Single Review: Tanya Tucker with Jim Lauderdale – ‘Love’s Gonna Live Here’

When Tanya Tucker enlisted the aid of Pete Anderson to produce an album covering classic country songs, it was perhaps inevitable that at least one Buck Owens song would be included in the project. Anderson is, of course, famous for his work with Owens’ friend and protege Dwight Yoakam. He also produced Sara Evans’ 1997 debut album Three Chords and the Truth which also included an Owens cover.

“Love’s Gonna Live Here” is the advance single from the forthcoming album My Turn , and Tucker’s first release to country radio since 2003′s “Old Weakness (Coming On Strong)”. Tucker is joined by the criminally underrated Jim Lauderdale, who provides guest vocals, and at times sounds like he is channeling the spirit of old Buck himself. As always, Tucker is in good vocal form. This version deviates from the 1963 original slightly in that the steel guitar is featured prominently (as it should be) in the break between verses.

The Bakersfield sound is so closely associated with Buck Owens, it is impossible to hear one of his songs, even a cover version, without thinking of him. From the first note of the FenderTelecaster, the listener immediately knows that this is a Buck Owens song. As a result, Tucker doesn’t quite succeed in making it her own, but she is hardly alone in that respect. Where she does succeed is in providing a faithful and respectful version of a timeless classic.

“Love’s Gonna Live Here” is available as a digital download from all of the major digital retailers, including iTunes and Amazon MP3.

Songwriter: Buck Owens

Grade: B+

1989 Album Review: Reba McEntire – ‘Sweet Sixteen’

After making a surprise 180° turnaround with 1988′s pop-oriented Reba, the singer alienated many traditional country fans, and Sweet Sixteen was an attempt to recapture them. Now, Sweet Sixteen is in no way a traditional album the way The Last One To Know was a traditional album, but it’s still considerably more country than Reba. With some fiddle and steel (and, inexplicably, a lot of sax), Reba set out to reel in some old fans, while keeping the new ones she gained with Reba. The question is: did she succeed in making an album that appeals to all groups?

The set opens with the lead single, a cover of  The Everly Brothers’ “Cathy’s Clown”, in which Reba assumes the part of a third woman, who desperately wants the male in the song, but he’s too busy being “Cathy’s Clown”. Surprisingly it works, and in this writer’s opinion, the song has never sounded better. Apparently, the general public thought so too, as this became a smash #1 hit. The second track, “‘Til Love Comes Again”, a top 5 hit, offers a more traditional arrangement, which works in Reba’s favor. It has sadly become one of Reba’s more obscure hits, and is unfortunately not a song that today’s radio audience is familiar with.

“It Always Rains On Saturday” is a song Reba penned with the writers of “Whoever’s In New England” (Kendal Franchesci and Quentin Powers), and it pleases me to say that it’s completely on par with the classic that it inevitably will be compared with. Reba is listed as a co-writer on 3 of the album’s tracks.  The narrator is a single mother who feels very lonely when her son goes off with his father on weekends.

On Monday the sun really shined
On Tuesday the weather was fine
Wednesday and Thursday went by
By Friday the clouds filled the sky

Instead, she uses the weather as a metaphor for what’s going on inside her mind, which is a very interesting ploy that really works.

Class of ’89 Album Review: ‘Garth Brooks’

Garth Brooks’ debut album is the only diamond-selling Class of ’89 album.  It’s success was eclipsed only by Garth Brooks’ own album releases into the early 1990s.  While the album peaked at only #2 on the country albums chart and #13 on the all-genre chart, its singles sent Garth Brooks’ star soaring into the stratosphere, where it has remained since.  Producer Allen Reynolds, with whom Garth had worked exclusively for his entire career (save for his venture into the Chris Gaines alter ego) delivers some of the most traditional recordings of Garth’s storied career for this album and makes for some awesome tracks that still sound great twenty years after their release.

The album opens with the swinging ‘Not Counting You’ which was written by Garth and served as the album’s third single. This song sounds like it would be perfectly at home on any of George Strait’s records from the time, and was perhaps Garth’s tribute to his Stetson-wearing hero.  ’I've Got A Good Thing Going’ is a stone-country lament complete with twin fiddles and is still one of my favorites.  The first #1 hit from this release is up next in the now-classic ‘If Tomorrow Never Comes’.  One of my favorite things about Garth Brooks was the instant recognizability of his songs, and this was the first example of that.  With the first strum of the guitar licks, it’s evident you’re listening to this chestnut.

The elegant ‘Everytime That It Rains’ follows.  Garth relates the story of two old flames who meet again years later to share a dance.  While dancing they realize the flame of their love is long gone as he sings ‘If we ever had a flame/Now it’s over and only the memory remains‘.  I always thought it was a shame this song was never released to radio.  The story of a young man who leaves his Daddy’s Alabama farm for the lights of the big city before coming home to raise his family makes the basis for ‘Alabama Clay’, another excellent traditional story song.

Co-written by Garth with Larry Bastian, ‘Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)’ is a song anybody over 21 can relate to at one point or another and was the album’s lead single.  It was also Garth’s first top 10 hit, peaking at #8 on the charts.  This song rekindled the career of Chris LeDoux in the mainstream with the line ‘a worn out tape of Chris LeDoux, lonely women and bad booze/Seem to be the only friends I’ve left at all’.  Vivid imagery, a killer hook, and a singable melody make this a radio staple still today.