Posted on November 2, 2009 by Occasional Hope
A few years ago, Joe Nichols looked to be one of the brightest young country stars, with an interestingly textured voice and a sound with genuinely country roots which still worked on country radio, thanks to some very good songs. His career seems to have gone off track since them – no doubt not [...]
Filed under: Album Reviews | Tagged: Aubrey Haynie, Ben Hayslip, Bill Anderson, Brent Rowan, Brock Stalvey, Buddy Cannon, Colt Ford, Dallas Davidson, Gary Burr, Hank Williams, Jamey Johnson, Jimmy Melton, Joe Nichols, Mac McAnally, Mark Nesler, Mark Wright, Marv Green, Michael Mobley, Neal Coty, Paul Overstreet, Rhett Akins, Rick Tiger, Shawn Camp, Tom Shapiro, Tony Martin, Victoria Shaw, Vince Gill | 8 Comments »
Posted on June 20, 2009 by Occasional Hope
Released in March 1990, Tennessee Woman was another consistent album which sustained Tanya’s run at the top, marrying together commercial radio-friendly appeal with artistic merit. Jerry Crutchfield was at the helm once more for another good selection of sassy pop-country and sensitive ballads.
The energetic mid-tempo first single, ‘Walkin’ Shoes’, written by Emmylou Harris’s ex-husband [...]
Filed under: Album Reviews, Retro Reviews, Spotlight Artist | Tagged: Ben Reed, Bill Lloyd, Don Schlitz, Emmylou Harris, Foster & Lloyd, Gary Stewart, Jerry Crutchfield, Paul Davis, Paul Kennerley, Paul Overstreet, Radney Foster, T Graham Brown, Tanya Tucker | 5 Comments »
Posted on June 17, 2009 by J.R. Journey
Following the success of 1986’s Girls Like Me comeback album, Tanya Tucker released Love Me Like You Used To on Capitol Records in 1987. The release produced three hits. The title track, which served as the album’s lead-single, soared to #2 on the country charts. The two follow-up singles, ‘I Won’t Take Less Than Your [...]
Filed under: Album Reviews, Retro Reviews, Spotlight Artist | Tagged: Bobby Braddock, Dean Dillon, Deborah Allen, Don Schlitz, Paul Overstreet, Tanya Tucker | 7 Comments »
Posted on June 15, 2009 by Razor X
In 1982, Tanya Tucker left MCA Records and signed as the new flagship artist for Arista Records, which was trying to break into the country market. There were no other country artists on the label at the time, and Arista had no infrastructure in Nashville, so it was poorly equipped to market country music. [...]
Filed under: Album Reviews, Retro Reviews, Spotlight Artist | Tagged: Billy Sherrill, Glen Campbell, Jerry Crutchfield, Matraca Berg, Paul Davis, Paul Overstreet, Ronnie Samoset, Tanya Tucker | Leave a Comment »
Posted on June 11, 2009 by Occasional Hope
Daryle Singletary is a man with a genuinely great voice, who might have been one of the best of the neotraditional country singers of the 1990s in terms of sheer vocal ability. Sadly, his chart career was based on fairly mediocre material, and he only had three top 5 hits. I only really [...]
Filed under: Album Reviews | Tagged: Billy Lawson, Charlie Daniels, Chuck Rhodes, Dale Dodson, Daryle Singletary, Don Poythress, Ed Hill, George Jones, Glen Duncan, Gordon Mote, Greg Cole, Jimmy Wayne, John Anderson, John Denver, Paul Overstreet, Rhonda Vincent, Shannon Walker, Sonny Tillis, Terry Skinner, Vern Gosdin, Wynn Varble | 1 Comment »
Posted on June 3, 2009 by Razor X
Posted on May 18, 2009 by Occasional Hope
RCA had a lot of unreleased Keith Whitley recordings in the vaults, and in 1991 the label got his last producer, Garth Fundis, to work on a number of these, leading to the release of Kentucky Bluebird. The album is a bit of a hodgepodge, comprising a mixture of these re-produced tracks, snippets from radio [...]
Filed under: Album Reviews, Retro Reviews, Spotlight Artist | Tagged: Blake Mevis, Dean Dillon, Earl Thomas Conley, Garth Fundis, Gene Watson, Hank Cochran, Hank Williams, John Schneider, Keith Whitley, Lester Flatt, Lorrie Morgan, Paul Overstreet, Ralph Emery, Ricky Skaggs | 5 Comments »
Posted on May 8, 2009 by Razor X
1985’s L.A. to Miami provided Keith Whitley with some badly needed radio hits, but the slick pop-oriented production didn’t sit well with him. Wanting to return to his traditional country roots, he asked RCA executive Joe Galante to shelve the follow-up album that was nearly ready to release and to allow him to start [...]
Filed under: Album Reviews, Retro Reviews, Spotlight Artist | Tagged: Bob McDill, Curly Putman, Don Cook, Don Schlitz, Emmylou Harris, Garth Fundis, J.D. Crowe and the New South, Joe Galante, Keith Whitley, Lefty Frizzell, Paul Overstreet, Ron Hellard, Shelly Mangrum, Sonny Curtis, Trace Adkins, Vern Gosdin, Whitey Shafer | 3 Comments »
Posted on April 22, 2009 by Occasional Hope
Alongside our reviews of albums produced by the ‘Class of ‘89′, we’ve been taking the opportunity to look in depth at some of the other great albums released that year. Perhaps the most ambitious of those was the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s second Will The Circle Be Unbroken project, which harks back to the early [...]
Filed under: Album Reviews, Blockbuster Albums, Retro Reviews, Spotlight Artist | Tagged: Bashful Brother Oswald, Bob Dylan, Bruce Hornsby, Carter Family, Chris Hillman, Don Schlitz, Earl Scruggs, Emmylou Harris, Foster & Lloyd, Highway 101, Jimmy Martin, John Denver, John Hiatt, John Prine, Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash, Levon Helm, Maybelle Carter, Michael Martin Murphey, New Grass Revival, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Paul Kennerley, Paul Overstreet, Paulette Carlson, Randy Scruggs, Ricky Skaggs, Roger McGuinn, Rosanne Cash, Roy Acuff, Steve Wariner, The Byrds, The Whites | 5 Comments »
Posted on March 18, 2009 by Occasional Hope
Joey + Rory were my favorite duo on last year’s Can You Duet, but I felt a little guilty about hoping they would win, because I couldn’t help feeling Joey was really a solo singer, with Rory just there to support her. I would have been perfectly happy if she had built on the exposure [...]
Filed under: Album Reviews | Tagged: Jim McCormick, Joey + Rory, Joey Martin, Max D Barnes, Paul Overstreet, Rory Lee Feek, Tim Johnson | 5 Comments »
