Album Review: Amber Digby and Justin Trevino – ‘Keeping Up Appearances’

Only a few months after the release of her last solo album, Amber Digby is back with a collection of duets with her longterm producer Justin Trevino, a recording artist in his own right with a vibrato-laden tenor reminiscent of the country music of the 1960s. Their voices blend together very well, bearing comparison with the classic duos of the past, and the result is a delightful record which sounds as though it could have been made 40 years ago yet has a timeless feel. The production (credited jointly to Amber and Justin) is exemplary, with the musicians including Amber’s husband Randy Lindley on various guitars and stepfather Dickie Overbey on steel.

As has become customary for an Amber Digby record, everything here is a cover (mostly from the 1960s or early 1970s), but the pair have mixed in some obscure cuts in with the better known songs, and the quality of the 14 songs selected is uniformly high. The subject matter is exclusively relationships: love songs, cheating songs, and tales of marital unhappiness.

My favorite track on the album is the pair’s version of ‘Lead Me On’, a smash hit in 1971 for Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn. This has a couple on the verge of an illicit relationship and wanting some encouragement. The vocals are particularly outstanding here from both Justin and Amber.

The fiddle-led ‘Which One is To Blame’ is another delightful cheating song mixing regret and desire, with Amber and Justin swapping lines through the song, as they share the anguish of forbidden love:

Amber: Somehow I can’t blame myself
Although I guess I should
Justin: And I can’t put the blame on you
I wouldn’t if I could
Amber: We’ve made ourselves the gossip of the town
Justin: The things we’ve done can only bring us shame
Together: We’ve let our passion drag our honor down
I wonder which one of us is to blame

There is less penitence in the defiant passion of ‘After The Fire Is Gone’, where the couple blame their infidelity on a moribund marriage. This is a great song which has been recorded so many times I sighed inwardly when I initially saw it on the track listing, but this is a very fine version which is well worth hearing.

Classic Rewind: Mary Chapin Carpenter – ‘He Thinks He’ll Keep Her’

Album Review: Mary Chapin Carpenter – ‘Come On Come On’

Mary Chapin Carpenter’s fourth album could also be titled Greatest Hits 1992 – 94. Selling an impressive four-million copies, the disc also contains an unprecedented 7 hit singles, all of which charted in the top 20, with 4 of them going top 5.  At the time of the album’s release, and subsequently, Carpenter was riding a wave of success that found her a critical and awards show darling, while also firmly in the good graces of country radio.  It’s not often an artist can ably straddle the fence between commercial and critical success, but with her witty brand of folk-country, infused with just enough zest to sell it to the masses, Mary Chapin Carpenter did just that for the first half of her career.  Her commercial zenith was reached with Come On Come On, and some would say her artistic peak is also seen on this album.

To lead off, Columbia Records sent the plucky novelty tune ‘I Feel Lucky’ to radio. Mary Chapin Carpenter penned the song with the legendary Don Schlitz and it went to #3 on the singles chart, partly aided by a funny, offbeat music video.  Its recurrent status on CMT is one of the first things that made me notice Mary Chapin Carpenter.  Still intent on courting the country audience, the disc’s second single is the elegant country duet with traditional crooner Joe Diffie.  Two would-be lovers contemplate what they’ll mean to each other as the pair deliver the ballad softly amid a sparse piano-driven arrangement.  Peaking at #15, it’s one of the best songs on the album, but one of the lesser successful singles.

A cover of Lucinda Williams’ ‘Passionate Kisses’ followed at radio.  The track from the singer-songwriter’s self-titled 1988 album comes to life with Carpenter and John Jenning’s production.  The guitars rock and the drums roll to give the song its signature melody while the singer asks for all the things she wants in life, along with ‘passionate kisses from you’ to go with them.  Carpenter’s recording earned Williams a Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 1994 and rose to #4 on the country singles chart.

