Steven Tyler’s New Country Song ‘Love Is Your Name’ Co-written by Lindsey Lee

Steven Tyler is the frontman of one of the best-selling rock & roll bands in American history, so his foray into country music — a move that’s been promised for months and finally came to fruition when he performed his debut country single “Love Is Your Name” tonight on American Idol — has put more than a few Aerosmith fans on edge. Their caution is understandable. What, exactly, is Tyler going to sound like without the boogie-woogie bombast of his longtime band? Is he going to fall down the bro-country rabbit hole? Will the dude look like a Lady. . . Antebellum?   Luckily, “Love Is Your Name” turns out to be really good. Tyler didn’t write the song — that credit goes to Eric Paslay, who co-wrote Will Hoge’s “Even If It Breaks Your Heart” and Love and Theft’s “Angel Eyes” before kickstarting his own solo career, and Lindsey Lee, a former backup singer for Miley Cyrus who currently writes for the Nashville-based publishing house Round Hill Music. But Tyler rips into it like one of his own. While fiddle, lap steel, acoustic guitar and a drum loop kick up some quiet dust in the background, the singer dives into the song’s first verse sounding like. . . well, like Steven Tyler, his voice powerful, raw and blissfully free of the Auto-Tune that’s become so prevalent in Nashville.

Once the chorus hits, “Love Is Your Name” builds itself into something towering and anthemic, driven forward by a melody that’s more appropriate for the arena than the honky-tonk. The rest of the song barrels forward with a similar push-and-pull dynamic, the down-home verses giving way to sweeping, swooning refrains.

The best part? The solo, which starts off as a fiddle hook, then gives way to an electric guitar riff, then climaxes with a vocal run from Tyler. It’s a left-field arrangement that hasn’t been heard on country radio in years — the “bow-ba-bow” vocals from Eric Church’s “Creepin'” don’t even come close to this countrified song and dance — and the whole thing is done within three and a half minutes, long before the song’s hooks have overstayed their welcome. F.I.N.E. indeed.

Hear Steven Tyler’s New Country Song ‘Love Is Your Name’

Hear Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler sing the first song from his solo country album, “Love Is Your Name.”