brands.

The new Wrangler ad is not Lainey Wilson's first commercial for TV. She starred in a commercial earlier this year for Tractor Supply. The ad features her driving a four-wheeler, performing on stage, and sitting in her truck with her momma. She also rides a horse in the spot and even drives a tractor. In the ad, she sings the song "For Life Out Here."

About a year ago, Thomas Rhett teamed up with Fritos and did a commercial touting the famous chip brand. The company revealed that Thomas's commercial was the first new Fritos television commercial in 20 years. Rhett joined the iconic corn chip brand for its "Down For Everything" campaign. In the fun commercial, he asks a friend what his fave is like, "camper or tent" or "lab or poodle." Rhett is not the first country star to do ads for Fritos; Reba did so in the late 1990s.

Reba was one of the many actors who portrayed Colonel Sanders in fun KFC ads and commercials a few years back. In the ad, you can hear Reba's voice singing in a bar, then turning around and singing, "I'm Colonel Sanders," dressed as the chicken icon, and then throwing a hat to herself, looking like the Reba we all know in the audience. The hilarious video also features actor Don Swayze playing guitar behind her. One of the best lines in the song is, "I'm definitely not a woman." Other actors playing the Colonel in ads included Rob Lowe and comedian Jim Gaffigan.

In 2015, Miranda Lambert did a commercial for Ram Trucks. The minute-long ad features Lambert singing her hit "I Got Wings" in front of images of farm life and photo frames of herself throughout her hair. She also drives her Ram truck through a farm and plays guitar on the porch of an old farmhouse.

It's hard to find anything of Garth Brooks on YouTube because the superstar actually employs people to take down his stuff daily. However, you can see a commercial he did in the fall of 1994 for McDonald's when he teamed with the burger giant to offer CDs and cassettes of his music for fans who buy a value meal at McDonald's. In promoting the new partnership, I interviewed Garth with some fellow media outlets one afternoon, and he conveniently brought in a sack of McDonald's lunch to munch on while we talked.

And who can forget the 2021 Superbowl commercial featuring Blake Shelton, his then girlfriend Gwen Stefani, and their buddy Adam Levine? The funny ad shows Adam setting Blake and Gwen up with one another after Stefani tells him, "I'm ready to start dating again." After she describes what she wants, Adam, through a "spotty" phone service, hears it all wrong and thinks Blake fits the bill perfectly of an "uncultured country guy."