Country music from a fan's point of view since 2008
1959: The Battle of New Orleans — Johnny Horton (Columbia)
1969: Singing My Song — Tammy Wynette (Epic)
1979: She Believes In Me — Kenny Rogers (United Artists)
1989: A Better Man — Clint Black (RCA)
1999: Please Remember Me — Tim McGraw (Curb)
2009: Then — Brad Paisley (Arista Nashville)
2019: Whiskey Glasses — Morgan Wallan (Big Loud)
2019 (Airplay): Whiskey Glasses — Morgan Wallan (Big Loud)
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-.
Lee Greenwood’s debut single, ‘It Turns Me Inside Out’, was released on MCA Records in September 1981. It eventually peaked at #17 on the Billboard country chart, but made more of an impact than that position might suggest. Written by Jan Crutchfield, brother of Greenwood’s producer Jerry Crutchfield, it is an excellent song imbued with regret as Lee sings emotionally of his mixed feelings over a breakup:
In a way I guess it’s better
Even though there’s nothin’ good about goodbye
But I know I couldn’t hold you
Now you’ve found the wings and you’ll be groomed to flyIt’s for sure I’m gonna miss you
But I guess that’s what goodbye is all about
In a way I’m glad it’s over
In another way it turns me inside out
Musically the song has a soulful, contemporary vibe, with strings and the now dated backing vocals popular on many recordings of the period.
An album, produced by Jerry Crutchfield, was released in 1982.
The album’s biggest hit and best song followed, and reached #5. ‘Ring On Her Finger, Time on Her Hands’ was written by Don Goodman, Mary Ann Kennedy and Pam Rose, and relates the story of a neglected wife who turns to an affair. Reba McEntire later covered the song, adapting the lyric to tell it from the woman’s point of view. Greenwood’s original, perhaps more interestingly, has him portraying the cuckolded husband but taking the blame.:
She stood before God, her family and friends
And vowed that she’d never love anyone else again, only me
As pure as her gown of white she stood by my side
And promised that she’d love me till the day she diedLord, please forgive her even though she lied
‘Cause you’re the only one who knows just how hard she triedShe had a ring on her finger and time on her hands
The woman in her needed the warmth of a man
The gold turned cold in her wedding band
It’s just a ring on your finger when there’s time on your hands
‘She’s Lying’, another Jan Crutchfield song, peaked at #7. It is an emotional, perhaps even overwrought, ballad about a man who knows his wife is cheating but in response lies himself that he believes her. The production is dated but Greenwood sells it vocally.
The final single was ‘Ain’t No Trick (It Takes Magic)’ sounds more R&B than country, and is not to my taste at all, but was another #7 hit.
Greenwood himself wrote three songs. ‘A Love Song’ is a pleasant AC ballad. ‘Thank You For Changing My Life’ is a bit duller, sounding like Kenny Rogers at his most MOR. ‘Home Away From Home’ is quite a good song about the sacrifices of life as a musician on the road.
‘I Don’t Want To Be A Memory is a pretty good mid-tempo song written by Sonny LeMaire and J B Pennington of the group Exile.
Jan Crutchfield contributed another pair of songs. ‘Love Don’t Get No Better Than This’ is a nice love song, and ‘Broken Pieces Of My Heart’ is a regretful ballad about a failed relationship.
This is far from a traditional country album, but it is competently produced and Greenwood has a strong and distinctive voice. The material is quite strong, and this is not a bad album overall.
Grade: B+
In many ways, Lee Greenwood has had an unusual career in music. Born in 1942, Lee was only a month shy of 39 years old when his first chart single was released on September 19, 1981. This was preceded by a five year run as a blackjack dealer in Las Vegas and as a lounge singer. Older folks in the Orlando (FL) will remember television commercials that Lee did for a local Toyota dealership, although I don’t believe that he ever lived in the Orlando area.
