Album Review: Rodney Crowell – ‘Fate’s Right Hand’

The successor to the critically acclaimed The Houston Kid was released in 2003 on DMZ Records/Epic. Rodney wrote all the songs solo this time, and there is quite a personal feel to most of them, with the overall theme of dealing with a midlife crisis. Stylistically, it really falls outside the boundaries of any particular genre; nothing about it sounds particularly country, and it seems clear that Rodney had moved on.

There were two unsuccessful singles, ‘Earthbound’ and the title track. ‘Earthbound’, Rodney’s last charting single (an unimpressive #60 peak) is not very memorable and too repetitive, but it is at least a bit better than ‘Fate’s Right Hand’. The latter has a dense politically inspired lyric (the one comprehensible section is about Bill Clinton’s sex scandal) but one that doesn’t hang together very well, with Rodney rattling out the words seemingly at random to virtually no melody, with 90% of the song being chanted on a single note. Sending this virtually unlistenable song to radio feels like a deliberate statement that Rodney had no further interest in the country mainstream. Radio returned the favor.

The philosophical opener. ‘Still Learning How To Fly’, which Rodney wrote back in 1997 and previously recorded on the self-titled album by The Cicadas, a one-off band project which allowed Rodney to exercise his inner rocker, is pretty good. It has a more hopeful mood than the remainder of the record, and perhaps might have worked better as the closing track (as it was on The Cicadas).

I liked the slow part-narration ‘Time To Go Onward’, the story of a man gathering the courage to explore his psyche and conscience:

Prison bars imagined are no less solid steel
Time to go inward
Would you believe that I’m afraid
To stare down the barrel of the choices I have made?
…
They say a man without a conscience
Is like a man without a country
Or something like that

It leads appropriately into the fiercely excoriating self-examination of ‘The Man In Me’, which has an excellent and engrossing lyric, but once again no tune to speak of:

I don’t like him at all
God, I gotta get away from the man in me

‘Preachin’ To The Choir’ is equally confessional about Rodney’s failings but with a cheerier feel and quite a catchy arrangement.

‘Ridin’ Out The Storm’ is a beautifully written and sympathetic portrait of a homeless man in New York, who

lies sleeping like an angel while his heart pretends to beat

as he sleeps in a cardboard box. Kim Richey harmonises, and the song proves that Rodney had not lost the knacking of writing a pretty tune.

‘It’s A Different World Now’ has a gentle melody belying the accusatory lyrics as Rodney contrasts youthful idealism with the state of the modern world.

In the name of self defense we built bombs to prove a point
And we’d drop them on our neighbors when their nose got out of joint
To sell the same hamburger rainforests had to go
Hell, we don’t need no air to breathe, but just don’t tell us no

…

In life’s rich beauty pageant we put children on a stage
Say flash your soft white belly child but just don’t act your age
Sell sex like cotton candy to young and old alike
When you’ve outlived the fantasy, girl, you can take a hike

It’s a different world now, but what to do
We had our fifteen minutes and we blew it right on cue
We used up mother nature like a twenty dollar whore
It’s a different world now
There ain’t no more

The tender ‘Adam’s Song’, comforting friends for this loss of a child, is quite pretty with a hushed acoustic backing. The mid-tempo ‘This Too Will Pass’ offers consolation to those enduring difficulties in life. It is apparently in part a tribute to Beatle George Harrison, who died in 2001, and inspired by the latters 1970 song ‘All Things Must Pass’.

I didn’t like ‘Come On Funny Feelin’’, a fluffy little song about wanting to fall in love with an unattractive arrangement.

On this album, interesting lyrics are too often marred by lack of melody. While it was received well at the time of its release by many critics, perhaps still in the thrall of the still much admired The Houston Kid, few if any of the songs would be included on many lists of ‘best songs by Rodney Crowell’. Sales were relatively poor. Used copies can be found very cheaply.