Also co-written with Don Schlitz, ‘The Hard Way’, more than any other song in her catalog, is the best example of the Mary Chapin Carpenter sound.  The guitars are turned up a littler louder than most mixes, the lyrics are brilliant, and the vocals are crisp, confident, and clear.  The song itself is a sort of plea for affection from your significant other, but it’s more a collection of nuggets of wisdom, woven into rhyming verses.  ’Show the world a little light when you show it your heart/We’ve got two lives, one we’re given and the other one we make’.  Another hit, this stopped just outside the top 10 at #11.

Classic Rewind: Stoney Edwards – ‘Hank And Lefty Raised My Country Soul’

A minor hit from 1973:

Album Review: Lonestar – ‘Party Heard Around The World’

Lonestar has more or less been out of the limelight since 2007 when they lost both lead singer Richie McDonald and their record deal with BNA. Party Heard Around The World is the former supergroup’s first studio album featuring Cody Collins as the new lead vocalist. Aside from one single from 2008, “Let Me Love You”, which stalled at #50 and is included in this collection, they have been largely absent from the airwaves. As such, they have a lot of lost ground to recover with both radio and their fans, so one would expect that they would knock one out of the park on their first studio release in nearly four years. Unfortunately, Party Heard Around The World is uninspired and pedestrian and a disappointment on almost all levels.

It’s difficult for any band to hang on to old fans after losing its lead singer. Collins is a competent vocalist, but his voice is not as distinctive as McDonald’s, nor does he convey the same level of emotion as his predecessor. One welcome change is that there are no overwrought power ballads or songs about domestic bliss, nor a sippy cup to be found in this collection. The band blamed their fading popularity at country radio on their former label’s choice of singles. They’ve made a conscious effort to change directions with this release, avoiding the pop excesses and oversinging that had marred many of their 90s and early 2000s hits. Though I wasn’t expecting a collection of hardcore honky-tonk songs, I did think, upon learning that the group had signed with the mostly roots-oriented Saguaro Road Records, that they might have moved to a more Americana-oriented sound. Instead they’ve opted for bland, combining middle-of-the-road mid-tempo numbers that are better suited for the adult contemporary market with a few soft rock numbers, namely the title track and “Y.O.U.”

There is very little here to appeal to country fans, old or new and it is unlikely that this album will reverse Lonestar’s declining commercial fortunes. The band’s sound has changed sufficiently to alienate those who were Richie McDonald fans, while failing to provide anything interesting enough to attract new ones. The electric guitars are too prominent in the mix and too loud; the fiddles and mandolins, though present, are only briefly audible, and the steel guitar is completely absent.

Overall, Party Heard Around The World isn’t a terrible album; its primary flaw is that it is utterly forgettable. The songs are all very similar and tend to bleed together, rendering them unmemorable once they are finished playing. There really isn’t anything about this album that makes it worth recommending, unless one is curious to hear how Lonestar sounds in the post-Richie McDonald era.

Grade: C

Classic Rewind: Keith Whitley – ‘Daddy Loved Trains’

RIP

Week ending 5/8/10: #1 singles this week in country music history

1950: Long Gone Lonesome Blues — Hank Williams (MGM)

1960: He’ll Have To Go — Jim Reeves (RCA)

1970: My Woman, My Woman, My Wife – Marty Robbins (Columbia)

1980: Are You On The Road To Loving Me Again — Debby Boone (Warner Bros./Curb)

1990: Love On Arrival — Dan Seals (Capitol)

2000: The Best Day — George Strait (MCA)

2010: Gimmie That Girl — Joe Nichols (Show Dog – Universal)

Week ending 5/8/10: #1 albums this week in country music history

1965: Buck Owens – I’ve Got a Tiger By the Tail (Capitol)

1970: Charley Pride – Just Plain Charley (RCA)

1975: John Denver – An Evening With John Denver (RCA)

1980: Charley Pride- There’s a Little Bit of Hank In Me (RCA)

1985: Alabama – 40 Hour Week (RCA)