Lee had been knocking about the music business for nineteen years before his big breakthrough, forming his own band in 1962, later working for Opry star Del Reeves. In 1979, Lee was “discovered” by Larry McFaden, bandleader and bassist for Mel Tillis. Greenwood was signed in 1981 by the Nashville division of the MCA label and McFaden became his manager.
Lee’s voice is reminiscent of Kenny Rogers, and while he never became a superstar like Rogers, he did have substantial success for a little over a decade with seven #1 records between 1983 and 1986, and with thirty-three chart records during the 1980s and 1990s. According to Billboard, Lee Greenwood was the 25th most popular country artist of the 1980s. He was an excellent singer and an excellent musician.
Lee’s first single, the Jan Crutchfield-penned “It Turns Me Inside Out”, reached #17 on Billboard’s country charts. Apparently Crutchfield (best known as the writer of “Statue of A Fool”) had initially offered the song to Kenny Rogers, but Kenny rejected the song. The next single “Ring on Her Finger, Time on Her Hands” reached #5, starting a string of eighteen consecutive top ten singles.
Like Martina McBride, Lee Greenwood is best known for a song that was not initially one of his bigger hits. “God Bless The USA” only reached #7 on its initial release in May 1984. The song has endured, however, and continued to sell over the years, eventually selling over a million copies. These days the song has become a standard, performed at events held on holidays such as Memorial Day, Independence Day, Veterans’ Day and numerous other occasions. The song has been covered numerous times including by Dolly Parton, Beyonce’ Knowles and many country and A/C artists. I suspect the song will retain its popularity for a long time to come.
This month we will examine the career of Lee Greenwood, a talented singer, musician and songwriter, whose music has held up well over the years.
1959: White Lighting — George Jones (Mercury)
1969: Galveston — Glen Campbell (Capitol)
1979: All I Ever Need Is You — Kenny Rogers & Dottie West (United Artists)
1989: The Church On Cumberland Road — Shenandoah (Columbia)
2009: River of Love — George Strait (MCA)
2019: Beautiful Crazy — Luke Combs (Columbia Nashville)
2019 (Airplay): Here Tonight — Brett Young (Big Machine)
Forever, John Conlee’s second album, and first for MCA, was released in 1979, produced by Bud Logan. The album’s excellent pop-leaning first single “Before My Time” is a ballad about a woman scared by a previous relationship, just like the guy in Trisha Yearwood’s equally wonderful “The Woman Before Me.” The song peaked at #2.
MCA sought fit to release just one more single from the album. “Baby, You’re Something” is a mostly unremarkable and dated heavily-orchestrated ballad. It reached #7.
“Let’s Keep It That Way” finds a man pleading with his would-be mistress to end things before the affair even starts. Devotion leads the way on the title track, which finds Conlee as a man declaring his loyalty to his woman.
“You Never Cross My Mind” finds him trying to convince himself he’s over his love, despite crying himself to sleep at night. The album’s first truly great song is “I Wish That I Could Hurt That Way Again,” which was recorded by Kenny Rogers on The Gambler a year earlier. Conlee’s version is excellent, despite the heavy orchestration.
The uptick in quality continues on the wonderful “No Relief In Sight,” which was also recorded by Conway Twitty and Dawn Sears. He doesn’t slow down on “The In Crowd,” which finds him coming home to his wife and kids at the end of a long work day.
Looking at the album’s track list I could only wonder if “Crazy” was indeed the song I thought it would be. I have no idea why MCA and/or Conlee would feel the need to include the country standard here, updated to fit within the trends of the late 1970s, except to introduce it to younger audiences who might not be familiar with it. He does handle it well.
Conlee concludes the album with “Somebody’s Leavin,’” which is a stereotypical breakup song, but very good nonetheless. Listening through Forever, I can say the same about the album. There are some excellent tracks, namely those also recorded by other artists, mixed in amongst some filler. In retrospect the singles are among the album’s weakest offerings, especially with more worthy candidates sprinkled throughout.
