Classic Rewind: Rhonda Vincent and Gene Watson – ‘Together Again’

Rhonda teams up with one of the finest country singers of all time to sing a classic country duet on the Opry in 2007:

Single Review – Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson – ‘Adam & Eve’

Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson, the Australian husband and wife duo behind 2008’s excellent Rattlin’ Bones, are very sneaky. They’ve mastered the ability to create songs that appear simple in construction, yet reveal their true complexities after multiple listens.

“Adam & Eve,” the (sadly Australian only) first single from their forthcoming Wreck and Ruin (due out in October in the States), is just such a song, detailing a fabulous story of forbidden love against the backdrop of the Garden of Eden and “the first man to live and breathe.”

The crisp songwriting is the bedrock here, balancing details of the familiar biblical verse with enough original touches to make it feel brand new. My favorite of these elements is the naughty sense of wrong that penetrates throughout. It gives the track a somewhat slinky feel that’s best exemplified in the couple’s devious move to get out of dodge:

If he could see us

What would he say

But he was resting on that seventh day

She met a serpent right afternoon

He smiled at her and

She broke the rules

Come on we’re leavin’

No time to waste

The Garden of Eden’s

No longer safe

“Adam & Eve” is as much a mini play as a song and I love that it creates it own quirky world for the listener to play in. The prohibited love affair is constructed so ambiguously, that Chambers and Nicholson invite the listener to use their imaginations to fill in the details. Are these star-crossed teenage lovers escaping disapproving families? Or a couple deep into an affair, jetting off after a spouse finds out? That we don’t know is the real genius, as crafting our own reality makes the song that much more enjoyable.

The production only enhances the overall gratification, as it becomes a third character within the story, helping to move along the plot as grows in intensity. The use of swampy banjo is delightful as it perfectly complements Chambers and Nicholson’s vocals while the inclusion of fiddle smartly increases the tension after the couple escapes one reality for another.

If there’s one downside to “Adam & Eve” it’s the length. Clocking in at 3:05, it seems kind of short and could’ve benefited from being drawn out just a bit more. But the brevity also works in the song’s favor by keeping the proceedings simple and clean, a fact lost on most of what passes as music these days.

Grade: A+ 

Listen to “Adam & Eve” here

Classic Rewind: Skip Ewing – ‘It’s You Again’

Album Review: Rhonda Vincent – ‘Good Thing Going’

While 2006′s All American Bluegrass Girl wasn’t quite up to par with her previous work, Rhonda Vincent recovered nicely with her next project. Released in January 2008, Good Thing Going is a more eclectic set of songs than we’d heard to date from Rhonda, with elements of traditional folk, Western swing and contemporary country offered up alongside the standard bluegrass. The project was co-produced by Rhonda along with her brother Darrin. Her road band The Rage is also featured on the album, which reached #1 on the Top Bluegrass Albums chart and produced two non-charting singles.

The opening track “I’m Leavin’” is one of five tracks on the album written by Rhonda and is reminiscent of some of the lesser known songs in Dolly Parton’s catalog, such as “If You Need Me” and “I’m Gone”. It was released as a single but did not chart despite the excellent vocal performance by Rhonda and fiddle-playing by Stuart Duncan. The next track, the Western swing flavored “The World’s Biggest Fool”, is a far cry from bluegrass but Rhonda pulls it off with gusto. The wedding ballad “I Give All My Love To You” is exquisitely performed and produced but it is one of the least “grassy” songs here, despite the duet vocal from fellow bluegrass star Russell Moore of the band IIIrd Tyme Out. No complaints here, but hardcore bluegrass fans may have been expecting something different. Those traditionalists should be pleased, however, with the title track, which features more traditional instrumentation and high-lonesome vocals.

The most traditional bluegrass song in the collection is a spirited cover version of Jimmy Martin’s fast paced “Hit Parade of Love”, which is possibly my favorite song on the album, though “Scorn of a Lover” is also in contention for best track. The latter features a bluegrass arrangement but the lyrics owe more to traditional country and it sounds like something that Patty Loveless would have nailed on one of her nineties albums. Dottie Rambo’s “Just One of a Kind” is also a nicely done number that should please bluegrass traditionalists.