Grade: B-

Album Review: Terri Clark – ‘Fearless’

Perhaps feeling pigeon-holed by country radio, Terri Clark sought a change in direction for her fourth studio release. She hired a new producer, Steuart Smith and turned to fellow singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter to supply her with some new material. The result is a more introspective set of songs, with less twang and more contemporary and middle-of-the-road production. Heralded by many critics as an artistic triumph, country radio was singularly unimpressed and shunned Fearless after the first single peaked at #13. In recent years, radio has become an increasingly unreliable judge of music quality, but this is one time I am firmly in radio’s corner; with one or two exceptions, Fearless is a dull and lifeless collection with little of the charm found in Clark’s previous work. It is my least favorite album in her catalog.

Fearless could just have easily been titled Terri Clark Sings Mary Chapin Carpenter, for Carpenter’s influence can be heard throughout the album, including and beyond the three tracks that she co-wrote. I find Carpenter’s music to be very hit or miss; when she’s great, she’s really great, but many of her albums are tedious to get through. Some of the songs on Fearless might have worked better if Carpenter were singing them, but the style just doesn’t work for Terri Clark. When I listen to a Terri Clark album, I want to hear Terri Clark, not a Mary Chapin Carpenter wannabe.

The lead single, “A Little Gasoline” is one of two tracks on which Terri’s previous producer Keith Stegall acts as a co-producer. It is closer in style to Terri’s earlier work and is the only truly radio-friendly track on the album. There must have been some concern — justified, as it turned out –that radio would not be receptive to Clark’s new sound, and “A Little Gasoline” seems to have been selected as an insurance policy against that. The strategy was somewhat successful; “A Little Gasoline” received enough airplay to reach #13 and become the album’s most successful single. The remaining singles did not fare as well: “No Fear” stalled at #27, “Gettin’ There” reached #41 and the mind-numbingly dull “Empty” did not chart at all.

The one truly enjoyable track on the album is Terri’s exquisite remake of the Carlene Carter-Susanna Clark song “Easy From Now On”. Emmylou Harris, whose definitive version reached #12 in 1978, sings harmony. The stripped-down acoustic guitar and fiddle arrangement gives the track a Celtic feel. It’s a beautiful, well performed and tastefully produced recording. It’s a shame that none of the album’s other tracks come even close to matching it.

Though the album is not to my personal taste, Terri deserves great credit for trying something different, instead of resting on her creative laurels. In theory, collaborating with acclaimed songwriters such as Mary Chapin Carpenter, Kim Richey and Beth Nielsen Chapman sounds like a good idea, but the results just don’t seem to be a good fit for Clark. Like her two previous albums, it reached #4 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart; however, it was her first album that failed to earn gold or platinum certification in the United States. It did earn gold certification in Canada, representing sales of 50,000 units or approximately half the Canadian sales of her previous album.

Grade: C

Fearless is not essential listening, but diehard fans can purchase it inexpensively from Amazon.

Album Review: Terri Clark – ‘How I Feel’

Terri Clark’s third album, released in May 1998, found the singer at the apex of her commericial success, but also at the peak of her ability to balance commercial considerations with showcasing her talents as a writer and interpreting the traditions of country music. Working exclusively with producer Keith Stegall this time out, Terri wrote or co-wrote half of the 12 songs here.  How I Feel continued her run of platinum-selling albums, and was her second top 10 on the Country Albums chart.

The lead single ‘Now That I Found You’, a sweet-sounding testament to – you guessed it – finding the love of your life, sailed to #2 in the US and Canada. Then it’s back to her now-signature rowdy-girl sound for the album’s second single, and Clark’s first chart-topper. The spitfire in Terri’s voice on ‘You’re Easy On The Eyes’ is befitting of the biting lyrics.

‘Everytime I Cry’ peaked just outside the top 10 at #12, and featured a music video depicting spousal abuse. Though the lyrics don’t get into specifics one way or the other, the song was heralded for its message. A fourth and final single failed to make any headway, but deserved an audience nonetheless. ‘Unsung Hero’ sings the praises of appreciation of one who ‘works their magic quietly’. What starts out as a quiet, almost-acoustic production eases into a choir-filled bombast of sound half-way through, contrasting the simplicity of its message.

