Classic Rewind: Patsy Cline – ‘Lovesick Blues’

Some hidden treasures of the decade

At the end of last year, I shared a list of my favorite 50 singles of the decade. Some of them were big hits, others more obscure, but at least in theory they got some attention at the time. Now that the decade is well and truly over, I thought I would mention some hidden treasures – album tracks that you probably only heard if you’re a fan of the artist, and purchased the full album. Some of them are from albums and artists that were more successful than others. I’ve omitted anything that made it to radio (even if it wasn’t a hit) as I considered those for my last list, and I have also left out anything from an album which made our collective Albums of The Decade list, although I have included tracks from other albums by artists who appeared on both of those lists. I have restricted my list to one track per artist named.

40. ‘Cold All The Time’ – Irene Kelley (from Thunderbird, 2004)
Songwriter Irene Kelley has released a couple of very good independent albums, showcasing her own very beautiful voice as well as her songs. This is a gently resolute song about a woman stuck in a bad relationship, summoning up the courage to make a move.

39. ‘All I Want’ – Darius Rucker (from Learn To Live, 2008)
There is still a chance that this might make it to the airwaves, as Darius’s platinum country debut is his current release. As a whole, the material was a little disappointing, but this great song is definitely worth hearing, and not only because it’s the mos country song on the album. It’s a jaundiced kiss-off to an ex, offering her everything as “all I want you to leave me is alone”.

38. ‘I Met Jesus In A Bar’ – Jim Lauderdale (from Country Super Hits Volume 1, 2006)
Songwriter Jim Lauderdale has released a number of albums of his own, in more than one country sub-genre, and in 2006 he issued two CDs on one day: one country, the other bluegrass. This great co-write with Leslie Satcher, a melancholy-tinged song about God and booze, also recorded by Aaron Watson, comes from the country one.

37. ‘A Train Not Running’ – Chris Knight (from The Jealous Kind, 2003)
Singer-songwriter Chris Knight co-wrote this downbeat first-person tale of love and a mining town’s economic failure with Stacy Dean Campbell, who also recorded a version of the song.

36. ‘Same Old Song’ – Blake Shelton (from Blake Shelton, 2001)
These days, Blake seems to attract more attention for his girlfriend Miranda Lambert and his Tweeting than for his own music. This song, written by Blake’s producer Bobby Braddock back in 1989, is an appeal for country songs to cover new ground and real stories.

35. ‘If I Hadn’t Reached For The Stars’ – Bradley Walker (from Highway Of Dreams, 2006)
It’s probably a sign of the times that Bradley Walker, who I would classify as a classic traditional country singer in the Haggard/Travis style, had to release his excellent debut album on a bluegrass label. This love song (written by Carl Jackson and previously recorded by Jon Randall) is all about finding happiness through not achieving stardom.

34. ‘Between The River And Me’ – Tim McGraw (from Let It Go, 2007)
Tim McGraw is not one of my favorite singers, but he does often have a knack for picking interesting material. It was a travesty that the best track on his 2007 album was never released as a single, especially when far less deserving material took its place. It’s a brooding story song narrated by the teenage son of a woman whose knack seems to be picking the wrong kind of man, in this case one who beats her. The son turns to murder, down by the river.

33. ‘Three Sheets In The Wind’ – Randy Archer (from Shots In The Dark, 2005)
In the early 9s, Randy Archer was one half of the duo Archer Park,who tried and failed to challenge Brooks & Dunn. His partner in that enterprise is now part of The Parks. Meanwhile, Randy released a very good independent album which has been overlooked. My favorite track is this sad tale of a wife tearing up a husband’s penitent note of apology and leaving regardless.

32. ‘It Looked Good On Paper’ – Randy Kohrs featuring Dolly Paton (from I’m Torn, 2007)
A forlorn lost-love ballad from dobro player Kohrs featuring exquisite high harmonies from Dolly. the ret o the record is very good, too – and you can listen to it all on last.fm.

31. ‘Mental Revenge’ – Pam Tillis (from It’s All Relative: Tillis Sings Tillis, 2002)
After her mainstream stardom wound down, 90s star Pam Tillis took the opportunity to record a real labor of love: a tribute album to her father Mel. This bitter diatribe to an ex is my favorite track.

