Christmas Rewind: Garth Brooks with Kenny Rogers and Trisha Yearwood – ‘The Old Man’s Back In Town’

Christmas Rewind: Ricky Skaggs – ‘Christmas Time’s A-Comin’

Album Review: Lee Ann Womack – ‘Some Things I Know’

Like her contemporary Sara Evans, Lee Ann Womack followed up a neotraditional debut with a sophomore effort which was a little more in tune with contemporary tastes, but still recognizably country. The song quality is high, mainly down-tempo and focussing on failed relationships. Mark Wright produced again, but his work is less sympathetic this time around, leaning a little more contemporary than the neotraditionalism of her debut and too often smothered with string arrangements to sweeten the pill for radio.

‘A Little Past Little Rock’ is a great song about a woman who has left a desperate relationship in Dallas. Struggling to cope as she gets “A little past Little Rock, but a long way from over you”, Lee Ann delivers a fine vocal, but the track is somewhat weighed down by the swelling strings. Lee Ann’s ex-husband Jason Sellers is among the backing singers. Written by Tony Lane, Jess Brown and Brett Jones, it was the album’s first single and peaked at #2.

This performance was matched by a rare venture by the artist into comedy material which is one of my favourite LAW singles, written by Tony Martin and Tim Nichols. With tongue-in-cheek malice the protagonist vents her hatred of her successful romantic rival with the words ‘I’ll Think Of A Reason Later’ as

It may be my family’s redneck nature
Bringing out unladylike behavior
It sure ain’t Christian to judge a stranger
But I don’t like her

She maybe an angel who spends all winter
Bringing the homeless blankets and dinner
A regular Nobel Peace Prize winner
But I really hate her
I’ll think of a reason later

Classic Rewind: Lee Ann Womack and Willie Nelson – ‘Mendocino County Line’

Album Review: Joey + Rory – ‘A Farmhouse Christmas’

Everybody’s favourite country music couple are the perfect pair to share their Christmas festivities with us. This album, their third on Sugar Hill, is designed to accompany their special seasonal live show, which sounds like the perfect evening to get you in the holiday spirit.

‘It’s Christmas Time’, last year’s charming holiday single from the duo, is a sweetly sung and neatly observed expression of the stress and joy of preparing for a family Christmas. It was written by Rory, and has typically lovely sounding production from Carl Jackson, who was responsible for their two previous albums. He was obviously busy this year, as the newly recorded material has been placed in the hands of Gary Paczosa, who has done the engineering on recent albums by the likes of Dolly Parton and Alison Krauss. His production work is excellent, and if not quite as sparkling as that provided by Carl Jackson, it is lovely and clean and focuses attention on Joey’s lovely voice. Musicians are sadly uncredited, but I was particularly struck by some nice fiddle work. The excellent Rounder artist Bradley Walker sings backing vocals on most of the album, and it would be good to hear news of a new album from him in the near future. (Incidentally, he has a track on the Mark Twain project recently produced by Carl Jackson.)

There is less self-composed material than usual for the pair, but more original songs than is customary on Christmas albums, which have a tendency to rehash the same old songs year after year. Here there are just three well known numbers, all worth revisiting. The warmth of Joey’s vocal lends a hopeful undertone to Haggard’s desperate and still-topical ‘If We Make It Through December’. For once the sweetness verges on too much, compared to the bleak original, but is counterbalanced by a gruff cameo appearance from Hag himself. Joey sings a plaintive version of the classic ‘Blue Christmas’, and she and Rory swap verses on a sincere version of ‘Away In A Manger’. The remainder of the material is either new or not very well known.

The saucy western swing ‘I Know What Santa’s Getting For Christmas’ was written by Garth Brooks and Kent Blazy but does not appear to have been previously recorded. Garth did however record ‘The Gift’, a Stephanie Davis story song on his multiple platinum Beyond The Season Christmas album almost 20 years ago. The sweet story of a little Mexican girl who nurses an injured bird back to health and sets it free as her gift to Jesus is well revived here with an attractive retro western feel, and ends with what sounds like the genuine recorded singing of a nightingale. ‘The Diamond O’ is another good Stephanie Davis song, this one about a cowboy Christmas, which allows Joey to try out her yodel.