With most of the singles stacked on the first half, the second half allows Clark to showcase her music muscle a bit. My favorite from the set is ‘Getting Even With The Blues’, one of several songs from the writing team of Clark with Tom Shapiro and Chris Waters. Clark pours on her smokiest vocal to this elegant honky-tonk ballad in the piano-bar fashion. Likewise top-shelf are a punchy take on Kim Richey’s quintessential break-up tune ‘I’m Alright’ and the shuffling country sound of ‘This Ole Heart’.

Other tracks don’t come together so well. ‘Not Getting Over You’ is more in the contemporary mold, slowly morphing into a power ballad. Perhaps the layers of production are added to mask the fact that the lyrics are pretty weak and unsubstantial. This may also be the case with tracks like ‘Till I Get There’ and the almost-title-track ‘That’s How I Feel’.

Despite a couple of missteps, mostly sound-wise, How I Feel would be Clark’s strongest set of songs to date.

Grade: B+

Buy it from amazon.

Album Review: Trisha Yearwood – ‘Everybody Knows’

After four fine albums, Trisha’s fifth effort, released in 1996, was a bit of a disappointment for me. She was in her usual fine vocal form and Garth Fundis produced as usual, but the record overall feels just a little too tasteful at times. The overall mood leans towards AC, and is rather ballad-heavy with a few nods to radio.

The lead single was the radio-friendly ‘Believe Me Baby (I Lied)’, written by Kim Richey, Angelo, and Larry Gottlieb, which hit #1. The bright production belies the regret-filled lyric and passionate vocal as the protagonist admits she never really wanted her man to leave.

It was followed by the broadly similar #3 hit ‘Everybody Knows’, written by Matraca Berg and Gary Harrison, with the protagonist this time fighting with all her friends and family members’ well-intentioned advice about how to cope with her broken heart. Opening track ‘I Want To Live Again’ fits into the same sophisticated mid tempo contemporary radio friendly template with broad commercial appeal.

The third single, ‘I Need You’, flopped in the 30s. The downbeat ballad about a neglected wife pleading for her husband’s renewed attention is a fine song with a beautifully delivered vocal, but it was perhaps a little too subtle or bitter for casual listeners as she comments,

The television seems to be your life’s ambition

And begs for a return to:

That boy
The one that chose me over every other choice

I like all the singles, but my favorite track is the Kevin Welch story song ‘Hello, I’m Gone’, a fiddle-led number about a woman leaving a man in Texas with nowhere particular in mind to go, and nothing but one suitcase, a broken down pickup truck, and a gun:

Man, she’s just running
It don’t matter where
She figures she’ll know where she is when she’s there
And she didn’t leave nothin’ she can’t do without
That’s enough reason for leavin’ no doubt
She turns down the window, turns up a song
Laughs at the weather and says
Hello, I’m gone

Almost as good is the delicately sung AC ballad ‘Maybe It’s Love’, written by Annie Roboff and Beth Nielsen Chapman about the uncertain feelings at the start of falling in love with someone after a period of having frozen her heart. Trisha’s lead vocal and Vince Gill’s harmony are exquisite.

The other highlight is the bitter ‘A Lover Is Forever’, written by Fred Knobloch and Steve Goodman. This is a rejected lover’s diatribe against the man who is leaving her to wed another:

You think a ring upon your hand
Will solve your insecurity…

I know you think you’re so damn clever
You can marry any time you want
But a lover is forever

There is little overt to criticize with the remainder of the material, but it tends to blend together rather. Songs like the soothing ‘It’s Alright’, written by Jamie O’Hara and Gary Nicholson, with husband Robert Reynolds’ Mavericks bandmate Raul Malo on harmony, and ‘Little Hercules’ are the epitome of tasteful production, beautiful singing and thoughtful lyrics that somehow manage to end up less than the sum of their parts. A little more interesting is ‘Under The Rainbow’, written by Matraca Berg and Randy Scruggs about finding domestic contentment in the real world.