Rhonda’s albums usually contain at least one religious song. “I Will See You Again” fills that slot this time around. It’s definitely not bluegrass, but it’s a very touching story about an elderly woman who is about to bury her husband but who has faith that she will see him again soon.

Given its close relationship to bluegrass and country, it’s perhaps logical that Rhonda would choose to include some music of Celtic origin on her albums. Ironically, however, the traditional Irish air “The Water Is Wide” is stripped of most of its Celtic elements, and thus, the tune is this album’s biggest stretch. Featuring a guest vocal from Keith Urban, the song is very pretty but is also somewhat bland. I’ve always liked this song and was looking forward to hearing Rhonda’s take on it, but disappointingly, it comes across as an attempt to appeal to a wider audience, a la Alison Krauss. I highly doubt that was the intent, but the track is one of Rhonda’s rare missteps. The album closes with the self-penned “Bluegrass Saturday Night”, which describes the hectic lifestyle of a road musician.

Though not quite as strong as Back Home Again and the excellent The Storm Still Rages, Good Thing Going is nonetheless an enjoyable collection and that is worthy of inclusion in any country or bluegrass fan’s collection.

Grade: A-

Classic Rewind: Rhonda Vincent and Rebecca Lynn Howard – ‘The Angels Rejoiced’

Week ending 7/28/12: #1 singles this week in country music history

1952: The Wild Side of Life — Hank Thompson (Capitol)

1962: Wolverton Mountain — Claude King (Columbia)

1972: It’s Gonna Take A Little Bit Longer — Charley Pride (RCA)

1982: Take Me Down — Alabama (RCA)

1992: The River — Garth Brooks (Capitol)

2002: The Good Stuff — Kenny Chesney (BNA)

2012: Even If It Breaks Your Heart — Eli Young Band (Republic Nashville)

Week ending 7/28/12: #1 albums this week in country music history

1967: Jack Greene – All The Time (Decca)

1972: Charley Pride – The Best of Charley Pride, Vol. 2 (RCA)

1977: Waylon Jennings – Ol’ Waylon (RCA)

1982: Willie Nelson – Always On My Mind (Columbia)

1987: Randy Travis – Always & Forever (Warner Brothers)

1992: Billy Ray Cyrus – Some Gave All (Mercury)

1997: Tim McGraw – Everywhere (Curb)

2002: Kenny Chesney – No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems (BNA)

2007: Brad Paisley – 5th Gear (Arista)

2012: Zac Brown Band – Uncaged (Atlantic)

Classic Rewind: Jerry Lee Lewis – ‘Me And Bobbie McGee’

Jerry Lee Lewis’s version of the Kristofferson classic was a minor hit in 1971:

Abum Review: Rhonda Vincent – ‘One Step Ahead’

One Step Ahead was Rhonda’s 2003 release for Rounder and the first of her albums to really showcase her skills as a songwriter. As always, Rhonda is accompanied by a fine cast of supporting musicians including such aces as Aubrey Haynie (mandolin), Bryan Sutton (guitar), Ronnie Stewart (banjo), Stewart Duncan (fiddle) and brother Darrin Vincent (bass).

The album opens up with “Kentucky Borderline”, a fine breakdown composed by Ms Vincent and Terry Herd. You could describe this one as a train song in the finest tradition of Hank Snow, Jimmie Rodgers and Roy Acuff. The great vocal harmonies on this track are supplied by Jamie Dailey and brother Darrin.

“You Can’t Take It With You” is a gentle ballad from the pens of Curtis Wright and T.J. Knight about a love possibly about to disintegrate slowly.

I’ll give you my love
For the rest of my life
But I want to make sure you know
You can’t take it with you when you go

This song was released as a single to radio, reaching #58.