Forever is very pop-leaning, with heavy orchestration and little to no elements traditional to country music. At least the songs are good to great, which helps a lot.
Grade: B+
1958: City Lights — Ray Price (Columbia)
1968: Wichita Lineman — Glen Campbell (Capitol)
1978: The Gambler — Kenny Rogers (United Artists)
1988: When You Say Nothing At All — Keith Whitley (RCA)
1998: You’re Easy On The Eyes — Terri Clark (Mercury)
2008: Roll With Me — Montgomery Gentry (Columbia Nashville)
2018: Speechless — Dan + Shay (Warner Nashville)
2018 (Airplay): Speechless — Dan + Shay (Warner Nashville)
1958: City Lights — Ray Price (Columbia)
1968: Wichita Lineman — Glen Campbell (Capitol)
1978: The Gambler — Kenny Rogers (United Artists)
1988: When You Say Nothing At All — Keith Whitley (RCA)
1998: Husbands and Wives — Brooks & Dunn (Arista Nashville)
2008: Roll With Me — Montgomery Gentry (Columbia Nashville)
2018: Speechless — Dan + Shay (Warner Nashville)
2018 (Airplay): Speechless — Dan + Shay (Warner Nashville)
1958: City Lights — Ray Price (Columbia)
1968: Born To Be With You — Sonny James (Capitol)
1978: The Gambler — Kenny Rogers (United Artists)
1988: A Tender Lie — Restless Heart (RCA Nashville)
1998: Let Me Let Go — Faith Hill (Warner Bros.)
2008: Chicken Fried — Zac Brown Band (Atlantic)
2018: Speechless — Dan + Shay (Warner Nashville)
2018 (Airplay): Best Shot — Jimmie Allen (Stoney Creek)
1958 (Sales): Oh Lonesome Me / I Can’t Stop Loving You — Don Gibson (RCA Victor)
1958 (Disk Jockeys): Oh Lonesome Me — Don Gibson (RCA Victor)
1968: The Legend of Bonnie & Clyde — Merle Haggard (Capitol)
1978: Every Time Two Fools Collide — Kenny Rogers & Dottie West (United Artists)
1988: I’ll Always Come Back — KT Oslin (RCA)
1998: Bye, Bye — Jo Dee Messina (Curb)
2008: You’re Gonna Miss This — Trace Adkins (Capitol Nashville)
2018: Meant To Be — Bebe Rexha featuring Florida Georgia Line (Big Machine)
2018 (Airplay): Meant To Be — Bebe Rexha featuring Florida Georgia Line (Big Machine)
One of the reasons for Conway Twitty’s longevity as an artist was his knack for adapting to new musical trends. In the 1980s, as country music entered the Urban Cowboy era and adopted a slicker, more pop-oriented sound, Conway did likewise, and maintained his position at the top of the charts. His new sound was particularly evident on the Warner/Elektra recordings. Interestingly, though, he did not follow country music’s trend back toward a more traditional sound in the latter half of the decade. For whatever reason, it seemed to work. His albums from this era only sold modestly but he continued to have radio hits, although somewhat less consistently, and remained relevant to the genre.
Crazy In Love was Conway’s first full-length album of the 1990s. He produced it with his wife Dee Henry and MCA label chief Jimmy Bowen. Like his other recent efforts, there is nary a fiddle nor a steel guitar to be found, although the album itself encompasses a variety of styles from pop and R&B to more traditional country fare. The title track and lead single was perhaps his most pop-leaning single ever. It had originally been included on a Joe Cocker album in 1984 and Kim Carnes took it to #13 on the AC charts in 1988. Kenny Rogers had a competing version from his 1990 Love Is Strange album, which reached #9 on the AC charts. Conway’s version reached #2 on the country charts, a position where many of his singles had landed since he’d rejoined MCA in 1987. Written by Randy McCormick and Even Stevens, there is nothing even remotely country about this song, but it is very good nonetheless. The upbeat “I Couldn’t See You Leavin'”, written by Rory Michael Bourke and Ronny Scaife reached #3, making it the last bonafide hit single of Conway’s career. None of his subsequent efforts would chart in the Top 20. There was one last single released from Crazy In Love, though — the traditional-leaning “One Bridge I Didn’t Burn”, which peaked at a disappointing #57, despite being the best song on the album. It is, however, a track that is crying out for the fiddle-and-steel treatment. The album cut “What’s Another Goodbye”, written by Kent Robbins is another very good track that would have benefited from more traditional instrumentation.