The international version of this album boasted three additional tracks, the delicately sung portrait of ‘Even A Cowboy Can Dream’, the boring ‘Find A River’, and the cheery up-tempo ‘The Chance I Take’ (my favorite of the three), but none of these really adds substantially to the album.

The album is easily and cheaply available.

Grade: B

The lucky ones

Bad luck and superstition are synonymous with the second Friday of a month beginning on Sunday.  Even before the countless installments of the Jason Voorhies movies, Friday the 13th of any month was an omen to stay in bed with the covers over your head, for you were surely to meet your doom – or so the superstitious would have you to believe.  Likewise, believers of these alleged myths and urban legends are skeptical and cautious about many things, from black cats, broken mirrors, walking under a ladder or spilling the salt, all of which can be quickly remedied with horseshoes, a rabbit’s foot, or the elusive four-leaf clover.

I’m sure there are many country songs that explore the folk mythology and religious basis that make up all the great palm-itching tales I’ve heard all my life, but I didn’t seek those out.  No, I took the easy approach and did a word search for ‘luck’ in my library and this is what I came up with:

‘The Lucky One’ – Alison Krauss

‘A Good Run of Bad Luck’ – Clint Black

‘Lucky Ones’ – Dixie Chicks

‘Hey Lucky Lady’ – Dolly Parton

‘Lucky That Way’ – Dwight Yoakam

‘I Always  Get Lucky With You’ – George Jones

‘Luck In My Eyes’ – k.d. lang

‘Just My Luck’ – Kim Richey

‘I Feel Lucky’ – Mary Chapin Carpenter

‘Lucky For You (Tonight I’m Just Me)’ – SheDaisy

‘Lucky Enough For Two’ – Tanya Tucker

Not that I am superstitious or anything, but I did give all those songs a spin early this morning, and I implore you to decrease your chances of demise today by knocking on wood, keeping your hat off the bed, and staying away from birds of all kinds.

While you’re at it, share your own songs of luck with us, or tell us your favorite old wives tales.

Secret Collaborations

Recently I’ve bought many Trisha Yearwood albums, namely Hearts In Armor, Inside Out, Real Live Woman and The Song Remembers When, in that order (the last one hasn’t arrived yet). The other day I was listening to all of my Trisha music on shuffle (which adds H,HatPoL and Jasper County to the previous albums) when the song “Try Me” from Jasper County came on. Listening to the song closely, I found that the background singer was very familiar — it sounded like Ronnie Dunn! Checking the Wikipedia page for the album confirmed my suspicion: it was him! I decided I want to find all of these so-called “secret collaborations” (I made up the name myself). It’s basically when another artist (preferably a noticeable one) contributes either by singing or with instruments, but is not credited except possibly in the liner notes.

Here are all of the ones I can think of. Some are repeated from above or past reviews:

Contributed vocals:
“Try Me” by Trisha Yearwood – Ronnie Dunn is singing harmony vocals.
“Mean Girls” by Sugarland – Brad Paisley is playing the guitar on this track.
“Blue Diamond Mines” by Kathy Mattea – Patty Loveless sings harmony vocals.
“Trying To Find Atlantis” by Jamie O’Neal – Carolyn Dawn Johnson does background vocals.
“Where Are You Now” by Trisha Yearwood – Kim Richey and Mary Chapin Carpenter

Contributed Instrumental Work:
“Boy Like Me” by Jessica Harp – Keith Urban is playing guitar.
“I Hope” by The Dixie Chicks – John Mayer does the guitar solo.
“The Weight Of Love” by LeAnn Rimes – Keith Urban has a guitar solo here.
Almost all of Home by The Dixie Chicks – Chris Thile (of Nickel Creek) provided the mandolin work.

So I want you to give me as many as possible!
I know I had more, but I can’t remember them all. I think I knew of another track that Keith Urban played guitar on but I forgot it…