Rory takes the lead on more songs than usual. By far the best of these is the understated ‘Remember Me, which he wrote with Tim Johnson. Rory takes the role of Jesus reminding us what the celebrations are really about, and this is one of my favourite tracks on the album. In complete contrast, I also enjoyed the bouncy and very secular ‘Come Sit On Santa Claus’ Lap’, written by Shawn Camp and Brice Long with a few lyric changes personalizing it for the couple. This is just fun.

He also sings the piano-led ‘What The Hell (It’s The Holidays)’, an amusing bluesy number written by Wynn Varble and Frank Rogers about the temptations of the Christmas table to a dieter, but one which really demands a more charismatic lead vocal. (Having been entertained by natural comedian Varble’s run on CMT’s Next Superstar this year, I’d rather like to hear his version.) Rory shows more personality on ‘Let It Snow (Somewhere Else)’, a slight but pleasant and cheery tale of a Christmas in the Caribbean, which seems to be this year’s Christmas single (at least, there’s a video). It was written by Rory with Tom Johnson and James Slater and sounds as though it was intended for a Kenny Chesney Christmas album, complete with Jimmy Buffett reference. Rory sounds a little like Garth Brooks on this, the album’s most disposable track (although it is quite cleverly constructed).

Joey is back on lead on the optimistic ‘Another Wonderful Christmas’ which ends the record on the same theme as it opened with ‘It’s Christmas Time’. With its many references to the foibles of their own family and friends, this is perhaps just a little too personal to work more widely.

Overall, this is the kind of Christmas project one would expect from Joey + Rory, sweet but not saccharine, with a helping of humor, and there is a pretty good and un-hackneyed selection of material. It may not get much play in my home eleven months out of twelve, but I can see this as a standby for Christmases to come.

Grade: B+

Classic Rewind: Lee Ann Womack ft Buddy Miller – ‘Don’t Tell Me’

Jonathan Pappalardo’s Top Ten Singles of 2011

While 2011 was a bland and boring year for mainstream country music where anthems to dirt roads, tales about being someone’s honey bee, and odes to plastic party accessories were all over the radio, it did feature some bright spots. There was even one artist I thought was so constantly strong, two of their singles made my top ten for the year. I would’ve added this person’s latest as a third, but two in one top ten is more than enough.

So in addition to complaining about those songs that seem to have taken country music off track, let’s take a moment and celebrate what was good about country music in 2011. And judging by my list, you have to remember that just because a song spent four or five weeks at #1, doesn’t mean it’s of good quality. So here’s my list of favorite songs, all released as singles in 2011.

I’ll have the rest of my list, numbers 11-45, on my own blog later this month.

10. Randy Houser – “In God’s Time”

The balance between religion and spirituality in American popular culture is often shaky – there are those who believe in the teachings derived from texts and others who choose to let a higher power guide them, but don’t necessarily tie it to a particular faith. As there are those who happily merge the two.

Houser’s tale of letting life work itself out by surrendering to a greater force is the ultimate definition of spirituality, the study of the soul. In realty, “Time” is a fundamental lesson in how to live your life – “But no one knows, not you or me, it might be tomorrow or it might never be. Oh, but don’t lose faith. Put it in His hands. ‘Cause it might be that He might have a bigger plan. Than you had in mind. Miracles happen, in God’s time.”

Very rarely does a singer emerge from the shadows to clearly leave their mark by just a song, but Houser has here. Not only is he among the greatest living of all country singers, but also he may be the best trying to have chart success today.

“Time” is nothing short of a masterpiece, a classic and iconic statement from a living profit. Problem is, Houser occupies his time with distracting southern rock – a decision marking his downfall. If he only understood that he was put here to create songs like this, he would sour into the heavens, and fill the shoes of the ilk in his wake.

Classic Rewind: Lee Ann Womack – ‘Does My Ring Burn Your Finger?’

Album Review: Lee Ann Womack – ‘Lee Ann Womack’

For a brief time in 1997 it appeared that country music was finally about to re-embrace its roots. Two female artists made their major label debuts that year and appeared to be leading the trend back towards traditionalism: Lee Ann Womack with her self-titled debut in May, and Sara Evans with Three Chords and the Truth in July. As we now know, these albums were something of an anomaly; country music continued its drift popward and both both Evans and Womack would go on to experiment with more polished, pop-oriented sounds. Nevertheless, Lee Ann has earned a reputation as a primarily traditional artist, thanks in no small part to her platinum-selling debut.