I wasn’t as enamored by Conway’s cover of the 1978 Dr. Hook hit “When You’re In Love With a Beautiful Woman” (another Even Stevens composition) or the slightly overblown power ballad “Just the Thought of Losing You”, written by Michael Bolton and Jonathan Cain. Both are well executed but with so many good country songs available in Nashville at the time (unlike today), one wonders why these two were chosen. The upbeat closing track “Hearts Breakin’ All Over Town” is not bad but is only truly noteworthy because of its co-writer Pam Tillis who was about to enjoy her own commercial breakthrough.
Conway Twitty’s long career saw him embracing a number of different musical styles and as such it is inevitable that everything he did will be to everyone’s taste. While I wouldn’t rate Crazy In Love as highly as his early 70s albums, it is a solid effort for its era. I don’t think I’ve ever truly hated anything Conway Twitty did — aside from his unfortunate treatment of “Danny Boy” during his rock-and-roll days. Crazy In Love is not essential listening, but it is a worthwhile late career effort from a true legend, who truly was the best friend a song ever had.
Grade: B+
Kenny Rogers released his most recent album, You Can’t Make Old Friends, in October 2013. It was his inaugural release for Warner Bros. Nashville and first record of all new material in seven years.
The title track, co-written by Don Schlitz with Caitlyn Smith and Ryan Hanna King, reunited Rogers with Dolly Parton. The mostly acoustic ballad is a masterful look at two singers contemplating their advancing age, wondering how they’ll go on one day without each other. The song peaked at #57 as the album’s only single.
You Can’t Make Old Friends is peppered with contributions from some of the finest writers to emerge out of Nashville in the past thirty years. Schlitz appears again, alongside his longtime co-collaborator Paul Overstreet, on “Don’t Leave Me in the Nighttime,” which features accordionist Buckwheat Zydeco. The track is good but would’ve been a lot stronger had it been given a 1990s styled arrangement.
Allen Shamblin also has two cuts. He wrote the contented “All I Need Is One” with Marc Beeson and the reflective “Look At You” with Mike Reid. The latter is the stronger song by a mile, but pails in comparison to “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” which is the pair’s masterpiece.
The album closes with Dan Seals’ “It’s Gonna Be Easy Now,” which he recorded on On The Front Line in 1986. Rogers’ version is a terrible mix of raspy vocals and an overbearing arrangement that drowns the song in faux-rock.
“When You Love Someone” comes from the pen of Gretchen Peters and composer Michael Kaman. Peters originally recorded the tune as a duet with Bryan Adams for the animated film Spirit, Stallion of the Cimarron in 2002. The track, a tasteful ballad, is very good although it does get list-oriented.
Dave Loggins co-wrote “Neon Horses” with Ronnie Samoset. The song has good bones but flies off the rails when Rogers begins cooing “la la la” throughout. “Dreams of the San Joaquin,” co-written by Randy Sharp and Jack Wesley Roth is one of the album’s most well-written and strongest offerings.
A pair of tunes come from the minds of more contemporary songwriters. Casey Beathard co-wrote “You Had To Be There,” a dark ballad relaying a phone call between an absentee father visiting his son in prison. Power rocker “Turn This World Around,” which comes from Eric Paslay, Andrew Dorff and Jason Reeves, casts Rogers in a modern light that renders him unrecognizable. “‘Merica” is a national pride anthem that I found unappealing.
