Classic Rewind: Alabama – ‘Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler)’

Classic Rewind: Hank Williams – ‘Hey Good Lookin’

Classic Rewind: Tammy Wynette – ‘Between 29 and Danger’

Album Review: Vince Gill – ‘When Love Finds You’

Vince Gill’s seventh studio album hit shelves nearly two years after his landmark I Still Believe In You. Once again co-produced with Tony Brown, When Love Finds You continued to build on Gill’s newfound superstar status, selling 4 million copies and spawning 6 hit singles, it also built on the singer’s knack for striking the perfect balance between his pop-tinged and traditional country sound.

Meant to recapture the mega success of “I Still Believe In You”, the adult contemporary-leaning ballad “Whenever You Come Around” was showcased as the lead single, and found its way to #2 on the country singles chart in the Summer of 1994. The title track – a #3 hit – follows much of the same electric guitar and synthesizer love song format. The former features Trisha Yearwood singing harmony.

The best showcases for Gill’s fast-fingers guitar playing comes from the album’s pair up-tempo singles. Proving that a lusty ode to womankind can be done right, “What The Cowgirls Do”, written by Vince with Reed Nielsen, rocks hard with a healthy dose of piano and guitar, and the charm of the lyrics – “they love to go all night, and treat you right” – fall just short of chauvinism. Even better is the contemporary country sounds of “You Better Think Twice”, which finds the singer urging a would-be notch on his buddy’s belt to rethink her feelings. Layers of piano and hard-hitting bass playing by Michael Rhodes make it a good time top-tapper. Both songs hit #2 on the country chart.

As good as those up-tempos are, two other singles steal the spotlight on When Love Finds You. The stone country weeper “Which Bridge To Cross (Which Bridge To Burn)”, co-written with the legendary Bill Anderson, tells of a man in love with two women and at a loss over which one to choose. Here, a tinkling honky-tonk piano and a crying fiddle frame Gill’s high lonesome delivery of a stellar lyric. Best remembered today is the perennial “Go Rest High On That Mountain”, featuring Patty Loveless and Ricky Skaggs on harmony. Gill began writing the eulogic ballad after the death of Keith Whitley in 1989 but didn’t finish it until 4 years later following the death of his brother.

There are really no songs here in need of skipping. On the roadhouse-flavored “South Side of Dixie”, co-written with Delbert McClinton, Gill again kicks up his heels and showcases his guitar skills. “If There’s Anything I Can Do” hits just the right groove of pop-country perfection as does “Maybe Tonight”, which Gill co-wrote with his then-wife Janis. Coincidentally, another of the album’s tracks was written with Amy Grant, who would become Vince’s second wife. “If I Had My Way” is a more spiritual and humanitarian love song than a foreshadowing of a romantic relationship, and features a stripped down production.

When Love Finds You found an artist in his commercial prime, and delivering the goods to as many people as he ever would. Vince Gill does not disappoint the masses with this release, be they neo-traditionalist or converted rock and roll fan.

Grade: A-

Buy it at amazon.

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

1966: Jimmy Dean – The First Thing Ev’ry Morning (Columbia)

1971: Freddie Hart – Easy Lovin’ (Capitol)

1976: Marty Robbins – El Paso City (Columbia)

1981: Alabama – Feels So Right (RCA)

1986: Steve Earle – Guitar Town (MCA)

1991: Garth Brooks – Ropin’ The Wind (Capitol)

1996: LeAnn Rimes – Blue (Curb)

2001: Reba McEntire – Greatest Hits Volume III: I’m a Survivor (MCA)

2006: Alabama – Songs of Inspiration (RCA)

2011: Toby Keith – Clancy’s Tavern (Show Dog-Universal)

Classic Rewind: Vince Gill & Reba – ‘Oklahoma Swing’

The second single from the classic When I Call Your Name album, a duet with Reba, peaked at an unlucky #13 in 1990:

Spotlight Artist: Vince Gill

The son of an appellate court judge and part-time musicians, Vincent Grant Gill was born in Norman, Oklahoma. His honor taught the younger Gill to play guitar at an early age, and by the time he was in his teens Vince was playing in local bluegrass bands like the Bluegrass Alliance and later Boone Creek, with Ricky Skaggs. In 1978, an audition with the California-based country-rock band Pure Prairie League. Vince would sing lead on the band’s lone hit single “Let Me Love You Tonight” before exiting and heading to Nashville to pursue a solo career. While in California, Gill met and married Janis Oliver, one half of the 80s hit-making sister duo Sweethearts Of The Rodeo. The couple divorced in 1998 and Gill married contemporary Christian singer Amy Grant in 2000.

