Singer songwriter Radney Foster first teamed up with fellow writer Bill Lloyd in 1986, with the duo’s debut album being released on RCA the following year. Epitomising the diversity of late 80s country radio, Texas-born Foster’s country roots mixed with Lloyd’s pop/rock influences. Foster’s distinctive hard-edged voice generally takes the lead with Lloyd adding Beatles-esque harmonies and playing various guitars and mandolin. The duo produced, and wrote all the material, most frequently together, with a handful of solo compositions tossed in.
The cheerful rockabillyish debut single ‘Crazy Over You’, which had also just been covered by another new act, Ricky Van Shelton, got the new duo off to a great start, peaking at #4 on Billboard. The melodic mid tempo ‘Sure Thing’ also did pretty well, and was their second top 10 hit, and it is pleasant listening but a bit repetitive lyrically.
The third single, ‘Texas In 1880’ (written by Radney alone) hit the roadblocks, and stalled out in the lower reaches of the top 20. It was an interesting song which deserved to do better, giving voice to a contemporary rodeo competitor who draws inspiration from his image of the “wild and free” cowboys of a past era. John Cowan of New Grass Revival sang a guest high harmony.
My favorite song on the album, the excellent ‘What Do You Want From Me This Time?’ (featuring Vince Gill on guitar) took them back to the top 10. It is extremely catchy but withou sacrificing emotional depth. The protagonist tells his ex she is out of luck in her bid to reheat a relationship which is all over as far as he’s concerned:
What do you want from me this time?
What do you think you’re gonna find?
I’m not trying to be unkind
But what do you want from me this time?
You say things have changed but that’s pretending
Baby, love don’t always have a happy ending
Another fine song, ‘Don’t Go Out With Him’, omitted from the LP/cassette version, was to be a hit single for Tanya Tucker and T Graham Brown in 1990 with slightly re-worked lyrics. The original works very well as a picture of unrequited affection. ‘You Can Come Cryin’ To Me’(written by Radney Foster alone) feels like a sequel to this song, as that relationship has ended in literal tears and he offers a shoulder to cry on. It is a very good song and would have fitted in well on his solo album.
‘Hard To Say No’ is a fast-paced almost punkish rocker about finding it hard to resist sexual temptation which explains why Radney Foster once described the duo as a country garage band. It’s not the kind of thing I usually like but it is surprisingly entertaining and probably went down well live. Opener ‘Turn Around’ is pleasant and potentially radio-friendly but disposable mid-tempo country rock addressed to a woman leaving. ‘The Part I Know By Heart’ is not very interesting, while Bill Lloyd’s ‘Token Of Love’ is plain boring.
This debut appeared to herald a bright future for the duo, but their flame was to burn out even more quickly than it did for the Sweethearts of the Rodeo and the O’Kanes. They were to enjoy only one more top 10 single, 1988’s Guy Clark co-write ‘Fair Shake’, the leadoff for their sophomore album Faster & Llouder. The dup disbanded in 1990 after releasing a total of three albums, partly to allow Radney Foster to embark on a solo career. His album Del Rio TX, 1959 was a modern classic and met with much deserved commercial and critical success. His solo career also later faltered, but he has continued to release critically acclaimed music often some way off the mainstream, and he plans to record a live version of the songs on Del Rio TX, 1959 this year.
If you want to investigate the duo’s music, I would recommend either this album or the compilation The Essential Foster & Lloyd, which includes the best seven tracks from this release.
In the ongoing battle for group supremacy in country music, Zac Brown Band should win every battle. I love their tendency to stick to a more traditional sound and sing songs that aren’t riddled with clichés. They’re a much-needed breath of fresh air to offset the watered down sound of Lady Antebellum and the pretty boy flare of Rascal Flatts. Plus, as entertainers and musicians, there is hardly a better mainstream country act around.
But as more and more singles keep getting released and hitting #1 (“Keep Me In Mind” marked their seventh consecutive trip to the top and eighth overall), I’ve noticed the freshness of their sound has settled somewhere around routine. When you’ve set the bar as high as they have, it’s difficult to continue to show growth when you’re just consistently great.