You Can’t Make Old Friends is far from a terrible album, but it is Rogers’ usual mixed bag of styles and sonic textures. He doesn’t make any wide sweeps but he does choose material that runs the gamut from great to good to awful. In other words, this is a typical Kenny Rogers album.
Grade: B-
In 2006 Kenny Rogers once again found himself signed to a major label — an interesting turn of events for an almost 70-year-old artist. Water & Bridges was released by Capitol and produced by Dann Huff, who is not my favorite producer but I was pleasantly surprised by the fruits of their labors. Like most Kenny Rogers albums, this is a pop-country collection, but unlike a lot of his earlier work, there are no blatant pop songs. Everything is targeted for the mainstream country audience, such as it was a little over a decade ago. The production is polished, but not tastefully restrained.
The title track, which opens the album is a somber ballad written by Tim Nichols and Craig Wiseman, about life’s regrets and the need to accept them and move on. It was too serious for consideration as a single, but a very good song nonetheless. It had previously been recorded by Collin Rate a few years earlier. “Someone Is Me” is a bit of social commentary written by Josh Kear and Joe Doyle, which urges people to take action to correct the things that are wrong with this world instead of waiting for someone else to do it. “Someone Somewhere Tonight” is a little too slickly produced for my taste, but Sarah Buxton harmonizes well with Kenny. This song would later be recorded by Pam Tillis and Kellie Pickler, who took it to #49 on the Billboard country singles chart.
The album’s best song is its lead single “I Can’t Unlove You” which took Kenny to the Top 20 one last time. Peaking at #17, this break-up ballad would have been a monster hit if it had come along during Rogers’ commercial heyday. “The Last Ten Years (Superman)” was the next single. True to its title, it refers to a number of events that were in the news during the previous decade (1996-2006), making reference to events such as the Oklahoma City bombing, the Y2K hysteria, and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, as well as name-checking several celebrities that passed away during that time, from Minnie Pearl, Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash to Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II, and actor Christopher Reeve. It’s a very good song, but as a stripped-down, serious ballad focusing on mostly unhappy events, it didn’t perform particularly well at radio, topping out at #56. “Calling Me”, a mid tempo number featuring a Gospel-like piano and duet vocal by Don Henley fared slightly better, peaking at #53. It’s a little more pop-leaning than the rest of the album but it deserved more attention than it received. It marks Kenny Rogers’ last appearance (to date) on the Billboard country singles chart.
Kenny’s voice shows some signs of wear and tear at times, but for the most part he is in good vocal form and I enjoyed this album a lot more than I expected to. It might have benefited from a little more uptempo material, but overall this is a solid effort. It’s available for streaming and worth checking out.
Grade: B
When She Rides Wild Horses was released in 1999, his first release on Dreamcatcher, it had been a decade since Kenny had a top ten country album or a top ten country song, and fifteen years since a Kenny Rogers song had hit the top forty of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, so it is hard to believe that expectations were that high for this album, especially since Kenny had turned 61 years old, an antique as far as the increasingly youth oriented music world was concerned.
Dreamcatcher was Kenny’s own label and perhaps his proprietary interest in the label sparked renewed life in his recording career. While not a great album, the album did feature some very interesting songs that led to a mild resurgence in Kenny’s career, reaching #6 on the Country albums chart, and selling platinum, the last Kenny Rogers album to do so (and the first one in fifteen years).
The album opens with “Slow Dance More”, a nice mid-tempo homily to the virtues of appreciating one’s family. The song was the second single released from the album, reaching #67 on the country chart. This is the most country sounding song on the album with Russ Pahl on steel guitar, Jonathan Yudkin on fiddle and Richard Bailey on banjo (the only appearance for any of them on these instruments – Bruce Bouton would do the rest of the steel guitar on the album.