1990: Clint Black – Killin’ Time (RCA)

1995: John Michael Montgomery – John Michael Montgomery (Warner Brothersl)

2000: Dixie Chicks – Fly (Sony)

2005: Larry the Cable Guy – The Right To Bare Arms (Warner Brothers)

2010: Lady Antebellum – Need You Now (Capitol)

Classic Rewind: Marty Robbins – ‘Don’t Worry’

Classic Rewind: Mary Chapin Carpenter – ‘Down At the Twist & Shout’

Album Review: David Ball – ‘Sparkle City’

I’ve always liked David Ball’s music, but it’s been a while since he saw any chart action; 2001’s ‘Riding With Private Malone’ was his only hit after 1995 and he is now recording for the independent Red Dirt Music Company/E1. His last album was a tribute to the classic sounds of country music, dating from the 1950s to the late 80s, with only one original song, but this time he has composed all the material himself.

The overall feel of the record leans to a jazzy swinging Texas groove without much variation. It would go down well live (and is probably a good representation of his live show, not least because he is backed by a core of his own touring band, the Pioneer Playboys, supplemented by outside musicians where required). However, it sounds a little samey over the length of a record with too many of the songs blending together, particularly when coupled with a lack of variety in the subjects tackled. Many of the lyrics are variations on a theme of the restless drifter unwilling ever to settle down, but none of the songs resonates as much as, say, the similarly themed ‘Freewheeler’, title track of David’s last original record in 2004 and one of my favorites of his.

The album opens with the entertaining but unsubtle double entendre of ‘Hot Water Pipe’, which was a winter single for David.  The following ‘Country Boy Boogie’ (my least favourite track) has a good groove but is not very interesting lyrically and has annoyingly shouty background vocals in the chorus.

The repetitive ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ is back to the slight jazzy western swing feel as the protagonist makes an unconvincing suggestion that maybe tomorrow he’ll change his restless ways (although I like the line playfully blaming his restless ways on being “born under a green traffic light”) . ‘Smiling In The Morning’ has the frankly unlikable protagonist leaving a short-term lover (not to mention the country – a rather extreme way of avoiding commitment), although I do like the tune.  ‘Back To Alabama’ is better, with its prodigal protagonist dreaming of going home, and a sultry bluesy feel, but by the time we get to the forgettable ‘On Top Of The World’ the groove is sounding a bit tired and very far from sparkling.

There are a few songs which break from the template. I like the rambler’s defence, ‘Just Along For The Ride’, with its loping western feel and melancholy undertones to David’s vocal (even when he talks of winning in Las Vegas), which is reminiscent of the best of David’s past work. There is a similar feel to the lovely ‘Tulsa’, overtly relaxed but layered with an underlying sense of regret, with a musician planning to up sticks and move to LA, “chasing a dream” and wistfully saying,

I hope someday they say good things about me and my song
Hope LA’s glad to see me
Tulsa won’t even know I’m gone

Most of the songs are solo compositions, but three were co-written with L Russell Brown, and they are among the best on the record.  ‘What’ll I Do If I Don’t Have You’, a plaintive last-ditch appeal to a lover planning to leave, has a simple charm and irresistibly sing along melody, and a subtle string arrangement adds to the effect.  The Tex-Mex ‘Houston Again’ may be yet another song about a rambling man not wanting to settle down, but is more interesting than the rest with an actual story – the narrator is running away from Houston because there’s a pretty girl and potential father-in-law there hoping to “rope me in and tie me down”.  It scans badly with an awkward line break in the middle of the word grandchildren, but that aside is one of my favorite tracks.

The last of the co-writes, ‘So Long’ closes the album appropriately with an attractive sounding temporary goodbye song.

I am enjoying listening to this record, but its doesn’t appeal as much as David Ball’s older music.