Lee Ann’s vocal style has been compared to that of a young Dolly Parton, and late 60s-style sound of the album highlights the similarities. The fiddle and steel guitar are featured prominently throughout the album, and most of the ballads also feature tasteful and restrained string arrangements performed by The Nashville String Machine. The first single, “Never Again, Again” was released two months in advance of the album itself. Lee Ann had great hopes for the record and was reportedly disappointed when it peaked at #23, even though this is a perfectly respectable showing for a debut record. Another ballad, “The Fool”, was selected as the album’s next single. Lee Ann had been reluctant to record it, saying that it was “a good song, but it’s not ‘Never Again, Again’”. But ironically, “The Fool” surpassed “Never Again, Again” on the charts, just missing the top spot and earning Lee Ann her first bonafide hit. The uptempo “You’ve Got To Talk To Me”, written by Jamie O’Hara, was released as the third single, and like “The Fool”, it peaked at #2. Another uptempo number, “Buckaroo” peaked at #27.

Overall, the album highlights Lee Ann’s strength as a ballad singer. There are some truly beautiful moments on the album with songs such as “Am I The Only Thing You’ve Done Wrong”, which Lee Ann wrote with her ex-husband Jason Sellers and Billy Joe Foster, “Do You Feel For Me”, and “Make Memories With Me”, a gorgeous number performed as a duet with her Decca labelmate and fellow Mark Wright-produced act Mark Chesnutt. “Make Memories With Me” should have been released as a single, but Decca was most likely reluctant to send too many ballads to radio. It’s a shame that there haven’t been any subsequent Womack-Chesnutt duets because their voices work very well together.

The album’s weak spots tend to be the uptempo numbers. Though well performed, “Buckaroo” borders on hokey and it’s not difficult to see why it only reached #27 on the charts. The same is true, to a lesser extent, of the album cut “A Man With 18 Wheels”, although “Trouble’s Here” stands in stark contrast with these two numbers. It actually works quite well, as does the Gospel number “Get Up In Jesus’ Name”, the album’s closing track which features background vocals from Ricky Skaggs and Sharon White.

In retrospect, it’s a pity that Lee Ann didn’t debut four or five years earlier; if she had, she’d have likely enjoyed more consistent success at radio. By the late 90s, listeners appeared to be tiring of Faith Hill and Shania Twain, and Lee Ann seemed to be the perfect antidote, but her success was short-circuited by both her own pop ambitions and the emergence of other, younger country-pop divas such as Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift. Nevertheless, Lee Ann Womack remains my favorite album in the singer’s discography. Cheap copies are readily available from Amazon. Buy one if you don’t already own a copy.

Grade: A

Classic Rewind: Lee Ann Womack – ‘Why They Call It Falling’

Week ending 12/3/11: #1 singles this week in country music history

1951: Slow Poke — Pee Wee King & His Golden West Cowboys (feat. Redd Stewart) (RCA)

1961: Big Bad John — Jimmy Dean (Columbia)

1971: Daddy Frank (The Guitar Man)– Merle Haggard (Capitol)

1981: My Favorite Memory — Merle Haggard (Epic)

1991: Forever Together — Randy Travis (Warner Bros.)

2001: I Wanna Talk About Me — Toby Keith (DreamWorks Nashville)

2011: Country Must Be Country Wide — Brantley Gilbert (Valory)

Classic Rewind: The Judds – ‘Grandpa (Tell Me ‘Bout The Good Old Days)’

Classic Rewind: Lee Ann Womack – ‘The Man Who Made My Mama Cry’

Single Review: Tim McGraw – ‘Better Than I Used To Be’

Even if you’re not a Tim McGraw fan you’ll probably feel happy that a Nashville court has just set him free from his contract with Curb Records, at least pending a further hearing next summer. Feelings may be more mixed about the fact that, quite shamelessly, Curb has immediately released a new McGraw single, apparently in an attempt to wring the last possible drop of profit from their almost-20-year involvement with his career. It remains to be seen whether they will actually try to push this seriously at radio – or indeed release McGraw’s shelved Emotional Traffic album from which this presumably comes.

