Country music from a fan's point of view since 2008
After some time finding his feet, Adam’s first Australian gold selling album was 2001’s Workin’ Overtime. It also won him a Golden Guitar award for Best Album. It thoroughly deserved both, as this is an excellent album.
He wrote or cowrote the lion’s share of the tracks himself for the first time. The title track, ‘Workin’ Overtime (On A Good Time)’ was co-written with fellow Australian Rod McCormack and American country artist David Lee Murphey. This starts out slow and then ramps it up as Adam quits his job in favour of party time.
McCormack and Jerry Salley teamed up with Adam for ‘The Shake Of A Hand’, a sweet song set to a pretty lilting melody with a wistful nostalgia for a more innocent past. The same team produced the charmingly retro western swing ‘Two Steppin’ Fool’, in which Adam offers himself as a replacement for a cheater.
Adam and Rod McCormack were joined by Sonny Tillis to write ‘What It Used To Be’, a lovely sad ballad about the aftermath of a failed relationship. Matt King co-wrote the mid-paced ‘I’ll Drink To That’, a swaggering response to a wife’s ultimatum to stop drinking to excess in which the booze looks like winning:
Hangovers hurt me in the morning
But living with a crazy woman
Sure to give a man a heart attack
So I’ll drink to that
I’ll raise my glass and
Here’s to all the good times that you said we never had
This beer ain’t half as bitter as
This trouble you’ve been causing
With these threats that you’ll be walking
If I touch another drop
I’ll drink to that
Rick Price cowrote two songs with Adam and Rod, both love songs. ‘One Of A Kind’ is a sweet ballad, earnestly delivered by Adam, while ‘Little Bitty Thing Called’ is slighter lyrically but a fun little ditty.
A few covers or outside songs were thrown in. ‘The House That Jack Built’ is a rapid paced Billy Yates/Jerry Salley story song about a young married couple whose ideal picket fence life is broken up when a richer man comes along, with a fiddle dominated arrangement. Steel guitar leads into the superlative ballad ‘One And One And One’, also recorded by Gene Watson. Adam does it full justice as he portrays a man who retires hurt but dignified when he finds his lover two timing him:
The first time I laid eyes on you it was love for me
It never crossed my mind what all I couldn’t see
Now suddenly there’s more than me you’re livin’ for
I go to you and find a stranger at your door1 + 1 + 1 is one too many
I can’t understand your reasons why
1 + 1 + 1 is one too many
So let me be the one to say goodbyeYou say God blessed you with two good men
And you can’t choose
‘Cause in different ways we both mean the world to you
And you’re wonderin’ now if somehow
I could live with that
But God above wouldn’t call this love so I want out
‘She’s Gone, Gone, Gone’ is a Harlan Howard song first recorded by the legendary Lefty Frizzell and then a top 10 country hit for Glen Campbell. It is upbeat musically, belying a sad lyric, and highly enjoyable with a delightful acoustic arrangement. There is a tasteful cover of the Guy Clark classic ‘Boats To Build’.
‘Beauty’s In The Eye (Of The Beerholder)’ is a comic drinking song which is good fun.
The album closes with a very fine version of Chris Wall’s modern classic ‘I Feel Like Hank Williams Tonight’, most recently recorded by Sunny Sweeney.
Adam is in great voice on this record, and the material is all high quality. I recommend this wholeheartedly.
Grade: A
I loved Mississippi-born, Alabama-raised Tim Culpepper’s solidly traditional Pourin’ Whiskey On Pain half a dozen years ago, and I was delighted to see he had released a follow-up. This is real country music, sung by a man with a great classic country baritone. The prodiction is solid with fiddle, steel guitar and honky on piano. He wrote most of the songs with his wife Jeanette Marie.
The opener ‘Drove Her Away’ is a regretful look at a relationship killed by the man’s poor choices. ‘Another Way To Try’ is a slow ballad about drinking to soothe the pain of a woman leaving.
‘She Only Loves Me’ is about being the lady’s fallback option when no one else is available.
The best song is the almost-title track, ‘Under The Influence’. This is a wonderful tribute to classic country music:
I love to hear some Haggard
Lord he sounds so good with beer
When that jukebox plays some Jones and Strait
You can always find me here
So put on Whitley’s stuff
I’ll slide my barstool up
And you can pour me a shot that’s strong
Cause I’m under the influence of hardcore country songsI wanna hear a crying steel guitar
A fiddle and a five piece band
Give me an ice cold brew
Three chords and the truth
About the workin’ and the common man
I’m hooked on tradition
Inebriated by the honky tonks
And I’m under the influence of hardcore country songsThey didn’t sell their soul for fire and smoke just to be superstars
That’s why I love those legends
They stayed true to who they are
So crank up Hank and turn up Vern
Put on Gene and drink along
Cause I’m under the influence of hardcore country songs
There is a cameo appearance by fellow traditionalist Ken Mellons. Fabulous.