Grade: B

Classic Rewind: Patsy Cline – ‘Blue Moon of Kentucky’

Album Review: Mary Chapin Carpenter – ‘Shooting Straight In The Dark’

Mary Chapin Carpenter’s third album was released in 1990, and gave her a real breakthrough. Produced with longterm collaborator John Jennings, the record saw her draw on a wide variety of influences. The material (all written by Carpenter herself) is a mixture of slow songs showcasing the velvety texture of her voice, and more commercial up-tempo numbers. It is far from traditional country with fiddle on just two tracks and steel conspicuous only by its complete absence, but it is one of her best records.

The intense lead single ‘You Win Again’ reached #16, peaking in 1991. It’s one of my favorite MCC songs, a despairing mid-tempo tale of a woman in love but aware she is in a losing situation:

I’ve been holding my breath just wondering when
You’ll make some kind of decision
To let me in or let me go
I’ll always lose if I never know
Where I fit in
Baby you win again

The insistently bluesy rock ‘n roll cover ‘Right Now’ followed it to radio and did about as well, reaching #15. The third single, though, was Mary’s biggest hit to date. The irresistible Cajun-styled ‘Down At the Twist And Shout’, featuring Cajun band BeauSoleil, just missed the top spot, peaking at #2, and won the singer her first Grammy. Atypical of most of the artist’s work, it is one of her best remembered songs and a sheer delight.

The final single, the measured ‘Going Out Tonight’, written with John Jennings, was less successful, making #14. It is a well-written song with a sultry vocal about a woman “going out tonight to find myself a friend” in the aftermath of a failed relationship.

My personal favorite track is the charming story song ‘Halley Came To Jackson’ about a family watching Halley’s Comet in 1910, and the baby seeing it again as an old woman 76 years later from the same back porch in Jackson. Tasteful fiddle and dulcimer from Mark O’Connor and John McCutcheon respectively underpin the pretty melody, and the Desert Rose Band’s Herb Pedersen sings backing vocals on the album’s loveliest (and most country) moment. The story was inspired by the life of novelist Eudora Welty, and was adapted some years later into an illustrated children’s book. It is still one of my favorite Mary Chapin Carpenter songs.

Classic Rewind: Norma Jean – ‘Heartbreak, USA’

Norma Jean was a regular on The Porter Wagoner Show from 1961 to 1967, when she quit to start a family.  She was replaced by a relatively unknown singer-songwriter named Dolly Parton.  This song was made famous by Kitty Wells:

Abbreviated Album Review: Chely Wright – ‘Lifted Off The Ground’

To kick off a new feature at My Kind of Country, here’s an abbreviated album review of Chely Wright’s new album, Lifted Off the Ground. Chely. The recently-outed country star who scored hits a decade ago with songs like ‘Shut Up and Drive’ and ‘Single White Female’, has a new album out on the Vanguard label. If you’d like to read a complete review of Lifted Off the Ground, check out Blake Boldt’s excellent synopsis at The 9513. Here are my thought’s on the singer’s new release:

With her new album – which I considered mostly part of a publicity stunt to announce her sexuality – I didn’t expect as much I got from Chely Wright.  What I found after listening was a brilliant blend of country and folk with tinges of rock and pop, aided in part by Rodney Crowell’s encouragement to pursue the songwriter within.  Lifted off the Ground finds the singer ably making the leap to a mature, serious, and literate artist in the vein of Mary Chapin Carpenter and Rosanne Cash, a path I didn’t think the ‘Shut Up and Drive’ singer could venture down so flawlessly.

Here a few choice tracks from the album:

‘Broken’ is a mid-tempo track with a smooth melody.  The basis has the narrator hoping to opt another heart to open up open while offering a diary on her own heartaches.

‘Like Me’ finds the singer directly addressing the issue of her sexuality.  But first, it’s a song about how much a friend know’s about the other.  Then it asks the question: ‘Who’s gonna end up holding your hand?, A beautiful woman or a tall handsome man, There’s no doubt they’ll love you, but it’s yet to be seen’.

