Country music from a fan's point of view since 2008
Released in late 1992, Love’s On The Way was the third album released on the Liberty label and his thirteenth major label studio album. Unfortunately it also signaled the end of Lee Greenwood as a viable chart artist. While the immediate prior release of patriotic songs, American Patriot, had sold platinum in the wake of the cowardly attacks of 9/11/01 and temporarily brought the fading Greenwood back into prominence, this more conventional album again failed to chart. The two singles released from the album made almost no impact – “Before I’m Ever Over You” made the slightest dent on the singles charts reaching #73 and the other single released, “I Never Thought Your Memory Would Ever Go This Far” failed to chart at all despite getting a favorable review in Billboard: “Perhaps country’s Phil Collins, Greenwood has a ballad to brag about. Slow and dreamy instrumentation sets the mood for Greenwood’s pristine performance.”
Of course, by the time this album was released, Greenwood had already turned fifty years old, and was rather long in the tooth for the youth-oriented playlists of the early 1990s. My copy of this album is on an audio cassette so I do not have the songwriter or production credits, although I was able to find the session personnel through other sources.
The album opens up with “Before I’m Ever Over You”, a mid-tempo rocker written by Sandy Ramos and Jerry Van Diver. This is followed by the tender ballads “In Other Words” and “Final Touches”
“Linda Lu” would have made an interesting single. The song was originally an R&B hit in 1959 for Ray Sharpe. Sharpe was sometimes described as the ‘the greatest white-sounding black dude ever’ and the song got some rockabilly airplay as well as R&B.
This is followed by “I Never Thought Your Memory Would Ever Go This Far” (discussed above).
“I Miss The Romance” is a decent nostalgic slow ballad. This is followed by the mid-tempo “Soldier Of Love” and another slow ballad in “Waiting On The Tables To Turn”. All three of these are what I would describe as album filler, albeit of decent quality.
On the other hand “She Wants To Be Wanted Again” is a good song that I can see being a hit had it occurred during Lee’s peak years or had it made its way to Kenny Rogers.
The album closes with the title track “Love’s On The Way”, given a very soulful treatment by Greenwood. This sounds like some something that T. Graham Brown or Con Hunley would have tackled successfully.
This album has a slightly more country sound than does some of his earlier albums; however, the early 1990s were the peak period for the “New Traditionalists” movement. Included among the musicians are such country stalwarts as Don Potter (acoustic guitar); Mark Casstevens (acoustic guitar, mandolin); Steve Gibson (electric guitar); Weldon Myrick & Dan Dugmore (steel guitar); Rob Hajacos (fiddle); Brent Rowan (dobro, electric guitar, bass); Matt Rollings (piano); David Briggs (piano, synthesizer); Mike Lawler (synthesizer, organ); David Hungate, Michael Rhodes (bass); Paul Leim, Eddie Byers (drums); Ron “Snake” Reynolds (percussion); and Andrea Zonn, Greg Gordon, Donna McElroy, Russell Smith, Curtis Young, Carol Chase, Cindy Richardson, Karen Staley, J.D. Martin, Russell Smith (background vocals). Even so this is more of a ‘blue-eyed soul’ album than the market was buying at the time plus, of course, Lee was already well into middle age.
I didn’t dislike any of the songs, but I didn’t really love any of them either. I would give this album a C+ or B-.
After not issuing any albums of new material for over twenty years (1985-2005), Bobby Bare has now issued his third album in the last dozen years. Things Change has a sound more in line with the modern sounds of country music, while offering the sort of story songs that made country music from the period 1940 – 2005 stand apart from most other forms of popular music.
Things Change finds Bobby Bare the songwriter being spotlighted more than was normally the case in the past. Bare has always been a good songwriter, but his focus has always been to find the best songs and focus attention on the writers of those songs. For this album Bare has co-writer credits on five of the songs and was entirely responsible for two other songs.
No doubt radio won’t play this album so there won’t be any hit singles, even though this is an album full of great songs. That said, the album opens up with a song that was an enormous success in Norway in 2012, winning the third Regional Semi-Final stage of Norway’s Melodi Grand Prix 2012 and just missing being selected as Norway’s entrant (out of 800+ entrants) in the Eurovision Song Contest. The version that was so successful in Europe was a duet with Norwegian singer Petter Øien. It is a firm indicator of Bobby’s sustained vocal excellence and popularity in Europe that the Norwegians selected Bare’s song even though it was sung entirely in English. Bobby is a long-time favorite of Norwegian audiences, having toured there frequently since 1964.
The version on the album is not the version that stormed Europe but a recent studio recording. Bare is now 82 years old and brings a mature perspective to the song that perhaps cannot be as effectively told by younger performers:
Cowboy hats will blow off in the wind
Women rule the world, not the men
And things change but then
You turn around and they change againThings change, don’t blink your eye
‘Cause if you do, they’ll pass you by
About the time you think you’ve locked it in
Things change, then change againThat winter bummed you out, just wait for spring
In the middle of a drought just wait for rain
If you think your life’s run out and you can’t win
There’s no doubt things gonna change againThings change, don’t blink your eye
‘Cause if you do, they’ll pass you by
About the time you think you’ve locked it in
Things change, then change againSon, that’s just life, that’s the world we’re living in
That’s the way it’s gonna be ’cause that’s the way it’s always been
Next up is “The End”, a wistful mid-tempo ballad about a love that came unwound.