But like any great act, there’s bound to be some missteps along the way. For the fifth single from the band’s latest album You Get What You Give, “No Hurry” is a bit of a let down. For all the outstanding album cuts (I’m looking at you “Let It Go” and “Martin”) on the project, I’m baffled this one will have its day at radio in place of some truly excellent songs.
Co-written by Zac Brown with James Otto and Wyatt Durrette, “No Hurry” is basically a laundry list of items the protagonist needs to accomplish but isn’t in a rush to complete:
You know my old car needs washing
And the front yard needs a trim
And the telephone keeps ringing
And the bossman knows I know its him
And the bills ain’t gonna pay themselves
No matter anyway
Cause I ain’t in no hurry today
Here’s the problem – these aren’t a particularly attention grabbing list of items to sing about. List songs are the hardest to sell because if they’re not exciting, there ceases to be a point. And “No Hurry” fits into that category. If the opening lyrics cannot hold the attention of the listener, and these don’t hold mine, than you know something is wrong.
As the song progresses, the lyrics take a turn from the idea of this person not being in a hurry for daily activities and errands to not being in a rush to ascend to heaven:
When I must return
To the cold cold ground
Have ‘em take their time
When they lay this sinner down
Heaven knows that I ain’t perfect
I’ve raised a little cain
And I plan to raise a whole lot more
Before I hear those angels sing
(Gonna get right with the lord)
But there’ll be hell to pay
But I ain’t in no hurry
The idea of living it up while you’re still on earth is predictable and bordering on cliché. As evidenced by their lazy execution, the writers are aptly reiterating what we’ve heard countless times before without offering us anything new. And such a poor execution is quite baffling from writers as talented as these.
But the one saving grace for “No Hurry” is the production. I thoroughly enjoy the fiddle and guitar work as it accomplishes the task of drawing the listener in and keeping them from turning the dial as soon as the song comes on. Anytime I get to hear fiddle front and center on a mainstream country single these days is a cause for celebration. Too bad the concept for the song doesn’t follow suit.
In 1988, The O’Kanes followed up their successful debut album with Tired of the Runnin’ which continued their short hot streak on the charts. It would also mark their commercial peak, as a third album, Imagine That, would come without much fanfare in 1990.
The first single, “One True Love” would peak just inside the top 5 in 1988. The tune perfectly showcases the duos distinct harmonies and features snarly guitar riffs that recall the California rock sounds of Fleetwood Mac and has echoes of Linda Ronstadt in the drum work. The production works to frame the duo vocally, but the lightness of the lyrical bed ultimately leave the song feeling a tiny bit less than memorable.
The second single, “Blue Love” marked the end in their streak of top ten singles, peaking at #10 in 1988. Written by the duo, the song stands as a warning to love and its effects on the human psyche:
One day, your love is, one day your love is, so true
Next day, you’re changin’, next day, you changin’, your mood
I just can’t take it, I just can’t take your blue love
A much better song than the first single, “Blue Love” succeeds on its sing-a-long melody and fusion of lead guitar and drumbeats. Vocally, it seems, the duo are channeling Buddy Holly and as a package the whole thing works.
A third single, “Rocky Road” was also released in 1988 but only managed to peak at #71. That radio ignored the tune isn’t entirely surprising; the nearly seven minute harmonica laced ballad about going down the “rocky road of love” was just out of step enough with the neotraditionalism favored by country radio at the time. But it’s still an outstanding track by all accounts and the folksy production is as delightful to listen to today as it was nearly 25 years ago.
“All Because of You,” another drum and mandolin soaked track is a love letter to the woman who has made life all the better:
Look at me feeling good
Who’d have thought I ever would
See my dreams come to light
See the dark turning bright
For the first time I feel more than good
All because of you
The hopeful message is another album standout and a delight to listen to. The catchy melody draws in the listener making them want to hear the song until the end.