“One Step Ahead of The Blues” is another Vincent & Herd composition, an up-tempo tune featuring Alison Krauss on harmony vocals. This song probably should have been released as a single. Instead it was the second song on a CD single of “If Heartaches Had Wings” (a song not on this album) released in 2004.

Another Vincent/Herd composition is “Caught In The Crossfire” a rather sad story of divorce as seen through the eyes of a child

I’m caught in the crossfire
Of a world that’s so unkind
I love ‘em both but I can’t choose
Which one to leave behind

“Ridin’ The Red Line” is the song of a truck driver’s homecoming. Another Vincent/Herd composition, the song is noteworthy for the fine mandolin work by Aubrey Haynie with augmented mandolin fills by Cody Kilby.

Webb Pierce, June Hazelwood and Wayne Walker share the songwriting credits on an oldie, “Pathway of Teardrops”. This song has been recorded by many artists, but this version is very reminiscent of the Osborne Brothers recording of the song some years earlier.

The great female vocalist Melba Montgomery supplied “An Old Memory Found Its Way Back”. While Montgomery wasn’t a bluegrass artist, I’ve found that her songs lead themselves to bluegrass interpretations. This is a great ballad sung to perfection by Rhonda Vincent.

I don’t know much about Jennifer Strickland but she sure can write a pretty ballad, this one titled “Missouri Moon” about a love that has come to its end.

Who ever thought I’d be so blue
As I cry beneath that old Missouri moon

As I asked in a prior review, what would a bluegrass album be without a religious song? Much poorer for its absence, so Rhonda has chosen the old Stoney Cooper and Wilma Lee classic “Walking My Lord Up Calvary’s Hill. No version will ever replace the Stoney & Wilma Lee version in my heart, but Ms. Vincent’s version comes close, with Darrin Vincent contributing an excellent guitar solo and harmony vocals.

Another religious song follows, this one penned by Becky Buller, “Fishers Of Men”. This song is performed a cappella by Rhonda Vincent with Darrin Vincent, Mickey Harris and Eric Wilson providing the harmony vocals. This is my favorite track on the album.

Cast your nets aside
And join the battle tide
He will be your guide
To make you fishers of men

Molly Cherryholmes composed the instrumental “Frankie Belle”, the only tune on the album to feature Rhonda’s own mandolin playing.

The album closes with a short rendition of “The Martha White Theme”, a tune long associated with Flatt & Scruggs, whose portion of the Grand Ole Opry was sponsored by Martha White for decades.

One Step Ahead is a very entertaining album and shows Rhonda as a fully realized artist. I’d give it an A. The strength of this album’s songs is demonstrated by the fact that six of these songs would be reprised in her very next album Ragin’ Live.

Classic Rewind: Rhonda Vincent – ‘Is The Grass Any Bluer?’

Album Review – Rhonda Vincent – ‘All American Bluegrass Girl’

Released in 2006, All American Bluegrass Girl captured Rhonda Vincent at the height of her fame. A self-produced set, it features three songs either written or co-written by the singer and peaked at #1 on the Bluegrass album chart and #43 on the Country album chart.

Of note beside the music is the somewhat off-beat cover art, which came about after Vincent decided to forgo the glamour shot and try to act sexy. The cover image somewhat sets the tone for the project, as it’s just a little bit beneath the level of Vincent’s enormous talent.

But there are still some good moments. The excellent self-penned title track leads the album and unlike anything Vincent recorded prior, it details her life-story in song. In three minutes, Vincent perfectly captures the feeling of being one of a handful of female superstars within the bluegrass genre:

All my life they told me,

‘You’re pretty good for a girl

Some day you’ll play the Opry

just like Sonny, Bob and Earl’

I’m livin’ dreams I never dreamed

Mom and Daddy, they taught me right

To be an all American bluegrass girl

who’s singin’ here tonight

Another standout is Honey Brassfield’s “Heartbreaker’s Alibi,” a duet between Vincent and her hero, Dolly Parton. Led by Vincent’s impeccable mandolin picking, the tune details a wonderful story about a woman’s pain after catching her man cheating.