Bobby teamed up with legendary songwriters Rafe Van Hoy and Billy Burnette to write “Aint No Sure Thing”. As Bobby notes the “the only sure thing is there ain’t no sure things”. This is a mid-tempo semi-rocker.
Bobby co-wrote “The Trouble With Angels” with Robert Deitch. This is a mid-tempo ballad that laments that the trouble with angels is “they never stay, they all fly away“.
Up to this point Bobby had a hand in writing all the songs; however, as noted before, Bobby has a strong appreciation for talented songwriters and he turns to Mary Gauthier for the next two songs.
“I Drink” is a slow ballad that has played itself out many times in many places. Gauthier has described the song as semi-autobiographical:
He’d get home at 5:30
Fix his drink, sit down in his chair
Pick a fight with mama
Complain about us kids getting in his hairAt night he’d sit ‘lone and smoke
I’d see his frown behind his lighter’s flame
Now that same frown’s in my mirror
I got my daddy’s blood inside my veinsFish swim, birds fly
Daddies yell, mamas cry
Old men sit and think
I drink
“Mercy Now” is a very sad song albeit somewhat uplifting and perhaps even spiritual. It certainly speaks accurately to the human condition:
My father could use a little mercy now
The fruits of his labor fall and rot slowly on the ground
His work is almost over, it won’t be long, he won’t be around
I love my father, he could use some mercy nowMy brother could use a little mercy now
He’s a stranger to freedom, he’s shackled to his fear and his doubt
The pain that he lives in it’s almost more than living will allow
I love my brother, he could use some mercy nowMy church and my country could use a little mercy now
As they sink into a poisoned pit it’s going to take forever to climb out
They carry the weight of the faithful who follow them down
I love my church and country, they could use some mercy now
I really was not familiar with Mary Gauthier, but after listening these songs, I’ve made myself a mental note to check out more of her music.
Guy Clark was one of the great songwriters and he teamed with Bobby to write “Trophy Girl”. Apparently this was the last song that Clark wrote. The morale of the story is “trophy girls don’t hang around forever.”
The next two songs “Where Did It Go” and “You Got The Light” were both solo efforts by Bobby, the former a slow ballad and the latter a mid-tempo blues rocker. Both are good songs.
The album closes with one of Bare’s signature songs, the ubiquitous “Detroit City”. Written by Mel Tillis and Danny Dill and twice a hit in 1963, the song perhaps catches the despair of homesickness as well as any song ever written. Bobby is joined by Chris Stapleton on this new recording of his classic hit. The major difference between this track and his 1963 version is a more pronounced rhythm track.
I wanna go home, I wanna go home
Oh, how I wanna go home.Last night I went to sleep in Detroit City
And I dreamed about those cottonfields and home
I dreamed about my mother dear, old papa, sister and brother
I dreamed about that girl who’s been waiting for so long
I wanna go home, I wanna go home, oh, how I wanna go home.Homefolks think I’m big in Detroit City
From the letters that I write they think I’m fine
But by day I make the cars, by night I make the bars
If only they could read between the lines.
Bobby Bare remains what he has always been, a relaxed but expressive singer, with a wry sense of humor and the ability to make you believe the stories he tells. The voice is a little weathered but fits perfectly with the material. Bare was never about pretense and putting the songs across is all that he really cares about – and as always, he succeeds magnificently.
This album is a solid “A” if ever I heard one.
Credits
01 Things Change (Bobby Bare/Jeff Hyde/ Roger Springer)
02 The End (Bobby Bare / John Pennell)
03 Ain’t No Sure Thing (Bobby Bare/ Rafe Van Hoy / Billy Burnette)
04 The Trouble With Angels (Bobby Bare / Robert Deitch)
05 I Drink (Mary Gauthier / Crit Harmon)
06 Mercy Now (Mary Gauthier)
07 Trophy Girl (Bobby Bare / Guy Clark)
08 Where Did It Go (Bobby Bare)
09 You Got The Light (Bobby Bare)
10 Detroit City (Danny Dill / Mel Tillis) – w/ Chris Stapleton
Produced by Max T Barnes & Jimmy Ritchey
Executive Producer: Shannon Bare
Acoustic Guitars: B James Lowrey, Darrell Scott, Max T Barnes
Drums: Eddie Bayer Jr., Shannon Forrest, Gary Kubal
Electric Guitar: Brent Mason, Max T Barnes
Bass: Jimmie Johnson, David Smith , Glenn Worf
Keys: Tim Atwood, Gary Prim, Mike Rojas, Max T Barnes
Background Vocals: Harry Stinson, Stevie Ray Anderson, Robin Barnes,
Wes Hightower, Coleen Gallagher, Bobby Bare Jr., Max T Barnes,
Danny Sheerin
My Kind of Country 