Try a Little Kindness

"Try a Little Kindness" carries the relaxed moral authority of a man who genuinely believes what he's singing. The arrangement is warm and full without being busy — acoustic guitar at the center, gentle percussion, strings that arrive like a hand on a shoulder rather than a dramatic flourish. Campbell's voice is clear and unhurried, projecting the kind of uncomplicated conviction that most preachers spend their whole careers trying to achieve. The song belongs to a particular late-60s optimism, a moment when country radio could still accommodate a straightforwardly compassionate message without irony. It doesn't traffic in complexity: the idea is simply that human beings owe each other gentleness, and that acting on this costs very little. What keeps it from being saccharine is Campbell's delivery — he sounds like he's reminding you of something you already know rather than lecturing you about something you've failed to do. The production stays out of the way, which was the right call. This is Sunday-morning music in the broadest sense — not necessarily religious, but having the quality of a quiet, honest moment before the week begins. Someone reaching for it might be recovering from a week of difficult interactions, or they might simply be in the mood for something that doesn't ask anything complicated of them.