In 1984, Vince signed with RCA Records and issued his debut album, Turn Me Loose, which didn’t produce any hit singles but helped earn the singer the Academy of Country Music’s Top New Male Vocalist award that year.  The latter half of the 1980s provided spotty chart success for Gill. It was only after signing with Tony Brown at MCA Records in 1989 that his career took off. When I Call Your Name, his first album for MCA was released in November 1989 and within a year was a platinum-selling success, thanks in no small part to the winning title track.

The 1990s was a time of watershed success for Gill, as every studio album he released was certified platinum. He would eventually sell more than 20 million albums and win more 18 CMA and 20 Grammy Awards. After a decade of consecutive hit-making, the radio hits stopped coming toward the turn of the century for Gill, though his albums continued to sell well. He’s since emerged as an elder statesmen of sorts and a torch-carrier for traditional country music.  He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007.

Radio support or no, Gill is as busy as ever these days as an in-demand backing musician and singer and recording his own albums. He issued a 4-disc set of all new music in 2006 and just released his latest album a week ago today. Keep reading as we revisit the career of Vince Gill all month long here at My Kind of Country.

Week ending 10/22/11: #1 albums this week in country music history

1966: Bill Anderson – I Love You Drops (Decca)

1971: Merle Haggard and The Strangers – Hag (Capitol)

1976: Waylon Jennings – Are You Ready For The Country? (RCA)

1981: Ronnie Milsap – There’s No Gettin’ Over Me (RCA)

1986: Randy Travis – Storms Of Life (Warner Brothers)

1991: Garth Brooks – Ropin’ The Wind (Capitol)

1996: LeAnn Rimes – Blue (Curb)

2001: Martina McBride – Greatest Hits (RCA)

2006: George Strait – It Just Comes Natural (MCA)

2011: Scotty McCreery – Clear As Day (Mercury/19/Interscope)

Week ending 10/15/11: #1 albums this week in country music history

1966: Bill Anderson – I Love You Drops (Decca)

1971: Ray Price – I Won’t Mention It Again (Columbia)

1976: Linda Ronstadt – Hasten Down The Wind (Asylum)

1981: Eddie Rabbitt – Step By Step (Warner Brothers)

1986: Randy Travis – Storms Of Life (Warner Brothers)

1991: Garth Brooks – Ropin’ The Wind (Capitol)

1996: LeAnn Rimes – Blue (Curb)

2001: Martina McBride – Greatest Hits (RCA)

2006: Alan Jackson – Like Red On A Rose (Arista)

2011: Lady Antebellum – Own The Night (Capitol)

Week ending 10/8/11: #1 albums this week in country music history

1966: David Houston – Almost Persuaded (Epic)

1971: Ray Price – I Won’t Mention It Again (Columbia)

1976: Linda Ronstadt – Hasten Down The Wind (Asylum)

1981: Eddie Rabbitt – Step By Step (Warner Brothers)

1986: Janie Fricke – Black and White (CBS)

1991: Garth Brooks – Ropin’ The Wind (Capitol)

1996: LeAnn Rimes – Blue (Curb)

2001: Martina McBride – Greatest Hits (RCA)

2006: Kenny Chesney – Live Those Songs Again (BNA)

2011: Lady Antebellum – Own The Night (Capitol)

Random playlist 4

In the months that I’ve been compiling these lists of my current listening habits, I’ve noticed that a core group of acts have remained in my ears, though the material I’ve chosen from them has been different.  I’ve been neglectful to the new music in my collection this summer so you won’t find any reflections on new releases this time. Still, yet another season goes by and I’m left with another set of recent heavy-rotation tracks in my music library, and I’d like to share them with you.

Alan Jackson – “There Goes” … This comes from one of Jackson’s best albums yet, 1997′s Everything I Love. Hard as it may be for another artist to top the title track from that set, Jackson did it just two releases later with “There Goes” – and has since hit a new high-water mark countless times.  The barroom-inspired easy sway of the melody here draws the listener in much the same way the narrator sings about the woman who’s hooked him.  A rolling steel guitar accompaniment and crying fiddles keep with the melancholy nature of the song, even when the lyrics – “I’m still pretendin’ I don’t need you/I won’t let you know you’re killin’ me” - make you smile.  This is genuine country music pathos at its finest.

