Classic Rewind: Charlie Rich – ‘Behind Closed Doors’

Charlie Rich earned his first #1 hit with this Kenny O’Dell-penned tune.  Likewise, Rich earned his first Grammy for Best Male Country Vocal Performance while the writer took home CMA and ACM trophies for Song of the Year in 1973.   In addition to hitting the top of the Country Singles chart, “Behind Closed Doors” would find a home inside the top 10 of the Adult Contemporary lists, hit the U.S. Top 40 (at #15) and go on to become an international hit in at least five more nations.  Here’s Rich performing his signature song at the 7th annual CMA show.

Album Review: Deryl Dodd – ‘RanDDom as I Am’

Deryl Dodd’s eighth album is released on Texas music specialists Smith Music Group, and is produced by the artist himself. His distinctive nasal tones work well interpreting the material, almost all self-written, and this record has a little more of a Texas/Red Dirt singer-songwritery feel than his previous work.

I really enjoyed the amusing self-mocking ‘Baby Where’s My Bottle’. The semi-alcoholic honky tonker compares himself to a baby, throwing a fit when his sweetheart has taken his bottle of booze away. The entertaining up-tempo honky tonker opens the album with a bang, and is also serving as the first single.

The melancholic ‘Loveletters’ (one of the few outside songs, written by Nate Kipp) has a pretty tune, with the protagonist addressing Virginia, an old love who has left him for an attempt at movie career. He wishes her well but has been unable to drag himself away from the ties of home to follow her:

Love letters and cigarettes
It’s been three years I can’t forget
Unwrap this chain around my neck for good
I’ve memorized every word you wrote and each night they go up in smoke
And I’m gonna die or I’m gonna choke, it’s true
I’m still not done with you

The highlight of the album is ‘Losin’ Ground’, a co-write with his one-time producer Brett Beavers, offers a gripping picture of an embattled farmer who is literally losing land to new highways. Also on a rural theme, ‘FM 2213’ (written by Tommy Conners and D Vincent Williams) paints a pleasantly atmospheric if rather rambling picture of a remote flatland country road.

‘Anybody Out There’ has a singer-songwriter feel. The mellow tune belies the lyric’s portrayal of depression and loneliness, with the protagonist wondering if anyone else has experienced the same feelings.

Fallin’ is a bit dull, repetitive lyrically and limited melodically, but there are better takes on romance on offer. ‘I Can Do This (Joy’s Song)’ is a tender love song with a fine vocal interpretation. Deryl’s own ‘Love Around Here’ is a charming but fairly conventional (and presumably autobiographical) picture of happy domestic life. The pretty, touching ‘Coming Home To You is a personal-sounding love song from a musician on the road missing his wife. Another travelling musician gets an unhappy ending, as his wife tells him he’s been gone ‘One Night Too Long’ in another of the highlights.

Defiant post-heatbreak, the protagonist of the bluesy ‘Somethin’ Ain’t Always Better Than Nothin’, declares,

I’d rather have nothin’ than somethin’ like you

‘Can’t Say No To Larry Joe’ with its raucous singalong pays tribute to a friend with exceptional persuasive powers – particularly when it comes to extending the night’s drinking, so that his
“Let’s just have one more” turns into 22″

Deryl warns,

The best advice I can give is never say hello
Cause you can’t say no to Larry Joe

The record closes with ‘Who Am I’, a rather good humble gospel song.

Overall, this is a solid record, a world away from current radio tastes, but worth a hearing.

Grade: B+

Spotlight Artist: Trace Adkins

Like many of his country music contemporaries, our August spotlight artist Trace Adkins was interested in music from an early age. Born on January 13, 1962 in Springhill, Louisiana, Tracy Darrell Adkins was taught to play the guitar by his father. His maternal grandfather had been a Christian musician, and young Trace followed in his footsteps when he joined the gospel quartet The New Commitments in high school. He studied music at Louisiana Tech University and later worked on an oil rig while continuing to hone his craft playing local clubs and honkytonks. In the early 1990s, he moved to Nashville and continued to play the club and honkytonk circuit there. He eventually garnered the attention of Scott Hendricks, who signed him to Capitol Records.

Success for Trace, though immediate, was inconsistent. His first release for Capitol, “There’s A Girl In Texas”, reached the Top 20. He reached the Top 5 with his next release “Every Light In The House”, and his debut album Dreamin’ Out Loud, released in 1996, achieved platinum status. His second album Big Time also achieved platinum status but only produced one Top 10 single. The next album also produced one Top 10 hit but failed to achieve gold status.

Throughout the first decade of the new millenium, Trace’s sales figures rebounded and in 2003 he became a member of the Grand Ole Opry. His singles didn’t always crack the Top 10 but usually made the Top 20. Lyrically light fare such as “Chrome” and “Hot Mama”, aided by music videos featuring scantily clad women, tended to perform better than more substantive offerings such as “Arlington.” In 2005 he scored his biggest hit with the polarizing “Honkytonk Badonkadonk”, which became his first –and to date, only — platinum single.

After the success of “Honkytonk Badonkadonk”, Trace’s hits began to taper off until he became a contestant on NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice in 2008. During his stint on the program, he released “You’re Gonna Miss This”, which reached #1 and was his first single to crack the Top 20 in nearly two years. During this time he also ventured into acting, appearing on the daytime soap The Young and the Restless, and appearing in the feature films An American Carol in 2008 and The Lincoln Lawyer, alongside Matthew McConaughey in 2011.

In 2009, “‘Til The Last Shot’s Fired”, Trace’s tribute to America’s military men and women, became the highlight of that year’s ACM Awards program, and was released as a charity single to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project.

In 2010, Trace ended a 15-year association with Capitol Nashville when he signed with Toby Keith’s Show Dog-Universal label. His second album for the label is being released today. While his records may not always be stellar, Trace is generally acknowledged as one of country music’s great talents. He suffered a setback in his personal life when a fire recently destroyed his Brentwood, Tennessee home, along with many of his awards and career mementos. We hope that you’ll enjoy our coverage of this sometimes controversial but always interesting performer.