Another great song is the Celtic flavored “If I Could Be There” which was covered by Emmylou Harris on her Live At the Ryman album from 1992. The sparse production made up of fiddle, mandolin and guitars works like magic to frame the duo vocally and draws the listener into the story of a person’s obligation to their work taking precedence over where they wish they could be:
If I could be there
I’d be there tonight comforting you
This road I’m on is so far away, too far away
If God would grant me wings to fly
I’d be in your arms by and by
If I could be there
I’d be there tonight comforting you
The funky “Highway 55,” which opens with a distinct plucking of strings, was nothing like I was expecting. I love the overall mood of the track and the harmonies elevate it to a higher level. Plus the overall sound is very reminiscent of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. But in context with the rest of the project, it doesn’t quite work.
Much like “Highway 55,” “All My Heart” features a similar funky arrangement but it’s paired with a somewhat haunting vocal. In comparison to the rest of the album the song is a little strange and stands out because of it. It’s safe to say it isn’t one of my favorite songs on the project.
Another weird song, “Isn’t That So” has somewhat of a party vibe suggested by what appears to be steel drums in the opening. Like “All My Heart,” this song also doesn’t gel with the rest of the project.
The bluegrass heavy title track features a driving melody in sharp contrast to the story of a fatherless boy. The story is quite effective and does a nice of job of outlining the effects of growing up without a father figure. I wasn’t sold on the contrast in lyrics and production at first, but the fast-paced melody succeeds in highlighting the fact this guy is still running his way through life sort of as a vagabond.
The album nicely picks up again with “I’m Lonely” which retains the sound featured on the singles. It’s hard to see why this wasn’t released instead of “Rocky Road” as it most likely would’ve extended the duo’s time in the top 10 by at least one more song.
All and all Tired of the Runnin’ is an above average collection of music from an underrated duo with a short chart life. I hadn’t heard their music prior to writing this review and liked most of what I heard. Unfortunately the album is out of print, but it’s worth seeking out a copy if you can find it.
The 1970s were not my favorite decade for country music but it was the decade in which I did my largest amount of listening to country radio, having the good fortune to have such country giants as WSUN AM- 620 in St. Petersburg, FL, WHOO AM-1090 in Orlando and WCMS AM-1050 in Norfolk, VA for my listening pleasure, plus I could tune in WSM AM – 650 in Nashville at night. I did a lot of shift-work during this decade so my radio was on constantly.
This list is meant neither to be a comprehensive list of great country songs from the 1970s, nor any sort of ranking of records. It’s just a list of some songs that I liked and remember. See if you recall any of these records
Since Hag issued the song as a B side (“Workin’ Man Blues” was the A side), this version is the only charting version of Hag’s classic. The Hager Twins do a nice job with the song, although it only reached #59 on the charts . Fans of Hee Haw will remember this duo well.
My all-time favorite Merle Haggard recording, this song went to #1 on Cashbox. Frankly, picking an all-time favorite Hag song is a hopeless proposition as he is the most consistently great artist of all time. Hag wrote about fifty #1 songs, the most of any songwriter. The flip side of this record “Sidewalks of Chicago” also received a lot of airplay and likely would be in my top ten favorite Haggard recordings. Read the rest of this entry »
The O’Kanes brought the sibling-style close harmonies pioneered by the Louvin Brothers into the late 20th century. They were not in fact brothers, but the unrelated singer-songwriters Jamie O’Hara and Kieran Kane. But their voices melded exceptionally well and they created a little magic during their relatively short partnership in the 1980s. Writing together from 1984-1985, they worked on the material for their debut album, which was eventually released in 1986 when the New Traditional movement had made room for artists like this, who were a step outside the mainstream, combining very traditional country and more modern influences.
Their very close Louvin Brothers styled harmonies, catchy tunes, punchy and often acoustic bluegrass-influenced instrumentation and well-written lyrics were simultaneously modern yet retro, and a breath of fresh air. The material was almost all written by the duo. When their self-titled debut album was released in 1986, Jamie O’Hara had just enjoyed a #1 as writer of the Judds’ ‘Grandpa (Tell Me ‘Bout The Good Ol’ Days)’, and the material he and Kieran Kane wrote together is consistently just as good.