30. ‘You Don’t Love God If You Don’t Love Your Neighbour’ – Rhonda Vincent (from The Storm Still Rages, 2001)
A traditional country-bluegrass-gospel quartet take on a classic rebuke to religious hypocrites, written by Carl Story. The track isn’t the best showcase of Rhonda’s lovely voice, but it’s a great recording of a fine song with a pointed message.

Classic Rewind: Mary Chapin Carpenter – ‘Stones In The Road’

Album Review: Patsy Cline – ‘Hungry For Love: Her First Recordings Volume 2′

In this, the second collection billed as ‘Her First Recordings’ and released by Rhino Records in 1989, we hear Patsy Cline’s progression from the honky tonk numbers she wanted to sing into the Nashville Sound, a brainchild of the great Owen Bradley, who believed Patsy’s crystalline vocals to be a perfect match for his new approach to making country music.  Producer and Music Row pioneer Bradley is credited as one of the most important figures in country music’s history, and as the creator of the country-politan style that wold become known as the Nashville Sound.  This new sound, created as a response to the rock and roll boom of the mid to late 1950s, employed a more polished aesthetic, adding elements from pop music to attract the adult audience.  The youth audience at the time was responsible for the rock boom.  With Cline, Bradley felt he had the perfect vehicle to develop this style, and make her a star in the process.

This disc comprises Patsy’s final six sessions as a Four Star artist before Decca officially signed her to the label.  Recorded between 1957 and 1959 at Owen Bradley’s Quonset Hut Studio, these sessions find the songstress attempting to recreate the success she found with her sole Four Star hit, ‘Walkin’ After Midnight’, to no avail.

While this collection is the first real example of Patsy recording in the Nashville Sound technique, it was a style she resisted, wanting to record honky tonk and more traditional numbers – the other two discs in this series showcase that side of her recordings at the time.

Opening the set is ‘Hungry for Love’, a mid-tempo number with a bluesy shuffle and Patsy’s growling vocals verge on rockabilly.  From here, we progess to’I Can’t Forget’ a tender ballad with a subdued arrangement. This could be in part to the technique Bradley used for the rhythm section – substituting guitars for drums. Drums were not allowed on the Opry at the time, and were considered un-traditional and therefore radical on a country release. By substituting “dead string” rhythm guitar for drums, where the muffled strings of a guitar are literally ‘whopped’ with the ball of the hand, the producer created a rich sound texture, and one he and others would employ more and more in later years as the Nashville Sound became more prominent.

‘I Can See An Angel’ sounds like a weeper on the surface, but the singer’s delivery leads you to believe it’s more of a bitter goodbye than a sad tale of a woman seeing her old boyfriend out with his new love interest.  ’Yes I Understand’ features Patsy on harmony, mixed in with The Jordanaires’ backing vocals, to her own smooth melody vocal.

‘If I Could Only Stay Asleep’ is one of my favorites from Patsy, and the standout from this set in my opinion.  Owen Bradley employs a simple piano with Patsy’s vocal, giving the song an elegant feel, a sign of the style that would make Cline a superstar in a few years.  This would also provide the blueprint for the setting Patsy Cline finally found her niche in, and is a perfect example of the Nashville Sound at its best.

Much has been said about the fact that Patsy’s deal with Bill McCall at Four Star kept her contractually obliged to only record material for which Four Star owned the publishing rights. This obviously restricted the singer’s selection, and it’s evident in her Four Star discography, which is notably scattered with public domain hymns and standards – one way Bradley found to dodge the McCall stipulation. And even though there are no commercial hits here, there are many great songs, and listening from a historical perspective as a relatively new set of ears for most of the tracks, it’s not hard to hear the pair of Bradley and Cline giving birth to the refined sound of her superstar days.

Grade: B

Classic Rewind: Waylon Jennings – ‘It’s Not Supposed To Be That Way’

Week ending 1/9/10: #1 singles this week in country music history

1950: Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer — Gene Autry (Columbia)

1960: El Paso — Marty Robbins (Columbia)

1970: Baby, Baby (I Know You’re A Lady) — David Houston (Epic)

1980: Coward of the County — Kenny Rogers (United Artists)

1990: Who’s Lonely Now – Highway 101 (Warner Bros).

2000: Breathe — Faith Hill (Warner Bros.)