Reba McEntire – “Please Come To Boston” … Like her earlier hit with the Everly Brothers’ “Cathy’s Clown”, Reba does a gender-reversal, and of course a narrative reversal in the process, when she tackles Dave Loggins’ 1974 #1 pop hit.  Singing from the other side of the wanderlust, the singer here plays the role of the sensible hometown girl with invitations aplenty from a rambling man, who summons her from Boston, Denver, and finally L.A. Each time she says no. But it’s in flipping pronouns on the song’s powerhouse bridge that McEntire changes things around, and becomes a pining-for-him protagonist when she reveals “Of all the dreams he’s lost or found and all that I ain’t got/He still needs to lean to, somebody he can sing to“.  She continues to turn down his calls to join him, but the tenderness of her tough love opens up the possibility for a happy ending – something the Loggins version never had.  Joan Baez and other females had done all this before, but none came close to Reba’s believability.

Rosanne and Johnny Cash – “That’s How I Got To Memphis” … Maybe it was the allure of Memphis over Boston or L.A. that changes the story, as the singer here elects to follow her love interest to destinations far away.  But she didn’t come here by his side. In this oft-recorded Tom T. Hall narrative, she’s followed the only trail she knows. Returning to the life her love interest knew before her knew her, she’s sure she’ll find him and be able to tell him all the things she wanted to say all along, and of course rescue him from his troubles.  Not just the engaging story told, it’s the elder Cash’s commanding vocal on the final verse and a walking bass line melody that keep this track repeating on my players.

Wynonna Judd- “No On Else On Earth” … Even the most brazen of us have a weakness. After all, the Texas Ranger himself finally succumbed to Alex Cahill. Rocks, fences, and keeping your senses are futile defenses sometimes. Wynonna Judd’s third single as a solo artist quickly introduced her with a signature sound that was all her own and an attitude never heard on those old Judds records.  Even 19 years later, no other tune in the singer’s catalog recalls what her fans would come to know Wynonna for in later years: rocking guitars, cool-as-ice lyrics, and her falsetto-into-growling vocals.

Jo Dee Messina – “Heads Carolina, Tails California” … Like Wynonna, Jo Dee Messina captured her musical essence with an early single. This – Messina’s first out of the chute and a #2 hit in 1996 – caught the lightning of the singer’s effervescent and spunky personality in a bottle, and combined it with an irresistibly reckless spirit.  The in-your-face mix of instruments that makes up the production here went out with the new millennium, which is a shame since this sounds as fresh today as 15 years ago. As was intended, it still leaves me feeling ready to pack a bag and hit the road.

Fleetwood Mac – “Dreams” … “Thunder only happens when it’s raining …”  Saying that line out loud 34 years after the rock supergroup hit the top of the Hot 100 with this Stevie Nicks-penned track, the words fall flat on the tongue in the most sanctimonious way. And certainly the production, heavy with synthetic bass lines and distorting harmonies, has lost a lot of its original sheen, leaving the song a dusty chestnut in the annals of classic rock.  But it’s in Nicks’ bemused performance and the all-inclusive theme that makes it worth repeating. No matter if you’re the one who says “you want your freedom” or the one giving it, after listening, you’ll never again call it quits without listening carefully “to the sound of your loneliness“.

Classic Rewind: Waylon Jennings – ‘Lonesome, On’ry and Mean’

Classic Rewind: Rosanne Cash – ‘Rules Of Travel’

Week ending 9/17/11: #1 albums this week in country music history

1966: Buck Owens and His Buckaroos – Carnegie Hall Concert (Capitol)

1971: Lynn Anderson – You’re My Man (Columbia)

1976: Waylon Jennings – Are You Ready For The Country? (RCA)

1981: Oak Ridge Boys – Fancy Free (MCA)

1986: Hank Williams Jr. – Montana Cafe (Warner Brothers)

1991: Garth Brooks – No Fences (Capitol)

1996: LeAnn Rimes – Blue (Curb)

2001: Toby Keith – Pull My Chain (Dreamworks)

2006: Rascal Flatts – Me and My Gang (Lyric Street)

2011: Jake Owen – Barefoot Blue Jean Night (RCA)

Album Review: Rosanne Cash – ‘Rhythm & Romance’

Following 1982′s Somewhere In The Stars, Rosanne Cash went on a hiatus from recording, partly fueled by drug addiction. A successful stint in rehab in 1984 yielded a sober Rosanne and her first album in nearly 3 years. Rhythm & Romance, which hit shelves in May 1985, returned Cash to the top of the country charts with two of its singles; two more would hit the top 5. The album itself became her second #1 on the country albums chart, and the lead single earned Cash her first Grammy Award, for Best Female Country Vocal Performance.  Rodney Crowell was joined in the production booth by David Malloy this time out.  As the title suggests, the songs relay the wax and wane of romantic relationships and the production sticks to a rhythmic, beat-driven dance-pop sound for most of the album.  Cash would write or co-write all but two tracks here.