‘Damn Liar’  makes Miranda Lambert’s ‘White Liar’, and most every other female get-back-at-him song sound tame compared to this.  It’s a great song with a helluva catchy melody.  ’Damn Liar’ is an angrywoman song, and there’s not enough of those in country music.  Chely is spitting anger with her vocals on this one.  The final line even finds her proclaiming ‘you fuckin’ liar’, making it not appropriate for squeamish ears.

‘Object of Your Rejection’ provides another drawing melody again with insightful lyrics, and again with the intent of vengeance.  Anger seems to be a recurring theme of the album.  This time, it finds the bitter heart-broken lover threatening to be the voice of dissent for all-time, akin to Ronnie Milsap’s ‘There’s No Gettin’ Over Me’, but with more tangible consequences.

Lifted Off the Ground, provides a glimpse into a meaningful and poised artist with something to say and much to unload.  Chely Wright has found her muse.

Grade: A

You can purchase Lifted Off the Ground at amazon.

Classic Rewind: Mary Chapin Carpenter – ‘House of Cards’

Album Review: Mary Chapin Carpenter – ‘Hometown Girl’

Columbia Records’ strategy to market Mary Chapin Carpenter as a country artist is said to have begun with the release of her breakthrough sophomore album State of the Heart (reviewed by Meg last year as part of our Class of ’89 coverage). Prior to that her music was more heavily influenced by folk than country; her 1987 debut album Hometown Girl is a good example of the type of music she was making before she found her commercial niche.

I can’t help wondering who the intended audience was for this album. In its original, independent-release incarnation, I imagine that this was more of a straight folk album. It was re-recorded when Mary landed her deal with Columbia, and producer Steve Buckingham — known for his work with Dolly Parton, Ricky Van Shelton, and Tammy Wynette, among others — was brought in as a co-producer, in order to make the album more commercially appealing. It’s odd that a Nashville producer would be brought aboard before the decision was made to market Mary as a country artist, and stranger yet, that once his commercial flourishes were add to the album, Columbia declined to release any singles and seems to have made little or no attempt to promote Mary to country radio.

Since I’m not a huge Mary Chapin Carpenter fan, I didn’t buy this album when it was first released. Like most people, I didn’t even become aware of her until State of the Heart was released. As a result, I listened to the album for the first time when I was preparing to write this review, which gives me a different perspective than if I were looking back at an album that I’d been listening to for over twenty years. My first impression was that while Hometown Girl is not Mary’s very best work, it is vastly superior to the majority of the overproduced music coming out of Nashville today. Even at this early stage in her career, Mary’s talent as a songwriter is readily apparent. She was the sole writer on seven of the album’s ten songs, and was a co-writer with John Jennings (who co-produced the album with Buckingham) on an eighth song. Her skill in writing literate lyrics is reminiscent of fellow folkie Nanci Griffith, who was making her own attempt to find mainstream commercial success on a major Nashville label around the same time that Hometown Girl was released.

Classic Rewind: Gene Watson – ‘I Won’t Be Sleeping Alone’

Album Review: Miss Leslie – ‘Wrong Is What I Do Best’

This blog’s very first Spotlight Artist, back in January 2009, was the independent neotraditionalist Miss Leslie, who has just released her fourth album. She is not as great a vocalist as Amber Digby (to whom she can be compared in many respects) , but she has the advantage over her of being a songwriter. She has written all but one of the 14 songs on this album, and they are all pretty solid songs in the traditional honky tonk style. The instrumental backing is positively drenched with Miss Leslie’s own fiddle and her husband Ricky Davis on steel, and this record is a sheer joy to listen to from start to finish.

Miss Leslie balances her musical diet of hard honky tonk music and themes rooted in the traditions of country music, with the sensibility and experiences of a 21st century woman in what she calls a ‘patriarchal world’ in the liner notes. These contemporary attitudes are evident from the opening track ‘I Need Me (A Whole Lot More Than I Need You)’ as the protagonist determinedly reclaims some self-respect when she decides she’s better off single and lonely than trying to be what her lover wants.