The other duet, Bobby Osborne, Peter Goble and Brian Vincent’s “Midnight Angel” is very good and the inclusion of Osborne as a guest vocalist gives the album an added texture never mind fulfilling a childhood dream of Vincent’s to sing with him. When first listening back in 2006, I wasn’t terribly accustomed to Osborne’s voice, and while his twang is an acquired taste, it adds an indelible magic to the song.

Also excellent is “Rhythm of the Wheels,” Al Wood’s chugging train song placing Vincent as an outcast, living on a locomotive, hoping she isn’t caught. The song succeeds because of the coupling of Vincent and The Rage’s tight harmonies with Charlie Cushman’s banjo licking. But the exuberant energy of “Rhythm of the Wheels” is what really helps it stand out, and cements its place as my favorite song on the whole project.

Unlike any record Vincent released before it, All American Bluegrass Girl takes risks with song selection and dives into subjects she hadn’t really touched upon before. “God Bless The Soldier,” the other self-penned tune, is heavy and clunky and while Vincent means well, the execution never quite came together for me.

On the contrary, Byron Hill and Mike Dekle’s “’Till They Came Home” works really well as a support the military song, and tells a multi-generational story that, in the chorus, gets to the heart of families emotionally effected by war. The effectiveness in storytelling, plus the understated quality of Vincent’s vocal make it my second favorite track on the album:

And as the headlines rolled

Every mother prayed

Every father lay awake

The whole night through

Every brother bragged

Every sister cried

Every hometown across this land held on

Till they came home

All American Bluegrass Girl also bustles with a few gospel songs. The most interesting is “Jesus Built A Bridge To Heaven” do to its funky dobro and acoustic guitar backed accompaniment. Connie Leigh’s “Don’t Act” is a standard Vincent bluegrass rocker, with fiery mandolin and banjo behind the cautionary tale of honoring the bible and being a Christian. It’s a fairly heavy-handed message, and won’t please everyone as it wears its faith too heavily on its sleeve. On the other hand, Val Johnson’s “Prettiest Flower There” is a beautiful story of seeing angels at a funeral but the steel guitar and fiddle mixture throughout bogs down the heavy arrangement.

The album concludes with the instrumental “Ashes of Mt Augustine,” later reprised on Your Money and My Good Looks, and a cover of Roy Acuff’s “Precious Jewel,” sung with her band, The Rage. They turn “Jewel” into a harmonious and classic bluegrass stunner and it works really well to close the album.

Overall, All American Bluegrass Girl is a mixed bag, poking holes in the consistently stellar bluegrass work Vincent was recording for Rounder in the last decade. She moves too freely between bluegrass and acoustic country and the results are good but not great. The religious material and songs about the military are often too heavy handed and polarizing, but there are some moments to treasure, namely the title track and duet with Parton.

Grade: B

Classic Rewind: Nat Stuckey – ‘Sweet Thang’

Back to the seasons (and songs) of my youth

None of my relatives on either side were musicians. I have a cousin who plays piano in his church, but that’s about it. Music in my family came from the radio. In the late 1980s when compact discs were first becoming more popular, my Grandma Journey – always a one-step-ahead kinda woman – began amassing the first CD collection I ever saw, back when the CDs came packaged in cardboard boxes three times the height of the plastic jewel case, for record store display purposes I later deduced. Anyway, grandma’s favorites were tongue-in-cheek classic country songs. Weekends with her, we’d sit at the table in her dining room, playing rummy while a string of tunes from Buck Owens and George Jones played from that huge black player with the dancing orange lights. Songs like “Act Naturally” and “Under Your Spell Again” were regulars, but the one we heard most was Jones singing about the girl he loved in “Saginaw, Michigan”. Grandma was always quick to point out the song’s payoff line to me, in case I missed it this time. “See, he didn’t really find any gold in Alaska”, she would explain. “He lied to that guy so he could marry the daughter and go off and be happy.” She was a big fan of the underdog, my grandma. I knew back then that she and her songs were cool, and I still think so.