The plucky and direct “I Don’t Know You Don’t Want Me”, which features Vince Gill prominently on harmony, finds the singer touting her amorous attitude and good looks before questioning the on again-off again nature of her relationship. Drum machine high in the mix, with plenty of electric piano behind it, the pure pop sound is a fitting showcase for Cash’s fade-the-last-syllable-of-each-word singing style. After hitting the top of the country singles chart, the track would win Cash her first Grammy.  The second single follows the same sound profile as the first so much that the pair become indecipherable during their first 20 seconds.  ”Never Be You”, another chart-topper, isn’t as strong a lyric and without any lyrical punch, the sound becomes stale really fast.  My favorite among the singles are the confidence-laced “Hold On” and “Second To No One”. The former employs the piano more than the percussion for its melody while the latter with its laid back structure is led by vocals and a gentle acoustic guitar. Both hit #5 on the singles chart.

Cash’s songwriting is featured on this album more than any of her releases so far; she wrote the bulk of the tracks here, co-writing with Vince Gill on “Never Alone”, an I’ll-love-you-even-if-you-leave track that’s marred by its synthetic ’80s sound full of slicy electric guitars. One of the first instances of the sound the singer would later cultivate into the second phase of her career can be heard on the elegant “My Old Man”. The lyrics cast a light of realization of mortality coupled with admiration for the narrator’s weathered father, and the tinkling piano and light touch of strings give it air of melancholy reflection.

The sounds found on Rhythm & Romance have aged like a bowl of bananas, but the themes visited are universal and keep the best of the songs relatable. I don’t consider it a must-have in Cash’s catalog, but it is certainly ripe for cherry-picking, which is unfortunate since it hasn’t been released digitally, but was re-released as a 2-for-1 with its preceding album Somewhere In The Stars. You can buy them at amazon.

Grade: B-

Week ending 9/10/11: #1 albums this week in country music history

1966: Buck Owens and His Buckaroos – Carnegie Hall Concert (Capitol)

1971: Lynn Anderson – You’re My Man (Columbia)

1976: Waylon Jennings – Are You Ready For The Country? (RCA)

1981: Kenny Rogers – Share Your Love (Liberty)

1986: Hank Williams Jr. – Montana Cafe (Warner Brothers)

1991: Garth Brooks – No Fences (Capitol)

1996: LeAnn Rimes – Blue (Curb)

2001: Various Artists – O Brother, Where Art Thou Soundtrack (Lost Highway)

2006: Trace Adkins – Dangerous Man (Capitol)

2011: Pistol Annies – Hell On Heels (Columbia)

2011: The 75-(per)cent report

School buses are back on the roads and the leaves are already starting to fall on the roads here in southern Ohio. Crisp nights are upon us, and as we head into final months of 2011, I’m revisiting my growing playlist of my favorite songs and albums released in the first three-quarters. No waxing or pondering on the fate of what’s popular this time, these are just some of my favorite releases of the year, in no particular order, combined with a few words to tell you why in some cases.  Be sure to share your top picks for the 3/4 of the year so far in the comments.

Albums

Sunny Sweeney – Concrete … As I said in my review, if this became the sounding board for all future female country albums, we’d all be better off.

Terri Clark – Roots and Wings … Though it’s not as strong as her previous effort, Clark’s latest, and its lack of airplay, is another page in the long indictment against country radio.  I’d be the first to welcome her back with this material.

Pistol Annies – Hell On Heels

George Strait - Here For A Good Time

Connie Smith - Long Line of Heartaches … Traditional country and classic themes performed by one of country music’s finest singers. A can’t-miss combination.

Chris Young - Neon

Ronnie Dunn – Ronnie Dunn … The Brooks & Dunn frontman hasn’t reached his full potential as a soloist yet – I think he’s still too unsure of himself – but this is a helluva start.

Blake Shelton – Red River Blue

… and on the not-so country side:

Lucinda Williams – Blessed

Adele – 21

Lori McKenna - Lorraine

The Decemberists – The King Is Dead 

Songs

Bradley Gaskin – “Mr. Bartender”

Kenny Chesney & Grace Potter – “You and Tequila”

Pistol Annies – “Lemon Drop”/”Trailer For Rent” … I can’t pick a favorite among these two on the album.

Ronnie Dunn – “Cost of Living”

George Strait – “Here For a Good Time”/”Poison” … It’s been said before, and better, but I really like the title track to Strait’s latest album. And I think “Poison” is one of his finest moments.