The power of music is also a central element to ‘Thirsty’ (which Tim and his wife wrote with Jacob Bryant), where the protagonist takes refuges from a hot day and missing his loved one in a bar room with a jukebox, with Keith Whitley the final resort. Another great song.
In another song Tim personifies the ‘Sad Ole Country Song’, “a reminder of love gone wrong”.
Tim recounts his life in music with a mixture of fondness and wry regret for his lack of stardom, all inspired by ‘Daddy’s Old Guitar’, while he would
Sing my songs to empty barstools for hardly any pay
But I sing them anyway
The final song (a cowrite with Jeff “Hoot” Gibson) addresses the state of both the USA and country music in ‘Take Back Our Country Again’
Jesus and Jack Daniels are in high demand
Politicians try to sell us on their progressive plans
…They force feed us music on our radio
Killin’ tradition down on Music Row
While they’re gaining ground we’re losing control
Bring on the fiddle, a little misery and gin
And let’s take back our country again
There is some particularly lovely fiddle on this track.
My only regrets about this record are that there are only eight tracks and hat it’s been so long in the making.
Grade: A
Cover of a T Graham Brown song once recorded by George Jones.
Released in late 1977, Cowboys Ain’t Supposed To Cry was Moe’s fifth Columbia album and third to be released in 1977. While six of Moe’s seven albums had cracked the top twenty, this one stalled at #22, a harbinger of things to come. From this point forward, most of Moe’s albums would miss the top twenty and many would not crack the top forty. Despite the declining album sales, Moe would continue to crack the top twenty with his singles, and starting in 1978 would put together a decent run of top ten singles.
The album opens up with the title track, Doodle Owens’ “Cowboys Ain’t Supposed To Cry”. The song was a #13 hit that is sort of a sequel to “Bandy The Radio Clown”
Oh I am just a cowboy on my way back to Houston
I used to play the rodeos but I can’t play ‘em like I used to
I’ve given it up, I’m layin’ it down
I’ve had enough of bein’ a rodeo clown
So if you see a tear runnin down my face
Don’t ask me why, cause cowboys ain’t suppose to cry
Doodle Owens co-wrote “She Finally Rocked You Out of Her Mind” with Whitey Shafer. This song is a mid-tempo ballad about a lad’s mom who gave up on his father and apparently lost her mind. The song is not a typical song for Moe, but it is a thoughtful song that makes for a good album track:
Papa, it’s so good to see you seeing you off of the wine
Papa, you barely miss mama she won’t try to hold you this time
One day her tears did stop falling she gave up on walking the floor
She just sat down in her rocker and never got up anymore.Papa, some people just came and took mama
She was rocked in on that old rocking chair
It seemed like mama just couldn’t stop rocking
And her green Irish eyes held the stare
“Up Till Now I’ve Wanted Everything But You” is a good mid-tempo honky-tonk recrimination barroom ballad. It is a little unusual that the song was written by a woman, Phyllis Powell, but Phyllis shows that she truly understands …
Up till now I’ve wanted everything but you
Well it’s happened I finally got what I’ve been asking for
I know you’re leaving I can tell by the way you slammed the door
It’s over and I’m asking me what can I doUp till now I’ve wanted everything but you
Up till now I’ve wanted everything but what I had
Should have made the best of loving you and just been glad
But it’s just like me who want my share and someone else’s too
Up till now I’ve wanted everything but you
The next two songs are covers of a pair of great country classics in Jerry Reed’s “Misery Loves Company” (made famous by Porter Wagoner) and the Hank Williams classic “Why Don’t You Love Me Like You Used To Do”. Needless to say, Moe handles both of these with aplomb.
Side two of the original vinyl release was “She Loved The Cheatin’ Out of Me”. This was the second single released from the album, reaching #11 in the US; however, our Canadian cousins rocketed this song to #2. For whatever reason, I seemed to miss this song when it was receiving radio airplay. Written by Whitey Shafer & Doodle Owens, this jog-a-long ballad clearly deserved the success it received:
Once I had a warm and willing woman
And it never crossed my heart to cross the street
But lately baby’s left me cold and hungry
For the kind of love that made me want to cheatHer woman’s intuition must have told her
That I was in to wishing I could leave
Cause the woman just came out in my lady
She just loved the cheatin’ out of meWhen a man gets blinded by his passion
His conscience wants to look the other way
Tonight she gave me more than I’d been missing
Cause she loved me till my conscience felt ashamed
“No Deal” was written by Larry Gatlin. As far as I can recall, Larry never recorded the song himself – actually it sounds like a song intended for George Jones. The song is a great slow ballad that should have been a hit for someone. The production on this album sounds like it was meant for the Jones, but Moe does a fine job with the song.