2010: Consider Me Gone — Reba McEntire (Starstruck/Valory)

Week ending 1/9/10: #1 albums this week in country music history

1985: Exile – Kentucky Hearts (Sony)

1990: Randy Travis – No Holdin’ Back (Warner Brothers)

1995: Garth Brooks – The Hits (Capitol)

2000: Shania Twain – Come On Over (Mercury)

2005: Shania Twain – Greatest Hits (Mercury)

2010: Taylor Swift – Fearless (Big Machine)

Classic Rewind – The O’Kanes: ‘Tired Of The Running’

Classic Rewind: Patsy Cline – ‘Come On In’

Single Review: Taylor Swift – ‘Fearless’

When Taylor Swift released the best song she’s ever sang, and one of my personal favorites, it became her lowest charting single ever. For some reason ‘Fifteen’ wasn’t massive, but Swift follows it up with the title track and fifth single from her sophomore album, Fearless.

After ‘Fifteen’, ‘Fearless’ is just so juvenile. Sure, teenage girls will connect with wanting to be kissed in the rain, but I honestly have no intention of doing so as an adult male. The message of the song is about being fearless in love, but Swift’s past singles have dealt with the same theme in much better ways. ‘You Belong With Me’ was real and engaging, while “Love Story” had the whole Romeo and Juliet motifs going for it: ‘Fearless’ is just less by comparison.

This song is catchy and fun, and Swift sings it fine (as well as she can), but I just feel like she has better versions of this song out there. This song is definitely more pop than country, but who would expect anything different? Regardless, she can do better than this.  And has.

Grade: C+

‘Fearless’ was written by: Taylor Swift, Liz Rose and Hillary Lindsey and can be purchased at iTunes and streamed at Last FM.

Classic Rewind: Marty Robbins – ‘Devil Woman’

Classic Rewind: The Statler Brothers – ‘Bed of Rose’s’

Album Review: Sonny Burgess – ‘Have You Got A Song Like That?’

Texan Sonny Burgess is one of those relatively obscure artists who are still making traditionally-rooted country music. This is his third album, and although it was released some months ago, has only recently come my way. It is produced by successful songwriter Kerry Kurt Phillips, who does a fine job. Sonny’s voice is light but pleasant.

Things get off to a solid start with the amusing honky tonker ‘Beer-i-cide’, a song about the perils of drunken (and music-fuelled) behavior, written by Sam Tate, Kathleen Wright and Greg Barnhill:

Well there’s a biker in the corner who thinks I stole his girl
And man I swear he’s itchin’ for a fight
If this bar would just stop spinning like some gin soaked tilt-a-whirl
I’d show him who’s the big dog here tonight

There’s a tiny little Johnny telling me to walk the line
Tiny Waylon’s yellin’ “hit him from behind”
I put that bottle to my lips before I follow him outside
And it’s got the whole bar betting that I’m committin’ beer-i-cide

Well now I guess I should be leaving cause they’re turning off the lights
And my eye’s gone down enough that I can see
I might stumble home a broken man but there’s one ray of hope
That six-pack waitin’ in the fridge for me

And now Hank senior’s on my shoulder singing “Bless your cheatin’ heart “
Meanwhile Johnny’s telling Waylon “told you so”
I take that bottle from my lips to kiss my next ex-wife goodbye
I’ve used all the rope she’s given
I’m committing beer-i-cide

And I really will be sorry, least until tomorrow night
When once more I’ll be here sitting
Still committing beer-i-cide

Classic Rewind: Trace Adkins – ‘Wayfaring Stranger’

Album Review – Patsy Cline – ‘Walkin’ Dreams: Her First Recordings Volume One’

In 1989 Rhino Records licensed Patsy’s recordings for the Four Star label, and released three compilation albums. This first volume concentrates on her very earliest sessions, with thirteen songs recorded between 1955 and 1957, with one later track added on for contrast. The selection offers an intriguing glimpse into a young artist struggling to find her musical direction. The earliest cuts reveal Patsy’s hillbilly roots in a way her more sophisticated later work perhaps glosses over.