Sunny Sweeney – “Staying’s Worse than Leaving”/”Amy”

Billy Currington – “Love Done Gone”

Taylor Swift – “Back to December”/”Mean”

Lucinda Williams – “I Don’t Know How You’re Living”

Album Review: Rosanne Cash – ‘Seven Year Ache’

Rosanne Cash’s first inroads on the country charts came from the minor hits on Right Or Wrong, but it would be Seven Year Ache, with its disparate themes of melancholy and female-empowerment, coupled with exceptionally cerebral material, that set the standard for Cash’s next decade of recording. The memes set here, of folk singer-songwriter sensibilities meets modern pop-country production, have since been repeated by the likes of Mary Chapin Carpenter, Lucinda Williams, Patty Griffin, and any number of other fringe-favorites.

I’ve already written about this album’s first single and its impact on me as a country fan.  Even today, with a seriously out-dated production – the kind of synthetic hand-clap percussion employed here went out with the Atari, and for many of the same reasons – the track still packs a mighty, meaty punch. The dark, contemplative mood of the song – the internal monologue of bewildered, yet determined individual – is offset by the breezy melody and the entire affair is framed by a looping and driving steel guitar track supplied by Hank DeVito. Cash reportedly wrote the song after a fight with then-husband and producer Rodney Crowell.  The songwriter herself says of the lyric:  ”That’s one of those gifts you only get once in life.  I wrote it in about an hour. I just poured my soul out into the song.”  She bared a lot of herself in the process, but gave us, in my opinion, one of the greatest lyrics of our time.  In 1981, “Seven Year Ache” hit #1 on the Hot Country Songs chart, #6 on the Adult Contemporary list, and #22 on the Hot 100.  It’s been covered several times over the years, most notably by Trisha Yearwood (with Cash featured on vocals, providing the harmonies Emmylou Harris sang on the original recording) on 2001′s Inside Out.

The second single and second #1, Leroy Preston’s “My Baby Thinks He’s A Train”, more than any other track Rosanne Cash has recorded save for covers of the Man In Black’s songs, is a testament to Johnny Cash’s musical influence on his oldest daughter.  The steady and chugging back beat is accompanied by blistering guitar work, and progressive lyrics like:

He eats money like a train eats coal
He burns it up and leaves you in the smoke
If you wanna catch a ride, you wait ’til he unwinds
He’s just like a train, he always gives some tramp a ride

“Blue Moon With Heartache” is the only song here besides the title track Cash herself put pen to paper to create. On this brooding number, the results were less satisfying. The story of a woman living in a troubled relationship, and daydreaming about leaving, is played out amid the intrusive electric piano and a swelling, but hushed, string arrangement.  This, too, topped the country singles chart, but a much better candidate for the final single would have been “You Don’t Have Very Far To Go”, written by Merle Haggard and Red Simpson. “Go” is the most traditional country song on the album with steel guitar flourishes and no signs of pop or rock influences, and while simple in form is an effective heart’s-breaking lyric.

At times, Cash seems bent on pushing the boundaries of a female country album as far as she possibly can, in both form and function. Listening to the roadhouse rocker “What Kinda Girl”, clearly as influenced by Ronstadt and The Rolling Stones as by Loretta Lynn and The Tennessee Three, the cheeky lyrics – “I don’t wear pajamas and I don’t sniff glue” – and butchered-grammar rhyme scheme will turn your head on the first few listens, but the track loses much of its appeal soon after you’re over the cheap tricks.  ”Only Human” may be the first time, and maybe still the only, instance of a woman using the word “stoned” on a mainstream country album. Keith Sykes’ honest lyric is marred somewhat by the straight ’80s pop production and the loud backing vocals, but is a marvelous song nonetheless that finds the narrator lamenting her own mortality for the anguish it indirectly causes. Another miss is  ”I Can’t Resist” which ventures into easy-listening territory with Phil Kenzie’s saxophone playing and the singer’s detached vocal. ”Where Will The Words Come From” with Crowell and Harris providing perfectly desolate harmonies, save for a minimal amount of the era’s background noise, follows the singer’s more recent sounds with its spare production.

Seven Year Ache was an album of firsts for Cash, not just in style and substance, but for being her first #1 charting album, housing her first #1 country singles, and her first pop hit.  It also marks the singer’s first instance of finding her artistry. Despite the missteps in production, which can easily be blamed on the release date as much as the artist and producer, this is a collection of great songs that set the stage for the first phase of a remarkable career.

Grade: A-

The album was released as a 2-for-1 with Rosanne’s U.S. debut album and has been re-released on CD and for digital download.

Classic Rewind: Dwight Yoakam – ‘Things Change’

Classic Rewind: Kathy Mattea – ‘Walk the Way the Wind Blows’