The song is a very good one, written by Brian Simpson and Ashley Gorley, and I was impressed by it when I first heard it last year, as the title track of Sammy Kershaw’s most recent album. The comparison is unfortunate, as Sammy Kershaw is far superior as a vocalist. Tim’s interpretation is broadly similar, with a thoughtful, subdued opening which works extremely well, although later on he lacks the tenderness and subtlety of the original.

The production is more effective than the rock-influenced sound of much of Tim’s last album, particularly the piano-led beginning but it compares even more unfavorably than the vocal does with Kershaw’s more scaled back version. The opening is very similar, but like the vocal it gets a little bombastic, with too much going on. Lyrically, the song’s message of regret for past behavior and determination to change is an interesting choice given the ongoing dispute between Tim and Curb.

If you missed Sammy Kershaw’s version, check that out first. But this is still a decent performance of an excellent song which deserved to be a hit last time around, and it’s a shame its reception is likely to be overshadowed by comment on the ethical behavior of Curb Records.

Grade: B

Listen here.

Classic Rewind: Johnny Cash and Joni Mitchell – ‘Long Black Veil’

There doesn’t seem to be a live version of the incomparable Lefty Frizzell original of this classic Danny Dill/Marijohn Wilkin song , so this will have to do as a reminder of one of the greatest country songs ever written:

Spotlight Artist: Lee Ann Womack

Lee Ann Womack was born in Jacksonville, Texas, in 1966. Her part-time DJ father encouraged her interest in country music as she grew up. After attending South Plains Community College for a year, where she studied singing country music and sang in the college’s band Country Caravan, she moved on to Belmont College in Nashville where she studied music business and made her first contacts with MCA as an intern, whilst honing her skills as a singer and songwriter. She dropped out of college to marry fellow singer/songwriter Jason Sellers in 1990 and give birth to their daughter Aubrie Lee a year later. This marriage did not last, ending in divorce in 1997, and in 1999 Lee Ann married producer Frank Liddell, with whom she had another daughter.

In 1995 she signed a publishing deal with Tree as a songwriter, and a year later got a recording deal with Decca Records. Her debut album was an immediate success, and launched her as one of the artists most rooted in traditional country music at a time when more pop-influenced artists were dominating the airwaves. She was named the Academy of Country Music’s Best New Female Vocalist. Ex-husband Jason also got a record deal (with BNA) at roughly the same time, but his career failed to take off.

Lee Ann transferred to sister label MCA when Decca closed its door in 1999. Her music was to become more contemporary over the next few years, particularly after she enjoyed a monster hit in the form of the inspirational ‘I Hope You Dance’ in 2000, which swept the wards, winning the CMA and ACM Single and Song of the Year awards, and a Grammy for Best country Song. The song’s crossover success introduced her to a new audience, and brought opportunities including the chance to sing at the award of the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2001 she was CMA Female Vocalist of the Year. However, her fans were disappointed with the direction her music was taking, and her career began to decline.

In 2005 she made a triumphant return to traditional country music with the deliberately retro sound (and artwork) of There’s More Where That Came From, harking back to the glory days of Tammy Wynette in the 1970s, with a selection of material heavy on the cheating songs which had fallen out of favour with country radio in recent years as the industry concentrated on more ‘family friendly’ content and the positive up-tempo numbers ironically decried by Alan Jackson. The album was named the CMA Album of the Year. Three years later she released her most recent album, 2008’s critically acclaimed Call Me Crazy. Her fans have been waiting too long for new music, with the exception of odd tracks like 2009’s rather disappointing single ‘There Is A God’ and the superb ‘Liars Lie’ on the Country Strong soundtrack. However, rumor has it she has been back in the studio and is looking to make a comeback in 2012.

Although she has only released six studio albums and one Christmas album, with patchy singles success of recent years, Lee Ann Womack has had a remarkable impact on the genre. She is widely regarded as the standard bearer for traditional country among female singers on major labels, and as one of the finest singers in country music regardless of sub-genre. She is in demand to duet with or sing harmony on records by artists of the caliber of George Strait (CMA Vocal Event of the Year ‘Good News, Bad News’) and Alan Jackson (‘Til The End’).

Although she is a favorite of the MKOC writers, we haven’t picked Lee Ann as a Spotlight Artist before now because we’d been hoping that we could tie it in with a new album release. Although I understand she should have a new album released next year, we just couldn’t wait any longer. So over this month we’ll be mixing up our end-of-year coverage with a look at the music of Lee Ann Womack.