Their debut single, the insistent mid-tempo ‘Oh Darlin’ (Why Don’t You Care For Me No More?)’ was a top 10 hit in 1986. The protagonist is baffled by the change in his loved one, when he hasn’t changed at all. A similar tempo and vibe took ‘Can’t Stop My Heart from Loving You’ all the way to #1. This time the protagonist is helplessly in love with a woman who he accuses “ you treat me badly and make me blue”, but the hypnotic edge makes the sad tale positively catchy.
The next single, another top 10 hit, is my favourite track. ‘Daddies Need To Grow Up Too’ is the affecting story of an absent father who regrets his choices and now promises his child he will change his ways:
You’re the hero in my eyes
You see
Daddies need to grow up too
Learn what they should and they shouldn’t do
In a way we’re a lot like you
We need some understanding
Daddies stumble
Daddies fall
We don’t really know it all
Gonna try to make it up to you
Daddies need to grow up too
The fourth single, the charming love song ‘Just Lovin’ You’, hit # 5. It has a lovely slightly old fashioned vibe, which is a delight to listen to. ‘When I Found You’ is another romantic ballad, but one which gains added impact from comparing the protagonists’ newfound happiness to past “love proved untrue”:
When I found you I lost the emptiness
So painfully locked away in my heart
Gone was the despair
That dreams don’t come true …
I lost my sorrow when I found you
‘Gonna Walk That Line’ is an irresistible declaration of love and commitment by a bad boy who has changed his ways and is prepared to settle down at last:
I’ve never been too good at doin’ right
Done mostly wrong most all my life…
I used to be a tomcat out on the prowl
Baby I’m just your puppydog now
The haunting ‘Bluegrass Blues’, the first song the duo wrote together, has a more downbeat attitude. ‘When We’re Gone, Long Gone’ is a quietly philosophical semi-gospel song with a very retro feel. The one song not written by the duo is a cover of the Elvis Presley hit ‘That’s Alright, Mama’, treated with an unexpected delicacy which makes an over-familiar song sound new.
The duo’s relatively short life means they have been largely forgotten, but the music on this album sounds as fresh today as it did in the 80s, and is well worth reviving. For what it’s worth, they are my personal favourite of the duos we’re spotlighting this month.
The CD is out of print, and not all tracks appear to be available digitally, but it’s worth tracking down if you can find a copy.
RIP Larry Butler, musician, producer and songwriter, who died on 19 January. He won a Best Country Song Grammy in 1975. It was a #1 hit for B. J. Thomas.
Much like Patty Loveless’s Sleepless Nights and LeAnn Rimes’s Lady & Gentleman, Rodeo Waltz is an album comprised mainly of classic country covers. Released in 1993, it marked the duo’s debut for Sugar Hill Records. Although it didn’t produce any singles, it offered a simple honky-tonk sound that still holds up well today.
The album opens with a spirited cover of Johnny Cash’s “Get Rhythm” that benefits from the abundance of petal steel and fiddle flourishes throughout and the distinct drum beat. While they stick moderately close to Cash’s original recording, save for updating the sound, they keep the sing-a-long nature of the song intact.
They continue to honor tradition with the rest of the covers, too. Don Robertson and Hal Blair’s “Please Help Me I’m Falling” is turned into a gorgeous mandolin soaked ballad and their sultry take on Tex Ritter and Frank Harford’s “Long Time Gone” brings a new appreciation to story of a woman anticipating their man’s reaction to their leaving.
Equally as well executed is their take on Gordon Lightfoot’s folksy “Steel Rail Blues” which benefits greatly from the use of harmonica and gently persistent drumbeat. I love how they seem to build on Lightfoot’s original recording by infusing the song with a bit more energy. I also enjoy their folksy almost mountain-y reading of Jesse Winchester’s “Brand New Tennessee Waltz.” It isn’t my favorite of the cover tunes included here but it’s enhanced by the sweet vocal and use of fiddle throughout.