Jim Owens wrote the up-temp “All I Can Handle At Home”, a nice fidelity song with a strong western swing feel:
Came in here to do some drinkin’, not what you’re thinkin’
A little relaxin’s all I got on my mind
But I tell by the way you’re lookin’ at me you are lonely
Honey, you picked up a wrong man this time.‘Cause I got all I can handle at home
I got me a lovin’ machine won’t leave me alone
It wouldn’t be any help to you even if I wanted to
I got all I can handle at home.
Steve Collum wrote “Till I Stop Needing You”, a standard country ballad that I can envision being a hit if released as a single by George Jones, Gene Watson or Moe Bandy.
The album closes out with another Hank Williams classic in “I Could Never Be Ashamed of You”, an excellent song and excellent performance. Truthfully, I cannot imagine Moe making a mess of a Hank Williams song. He’s recorded a bunch of them and his ability to inhabit the songs always shines through. This wasn’t one of Hank’s bigger hits but it is a very fine love song:
Everybody says you let me down
I should be ashamed to take you ’round
Makes no difference what you used to do
Darlin’, I could never be ashamed of youMaybe you were reckless yesterday
But together, we can find a brighter way
In my heart, I know that you’ll come through
Darlin’, I could never be ashamed of youAll the happiness I’ve ever known
Came the day you said you’d be my own
And it matters not what we go through
Darlin’, I could never be ashamed of youMaybe you’ve been cheated in the past
And perhaps those memories will always last
Even though you proved to be untrue
Darlin’, I could never be ashamed of you
Unfortunately my copy of this album was on an audiocassette which I have dubbed onto a CD-R, so the information on it was minimal. From PragueFrank’s Country website, I gathered the following information:
Moe Bandy – vocals / Dave Kirby, Ray Edenton, Reggie Young, Tommy Allsup , Bunky Keels, Leo Jackson, guitars / Weldon Myrick – steel guitar / Bob Moore – bass / Kenny Malone –drums / Johnny Gimble –fiddle / Hargus “Pig” Robbins – piano / Charlie McCoy – harmonica / Ray Baker – producer
It’s a very good album, country through and through with some really good songs and production.
GRade: A-
Continuing our catch-up of some of the great 2017 albums we didn’t get round to reviewing, the fourth album released by modern traditionalist and Opry favourite Teea Goans may be her best yet. Teea has an excellent clear, sweet voice, with strong emotional interpretative skills.
Much of the material consists of covers, but Teea avoids ground which is too well worn. One of the best known songs is a lovely cover of the Don Gibson-penned Ronnie Milsap classic ‘(I’d Be) A Legend In My Time’, which has a stunning vocal and classy arrangement led by steel guitar with some tasteful strings added in. Country standard ‘You Don’t Know Me’ is a perfect fit for Teea.
Teea’s version of the opener ‘Go Down Swingin’’ (originally a minor hit for the all-girl group Wild Rose in 1990) is on the jazzier side of western swing with a bit of scatting thrown in at the start. ‘Steel Guitar Rag’ is an old Bob Wills tune which Tees performs vivaciously.
Previously cut by Ray Price (one of Teea’s primary influences) and Gene Watson, ‘A Way To Survive’ is a great traditional country shuffle, with some lovely fiddle and steel. ‘Heart Over Mind’ is a fine Mel Tllis song which was a hit for him in 1970.
She recruits 90s star Mark Wills as her duet partner on a charmingly playful take on ‘It Ain’t Nothin’’, which completely reinvents the Keith Whitley hit. A mid-tempo Don Williams hit from the 1980s, ‘That’s The Thing About Love’ is more adult contemporary than country, but well sung. ‘Tell Me I’m Crazy’ is a ballad which was recorded in the 90s by both Dawn Sears and Shelby Lynne. Teea’s version has an innocent sweetness belying the desperation of the lyrics.
‘Just Because She Always Has’ is a delicately sung ballad offering a gentle warning to a neglectful but complacent husband that things might be about to change. This beautiful song may be my favorite track.
Churchy piano leads into the confident handclapping gospel of ‘I Know The Lord Will Stand By Me’. In a more contemporary style is the emotional ballad ‘Mercy walked In’.
This is an excellent album which I strongly recommend.
Grade: A+
The song’s about three minutes in, but the chat is worth listening to first.
My Kind of Country 