When I was five years old my dad bought a tow truck and began a towing service. Going along with him on a run was all I wanted out of life back then. Afternoons and weekends, I spent a lot of my youthful existence in that old blue Chevrolet tow truck while the tape deck schooled me on classic albums from Hank Williams Jr, Randy Travis, and others. But the one I remember best was the old white cassette – if you remember cassette tapes, you’ll remember they were white before record labels decided translucent plastic was more stylish – of Alabama’s Roll On. Released just months after I was born in January 1984 when Alabama was arguably the hottest band in the U.S., the set housed 4 consecutive #1 singles. I couldn’t get enough of the title track back then, but two album cuts stand out to me most now. The band’s southern rock influence is evident on the flick-your-bic-worthy “I’m Not That Way Anymore”. It’s a tale of road-weary musicians grown tame and leaving behind their wild and crazy ways, told behind hushed electric guitar solos with the guys’ airtight harmonies and written by the four band members. Even though I didn’t understand the lyrics, I was taken with slow-burning feel of the song. What you hear on the album was recorded live in Dallas and so was the accompanying music video, though it was never released as a single. The other song that made the biggest impression on me was closing track “Food On The Table”, a simplistic espousing of the staples in life. Its outlaw country-inspired back beat is coupled with an ’80s pop melody that crawls into your brain and stays there. I barely play it anymore, but hardly a week goes by that I don’t find myself tapping a foot and singing “we had food on the table and shoes on our feet…”

My timeline for these memories begins sometime in 1989. I know that because I also have a clear memory of George Strait’s “Baby’s Gotten Good at Goodbye”, making its chart run at the time, being played several times a day. These days, with a niece and nephew both five years old this Summer, knowing that the songs they hear today could be the ones that stay with them until they’re grown, I find myself resisting the urge to only play the top 40 stations and songs for them when either one is with me. Sure, they can and do sing a long with Katy Perry’s big, catchy choruses and know every word to Foster the People’s “Pumped Up Kicks” – it’s edited in my market to remove the words “bullet” and “gun”. But I also want them to hear about a Cajun’s temper when he’s ‘really got trouble like a daughter gone bad’ and the story of Tommy proposing to Katie outside the Tastee Freez. Like me, maybe they’ll wonder if those boys ever make it to the church on Cumberland Road, and they may well have those ‘big old wheels keep rolling through their mind’ too. I wonder if they will relegate the songs I play for them as old-people-music, and find their own way into country music’s past and present. It is a family tradition. Or will they come to appreciate the songs I played them are boss, or whatever slang term the kids are using for great and awesome when that day comes.

Share your first recollections of music and the people who shared it with you in the comments.

Classic Rewind – Rhonda Vincent – ‘At The Corner of Walk and Don’t Walk’

Album Review – Rhonda Vincent and The Rage – ‘Ragin’ Live’

Recorded at the Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis, MO, Ragin’ Live marks Rhonda Vincent’s first live album and first time she’s used her band The Rage on a recording. Released in the spring of 2005, it’s a “greatest hits” album of sorts as she and the band run down their most popular tunes with a palpable fiery energy and immaculate musicianship that comes from performing in front of a crowd.

The set opens with an introduction by Hank Janney, a Bluegrass DJ from Gettysburg, PA before the band rips into a spirited version of “Kentucky Borderline.” Excellent cover tunes follow, such as “Drivin’ Nails In My Coffin,” and their versions of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” Jimmie Rogers’ “Muleskinner Blues,” Flatt and Scruggs “So Happy I’ll Be,” and Bobby Osborne’s “Bluegrass Express.” Each bring something new to the respective tune and because of their consistently high quality, it’s difficult to pick a favorite.

As with her studio recordings, Vincent (and this time the band) shines brightest on the up-tempo material. Lyrical tunes such as “One Step Ahead of the Blues” and “Martha White Theme” are great, but the full breathe of their prowess as a band is best displayed on the incredible instrumental tracks. Hunter Berry’s fantastic fiddle lick at the start of the old-time country “Me Too” gives way to a fabulous mix of fiddle, mandolin and dobro while “Road Rage” makes excellent use of Kenny Ingram’s superb abilities with the banjo. “Son Drop In” is another fine showcase of Barry’s fiddling, and “Frankie Bell” makes sufficient use of Vincent’s other talent as a first rate mandolin picker.