The theme almost bookends the set, as towards the end of the album we see someone defeated in the same battle. ‘She Gave Up On Herself’ tells the story of a woman who gives too much of herself to the man “she thought she needed so bad” and loses “the best thing she had”, her sense of self. The protagonist of ‘I Can’t Live With You, But I Can’t Love Without You’, is determined not to make that mistake, as she struggles to cope with a difficult relationship, where love is not enough to make everything okay.

Modern technology makes an appearance in the irresistible up-tempo tale of the ‘Drunk Dialer’, who incessantly calls, voicemails and texts her unfortunate sober and sleeping friends through the early hours of the morning. The vibrant title track balances traditional themes with the modern world, with Miss Leslie boldly claiming the honky tonking attitude more usually associated with male performers:

You say that it’s wrong
You’re tired of me leavin’
You’re tired of my late nights
Drunk fights
And mornings without a sound
You got one thing right
I’ve stopped believing
And it makes no sense at all
For me to stick around

Because wrong is what I do best
If I’m not good enough for you
I’ve got one choice left
I try to do what’s right but I end up wrong
And I’m tired of failing all your tests
Because wrong is what I do best

A little more conventionally, ‘Anyone’ is a neat little swipe at an ex who claimed anyone would be better than her, and finds out the hard way he’s wrong:

Anyone could love him and I hear he’s had a few
Yet he still goes on searching for just anyone that will do
So he’s found out that not anyone could be everything he needs
He’s not looking for just anyone
He’s just looking for me

Sad songs and broken hearts are the life blood of country music, and I love the classic sounding heartbreak ballad ‘Turn Around’, where Leslie begs her man not to leave, with copious steel and a beautiful tune. In the deeply resigned ‘All You Do Is Make Me Cry’ the protagonist has given up, realizing there’s no point talking it over any more. ‘There’s Two People Here Not Talking’ is a wry look at a couple not communicating.

Elsewhere, we share the story of a lovelorn woman with a crush on the guitarist playing in her local bar ‘Every Tuesday Night’, with its wider resonance:

Love is just a memory for a broken heart
As you try hard to forget who you have known
But a honky tonk can cure what pulls us all apart
For we’re fools who once a week rely on songs to turn us on

There is clearly going to be a happier ending for the couple in the engaging ‘Let’s Start Over’, as independent traditional country artist Jason Allen joins her on a very retro-styled let’s-get-back-together duet which is very pleasing, with their voices blending well.

There really isn’t a track here I don’t like; the closest is the up-tempo ‘Lie Lie Lie’, which is just okay but doesn’t stick in the mind. The dramatic closing track ‘The Last Time I Drank’ is the confession by a woman who kills her child drunk driving. This may verge a little on the melodramatic, but it is emotionally convincing, and is part of a long tradition of tragic songs of this kind in country music.

The one song Leslie did not write herself comes from her sister Hilary Sloan, and moves out of the honky tonks. ‘Some Things They Can’t Take Away’ is a serious and heartfelt response to the economic downturn, based on its impact on one person. This deeply emotional, sympathetically delivered, song is the highlight of the record, urging a loved one who can’t find work and is struggling to make ends meet, to hold on to their undying human spirit:

Hold on to the little that’s left of your pride
Keep it close to you deep down inside
And remember there’s one who will love you always
Some things they can’t take away

You imagined that you’d find a better life here
Couldn’t get no worse, this must be your year
If you could only break even, then you’d be okay
But you’re back to begging – you’d do anything

Miss Leslie is an artist who is getting better with every release, and this album is thoroughly recommended to anyone who enjoys the more traditional honky tonk end of country music.

Grade: A

You can listen to and buy the Wrong Is What I Do Best from Miss Leslie’s official site.

Classic Rewind: Reba McEntire – ‘Lonely Alone’