Much has been written criticising label boss Bill McCall, but one benefit resulting from Patsy signing with him was that she was teamed up with producer Owen Bradley right from the start, and her first sessions were at Bradley’s Quonset studio in Nashville. Less beneficially, she was restricted to songs published by Four Star, but that did not mean that her material was poor, even the songs credited to McCall himself under the pseudonym W S Stevenson (I understand that in many cases these copyrights were purchased from the real writers). Indeed, an early highlight is the opening track, recorded at Patsy’s very first recording session on June 1, 1955, ‘A Church, A Courtroom And Then Goodbye’, which is credited to Stevenson and Eddie Miller. This song was suggested for Patsy by Ernest Tubb, and is a very traditional country song typical of its period with prominent fiddle, recounting the sad tale of a hurried marriage followed by divorce. Even at this early stage of her career, it was clear that Patsy had a great voice, and a natural ability to convey emotion, as she declares,

I hate the sight of that courtroom
Where man-made laws push God’s laws aside

The B-side of that single, which was recorded at the same time, was the sprightly ‘Honky Tonk Merry Go Round’, with Patsy sounding as though she is biting back laughter despite a lost-love lyric. A third song recorded at this first session, another Miller/Stevenson credit to be released as a single, was the excellent cheating song, ‘Hidin’ Out’, with honky tonk piano.

Classic Rewind: Patsy Cline – ‘Walkin’ After Midnight’

Single Review: Lady Antebellum – ‘American Honey’

The cover for Lady A's upcoming album

Lady Antebellum is on a roll, there’s no doubt about that. Right after scoring their first #1 with “I Run To You” they busted out of the gate with the first single and title track from their upcoming sophomore album, “Need You Now”. Now, the true test is if they can keep up that incredible momentum with “American Honey” their brand new single.

So is it any good? Yeah, I think so. Mostly. It’s a simple song about getting back to one’s roots that doesn’t sound like a re-tread. With a light drum loop that doesn’t sound forced, but rather keeps the light fiddle and acoustic picking moving along. Around the second verse, it begins to sound more Adult Contemporary than country, but thankfully this song still sounds like it was meant to be a country song, unlike most, if not all, of Lady A’s previous singles.

Hillary Scott gets her first her first turn at complete lead vocals and she proves to be more than capable with Charles Kelley’s perfect harmony vocals in the background. The song never gets bombastic, something that Lady A is very good about and sounds very pleasant to the ears, another thing Lady A is very good at.

So what’s wrong with this song? It sounds like it’s meant to be a story song, but there is literally no plot. So when Scott sings “I need to get back to her somehow…” She’s trying to say “I need to get back to my roots,” but the song gives us no idea why she needs to and how she’s going to do that, so what’s the point? The first verse does a nice job of background, but the story just doesn’t go anywhere beyond that, so the song doesn’t say much, although it does say nothing with very nice sounding language.

This single is better than most of the dreck clouding the airwaves, but it still doesn’t say much and when it does, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Lady A can do better.

Grade: B+

‘American Honey’ was written by: Hillary Lindsey, Cary Barlow, and Shane Stevens.  It can be purchased at iTunes and you can listen to it here.

Spotlight Artist: Patsy Cline (September 8, 1932 – March 5, 1963) – Part 3

After a successful run in Las Vegas, Patsy Cline returned to Nashville and Owen Bradley’s recording studio for what would be her last sessions. In February 1963 she recorded twelve new tracks, including a cover of Don Gibson’s “Sweet Dreams” and the Bob Wills classic “Faded Love”. She was unusually emotional and wept throughout the session; the emotion can be heard on both of these tracks. Bradley assumed that she’d had an argument with her husband, and when Charlie stopped by to see how things were going, he was quickly ushered out of the studio before Patsy saw him, so as not to break the mood.

“Leavin’ On Your Mind” had been released about a month before Patsy’s final recording sessions, in January 1963. It was the last single released during her lifetime. It reached #8 on the country chart, but unlike most of her previous hits, it was not a crossover success, stalling at #83 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Patsy Cline died on March 5, 1963 when the Piper Comanche aircraft carrying her back to Nashville from a charity concert in Kansas City, Missouri crashed amidst deteriorating weather conditions near Camden, Tennessee. Also on board were Grand Ole Opry stars Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins, and Patsy’s manager Randy Hughes, who had piloted the plane. There were no survivors. Patsy was interred near her home in Virginia, at the Shenandoah Memorial Park.

Decca continued to release Patsy’s singles and albums in the years following her death. “Sweet Dreams”, her first posthumous release, was a #5 country hit, and despite having been recorded previously by both Faron Young and Don Gibson, it is Patsy’s interpretation that is considered the definitive version. The follow-up single “Faded Love” reached #7 on the charts and was her last solo Top 10 hit. After that, her singles charted lower, if they charted at all. She returned to the Top 5 one final time in 1981, when RCA Records released an electronic duet of Patsy and Jim Reeves singing “Have You Ever Been Lonely (Have You Ever Been Blue)”.