I always felt the decision to pack the seat full of high-energy numbers works well because it gives the recording a sunny and upbeat disposition even if the lyrical content is decidedly somber. The record beams with the band’s enjoyment of playing and singing together and that combination bring a welcomed relaxation to the proceedings.

But it also works in favor of the slower numbers, which stand out against the rip-roaring backdrop. It’s been well documented that Vincent is one of the greatest country and bluegrass vocalists to ever live, and she shows that here.

Classic Rewind: Rhonda Vincent and Gene Watson – ‘It Ain’t Nothin’ New’

Rhonda recorded this one as a duet with Randy Travis when she was on Giant Records in the 90s. Here she is reviving it with her most recent duet partner, the great Gene Watson:

Single Review: D. Vincent Williams – ‘Down By The River’

Texas born D. Vincent Williams has been writing songs in Nashville for over 15 years. A shortlived recording deal with Columbia in the late 90s didn’t work out, but now Bigger Picture Group, his publishing company, have taken him on as an artist in his own right.

Keith Stegall produces with a light hand, giving the pacy track a pleasantly laid back breezy summery feel with solidly country instrumentation which is quite reminiscent of some of what the Zac Brown Band is doing, but also with echoes of 80s groups like Alabama. D. Vincent has a pleasant if not very distinctive voice, which is suited to the unpressured lyric.

The lyric is a relatively undemanding one, inviting a sweetheart to spend the night together in a secluded spot by the river on a balmy summer night. While conventional enough – perhaps verging on cliché with the inevitable truck as the couple’s mode of transport – it is neatly put together, and the attractive melody and arrangement lend it more interest than most songs of its kind. Towards the end it fades into a jam which slightly outstays its welcome, but overall this is a very fresh sounding, attractive record which would be a refreshing addition to the airwaves if program directors were willing to give it a chance.

Grade: B

Listen here.

Classic Rewind: Waylon Jennings – ‘Green River’

Album Review: Clinton Gregory – ‘Too Much Ain’t Enough’

Virginia-born fifth generation fiddler Clinton Gregory made a modest splash in the early 90s as an independent artist who nonetheless gained some airplay. His best remembered song is probably 1991’s top 30 hit ‘If It Weren’t For Country Music (I’d Go Crazy)’. It’s over 15 years since we have heard anything from him, so this unheralded release came out of the blue. He has found a new home on indie label Melody Roundup, which is basically a music publisher whose first CD release this is. The company’s catalog provides the songs, and luckily they are of a uniformly high standard.

Clinton’s sweet tenor and lovely fiddle playing are as good as ever, and his song selection is stellar, if leaning towards the downbeat. The production (by Gregory himself with publisher Jamie Creasy) is tasteful and restrained, with Clinton playing fiddle on eight of the twelve tracks.

‘Too Country For Nashville’ recalls the Nashville of the early 1980s, back when Randy Travis was “washing pots and pans”, when Clinton first came to town. He complains about the lack of any alternative destination for a country songwriter; after all,

You say I’m too country for Nashville
You could be right, these days that may be so
But if I’m too country for Nashville
Where in the hell would you like me to go?

Some may point out that he forgets the Texas option when dismissing the likes of New York, LA and Muscle Shoals as alternatives, but that would take away the point of the song.

A single earlier this year, ‘Bridges’, written by Gary Hannan and Marty Brown paints the picture of a selfish jerk whose woman is dealing with the fallout and having to apologize for his bad behaviour. The man is clearly not worth her self-sacrificial behaviour, and clearly she’s going to reach the end of her patience eventually:

Sometimes she hates how much she still loves him
He’s slowly burning bridges
Faster than she can build them

Classic Rewind: Rhonda Vincent – ‘When The Angels Sing’