They also do a fine job covering Robbie Robertson’s “Broken Arrow.” Known primarily as a pop song done by Rod Stewart, the sisters exceed in turning it into a country song complete with fiddle and harmonica. I love the melody and the use of mandolin to give the musical accompaniment some life.
Placed among the cover tunes is a crop of original songs, led by Don Shultz’s “Things Grow” which is their ode to life on a farm and small town existence. It isn’t as cringe worthy as that particular sub-genre today, but I’m not jumping up and down at the inclusion of them exploring that theme. Betty Harrison’s “Hoping That You’re Hoping” is better musically, but the song lacks any substance in the lyrics and is forgettable today.
I wasn’t aware they had their own version of “Jenny Dreamed of Trains,” which Janis’s then husband Vince Gill wrote with Guy Clark. Gill did an excellent job when he recorded the song on High Lonesome Sound and they do a stellar version here. The sweet story of the girl Jenny (presumably written about their daughter) and her love of trains over dolls is a great lyric.
“Bluegrass Boy,” written by Gill with Shultz is an engaging love song about a guy this girl once knew and while good, it comes off a tad underwhelming. There’s nothing wrong with the song at all – it just isn’t up to the material on the rest of the project. Same goes for the traditional “Deep River Blues” arranged by Gill. I enjoyed the swampy vibe and touches of harmonica but the whole thing was a tad underwhelming. But the album turns around with the great “There One Morning.”
Rodeo Waltz is a fine country album of both well-chosen covers and original material. I can easily see why there weren’t any singles despite strong material – it just doesn’t have a sound that sits right on radio playlists. But like most non-commercial country projects, it demands to be heard. This album is widely available digitally (from Amazon and iTunes) and is worth seeking out for a listen.
After a year in which Turner saw his last single, “I Wouldn’t Be A Man” painfully climb to a #18 chart peak, you’d assume he’d return with a much stronger song able to push momentum in his direction again. Unfortunately, he’s returned with another example of subpar material far below his obvious talent.
Written by Tom Shapiro, Tony Martin and Mark Nesler, “Time Is Love” is the type of filler used by artists who need songs to fill out their albums. The generic melody, weak lyrical content, and sub-par vocal performance will likely keep this song from making a big impact at country radio.
“Time Is Love” is constructed as a spin on the phrase time is money with the opening lines setting up the protagonist’s fixation of being with his woman:
I know I gotta put in the hours,
Make the money while the sunlight shines
But anything I gotta get done,
It can get done some other time
Much like need for people to leave concrete for dirt in southern pride anthems, there’s a sense of unhealthy obsession where priorities are out of whack. He only becomes more delusional in the second verse:
I only get so many minutes,
Don’t wanna spend ‘em all on the clock
In the time that we spent talkin’,
How many kisses have I lost?
The chorus doesn’t add much to the overall story except to continue building up the urgency of the man’s need to be with his woman. But like any poorly constructed song, the story goes nowhere very fast. There’s all this build up but no culminating moment when he finally meets up with this woman. And by the time the bridge finally comes around, you’ve lost interest anyway.
I only wish we could be celebrating Turner’s return to form after two less than stellar singles. He has all the goods and he’s proven just how good he can be on songs like “Long Back Train” and “Your Man.” I just hope the rest of the album isn’t summed up in this single and there’s still some reason to be excited for his music.