In 1967, Decca released Patsy Cline’s Greatest Hits, which eventually sold more than 10 million copies. It held the record as the best-selling country album of all-time by a female artist, until the 1990s when it was overtaken by Shania Twain’s The Woman In Me. In 1973, Patsy became the first female solo artist to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Her name began to fade from the public consciousness, but was brought back to the forefront in 1980 when she was portrayed on the silver screen by actress Beverly D’Angelo in the Loretta Lynn bio-film Coal Miner’s Daughter. Five years later, Hollywood told its version of the Patsy Cline story in the film Sweet Dreams, starring Jessica Lange and Ed Harris.

Although her recording career lasted a mere eight years, Patsy Cline cast a long shadow over the country music landscape. Virtually every female country vocalist who has emerged since her death has named Patsy as an influence. Her songs have been covered by such artists as Loretta Lynn, Emmylou Harris, Reba McEntire, LeAnn Rimes and Sara Evans. Her Greatest Hits still holds the record for the longest run on the Billboard Country Albums chart for an album by a female artist, and she remains a best-selling artist for MCA, the successor company to Decca Records. We hope that you’ll enjoy our coverage as we look back at Patsy’s life and career throughout the month of January.

Classic Rewind: Patty Loveless – ‘The Boys Are Back In Town/Cheap Whiskey’

We’d like to wish one of our site favorites, Patty Loveless, a very happy 53rd birthday today.

Spotlight Artist: Patsy Cline (September 8, 1932 – March 5, 1963) – Part 2

Patsy Cline finally found her breakthrough hit, “I Fall to Pieces” in the summer of 1961. She had given birth to a son that January and for once things were looking up. Unfortunately, her happiness was quickly overshadowed when she was seriously injured in a near-fatal head-on automobile accident in June of that year. While she was recuperating in the hospital, “I Fall To Pieces” continued to climb the charts. One Saturday evening on the Opry, an up-and-coming singer named Loretta Lynn sang the song and dedicated to Patsy. Patsy, who was listening to the broadcast, was so touched that she asked her husband Charlie to bring Loretta to the hospital so she could meet her and thank her. The two women became close and remained good friends for the remainder of Patsy’s life.

Patsy returned to the recording studio in August 1961 and quickly got into another battle with Owen Bradley over her next single. Faron Young had recently had a smash hit with “Hello, Walls”, a tune written by a 27-year-old songwriter named Willie Nelson. Patsy was interested in recording another Nelson song, “Funny How Time Slips Away”, but it had been put on hold for Billy Walker. Patsy tried to sweet-talk Walker into giving up the song, but he proved resistant to her charms. Instead, he gave her another Nelson composition called “Crazy” as a consolation prize. Patsy hated it, but Bradley was convinced that it would be a big hit. Willie Nelson’s demo recording had been in a honky-tonk style. Bradley re-worked it as a torch song, with a more sophisticated arrangement, and finally persuaded Patsy to record it. She was still not fully recovered from her injuries and had difficulty hitting all of the notes. After four hours of trying, Bradley persuaded her to give up. He recorded the basic tracks and had her come back a week later to overdub her vocal track, and she nailed the song in one take. Despite her initial apprehension about recording the song, Owen Bradley was once again proven right. “Crazy” reached #2 on the Billboard country chart in October of 1961, and by December it had reached #9 on the pop chart. Today, it is the song for which Patsy is best remembered. In 1997 it was named the #1 jukebox song of all time.

Patsy ended 1961 on a high note. In November, she traveled to New York with some of her fellow Opry stars to play to a sold-out house at Carnegie Hall, and then went back into the recording studio in December. Among the songs she cut at those sessions was Hank Cochran’s “She’s Got You”. Unlike her other big hits — “Walkin’ After Midnight”, “I Fall to Pieces” and “Crazy” — Patsy immediately loved “She’s Got You”. It became her second and final #1 country hit in May 1962. It also reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100. Later in 1962 she became the first female country star to headline a show in Las Vegas, when the Mint Casino engaged her for a 35-day run. She had been nervous about playing Vegas, but her fears proved to be unfounded; she was a hit with both critics and audiences alike. Not sure that Patsy would want to return to Las Vegas, her manager Randy Hughes decided to let her return to Nashville to rest for a few months before telling her that he’d booked her for a return engagement. Unfortunately, fate would intervene and deny Patsy the opportunity to accept.