The duo’s sophomore album, released in 1988, continues largely in the same vein as their successful debut disc — combining elements of country and rock with tight harmonies that proved very popular with radio programmers and listeners. Like its predecessor, One Time, One Night was produced by Steve Buckingham, but co-producer Hank DeVito was nowhere to be found this time around. Janis Gill continued to hone her songwriting skills, contributing two compositions co-written with Don Schlitz and one with Gail Davies. Among the collaborations with Schlitz was the album’s lead single “Satisfy You”, an uptempo Cajun-flavored number that continued the Sweethearts’ string of Top 10 hits. It peaked at #5, as did the next single, “Blue to the Bone”, which allowed them to showcase some impressive harmony singing that was somewhat reminiscent of a female version of the Everly Brothers, whose “So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad)” is covered here. The Sweethearts are joined by Vince Gill for what is, in my opinion, one of the very best versions of this song, aside from the 1960 original. It is one of the standout tracks on the album and one of my favorites.
The duo also pay homage to the Beatles with their cover version of the Fab Four’s “I Feel Fine”, which they took to #9. It was the Sweethearts’ seventh consecutive Top 10 hit and they seemed to be on an unstoppable commercial roll when they suddenly and unexpectedly lost their momentum. Their next single, the Don Schlitz/Craig Bickhardt number “If I Never See Midnight Again” fizzled out at #39. This is a beautiful song with gorgeous harmonies that deserved to chart much higher. The song could quite possibly be about the same character in the duo’s earlier hit “Midnight Girl/Sunset Town”, also written by Don Schlitz, after she’s sown her wild oats. Now a little older and wiser, she’s found true love and is ready to forsake the party scene forever:
Now I don’t care if the party starts without me
And when the clock strikes twelve, drink a toast to this old friend.
I’ll be sleeping with my darling’s arms around me
And I don’t care if I never see midnight again.
At the time I thought that, as the album’s fourth and final single, the record might not have received the same promotional push from the label as the earlier releases had. That is still a possibility, but the fact remains that it marked the end of the duo’s winning streak, and they would never chart inside the Top 20 again.
Among the album cuts, “Gone Again”, the tune that Janis wrote with Gail Davies, is the most interesting. It talks about the whirlwind pace of life on the road and the personal sacrifices that come along with fortune and fame, something that the Sweethearts could likely very easily relate to at the time. “You Never Talk Sweet”, which is the other Gill/Schlitz song on the album, is also quite good. The album’s sole misstep is the Wally Wilson/Kevin Welch number “We Won’t Let That River Come Between Us”, which seems a bit forced and doesn’t quite work for me.
The Sweethearts of the Rodeo did not enjoy a long run at the top of the charts. They released two more albums for Columbia, 1990′s Buffalo Zone and 1992′s lackluster Sisters. Neither produced any hits and they were dropped from the Columbia roster. One Time, One Night is the best of their four major-label releases. It is not available digitally, but inexpensive CD copies are easy to find. It’s worth seeking out, along with their debut disc.
Grade: A
The 1970s were not my favorite decade for country music but it was the decade in which I did my largest amount of listening to country radio, having the good fortune to have such country giants as WSUN AM- 620 in St. Petersburg, FL, WHOO AM-1090 in Orlando and WCMS AM-1050 in Norfolk, VA for my listening pleasure, plus I could tune in WSM AM – 650 in Nashville at night. I did a lot of shift-work during this decade so my radio was on constantly.
This list is meant neither to be a comprehensive list of great country songs from the 1970s, nor any sort of ranking of records. It’s just a list of some songs that I liked and remember. See if you recall any of these records:
Beautiful and blessed with a great voice, she never did break through as a major star since she was buried at RCA behind Connie Smith, Dolly Parton, Dottie West and Skeeter Davis for promotional attention. This song reached #20 on the country chart and #112 on the pop chart and was covered on albums by many country artists. Pat pulled the plug on her own career to raise a family. Read the rest of this entry »
Singer songwriter Radney Foster first teamed up with fellow writer Bill Lloyd in 1986, with the duo’s debut album being released on RCA the following year. Epitomising the diversity of late 80s country radio, Texas-born Foster’s country roots mixed with Lloyd’s pop/rock influences. Foster’s distinctive hard-edged voice generally takes the lead with Lloyd adding Beatles-esque harmonies and playing various guitars and mandolin. The duo produced, and wrote all the material, most frequently together, with a handful of solo compositions tossed in.