Grady Johnson was a common man
Four children and some bottom land
Early to bed, he said, “well that ain’t me
I gotta spend some time with my family
Left to its own device, May becomes June
But children grow up way too soon[Chorus]
So love your neighbor as yourself
Don’t use money to measure wealth
Trust in God but lock your door
Buy low, sell high and slow dance more”
This is followed by “Buy Me A Rose”, the third single and a surprise #1 country hit that also cracked the top forty on the Hot 100 chart. This was Kenny’s first #1 on any chart since 1987. “Buy Me a Rose” is a ballad, the story of a husband who attempts to please his wife with material objects, such as a “three-car garage and her own credit cards“, before realizing that it is the little things and gestures that truly matter.
The song features Billy Dean and Alison Krauss singing background.
He works hard to give her all he thinks she wants
A three car garage, her own credit cards
He pulls in late to wake her up with a kiss good night
If he could only read her mind, she’d say:“Buy me a rose, call me from work
Open a door for me, what would it hurt
Show me you love me by the look in your eyes
These are the little things I need the most in my life”Now the days have grown to years of feeling all alone
And she can’t help but wonder what she’s doing wrong
Cause lately she’d try anything to turn his head
Would it make a difference if she said:“Buy me a rose, call me from work
Open a door for me, what would it hurt
Show me you love me by the look in your eyes
These are the little things I need the most in my life”
Next up is “I Will Remember You” written by Irish balladeer and musician Seamus Egan. This song is a very slow ballad that Kenny sings well.
Eric Kaz and Linda Thompson-Jenner penned “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore”, a slow ballad of breakup and heartache.
The title track “She Rides Wild Horses” written by Bob Corbin and Ted Hewitt, was not released as a single. Although laden with keyboards and strings, I think that the song would have made a good single if pushed toward Adult Contemporary market.
It’s just her and the band and the clean up man
She’s countin’ up her tips, she did alright
She says goodnight
She drives home to a three room flat
Checks her machine and she feeds the cat
She’s almost asleep
Before she turns out the lightIn her dreams, she rides wild horses
And they carry her away on the wind
And they never make a sound
As they fly above the ground
Tonight she rides wild horses again
“The Kind of Fool That Love Makes” was written by Brenda Lee (yes, that Brenda Lee), Michael McDonald and Dave Powelson
Anyone can read the signs
Or the writing on the wall
It’s all right there to see
Except someone like me
Who can’t see the truth at all.It takes a special kind of fool
To stand out in the rain
Somewhere in between
Nothing left to lose
And nothing to be gained.What kind of fool does it take?
To go on loving alone
Like there’s some answer in the ruins
Some silver lining to be found.An even bigger fool might think
You would care if my arm breaks
Before the time that I admit
I’m just the kind of fool love makes.
Tom Jans’ “Loving Arms” was already an oldie, having been recorded many times since released by Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge in 1973. Dobie Gray had the biggest pop hit with the song in 1974 and Elvis hit the county top ten with his posthumous 1981 release. Kenny’s version is okay, but the slow tempo is too similar to the rest of the album.
If you could see me now
The one who said that he’d rather roam
The one who said he’d rather be alone
If you could only see me nowIf I could hold you now
Just for a moment if I could really make you mine
Just for a while turn back the hands of time
If I could only hold you nowI’ve been too long in the wind, too long in the rain
Taking any comfort that I can
Looking back and longing for the freedom of my chains
And lying in your loving arms again
“I Can’t Make You Love Me,” was co-written by Allen Shamblin and Mike Reid and was a hit for Bonnie Raitt in 1981. The song is yet another slow ballad and is given a bland cocktail lounge arrangement that strips the song of any character.
Kenny recorded “Let It Be Me” with Dottie West for their album Classics. Tammy Fry sings the female harmony on this stringy ballad. This version does not compare well with his earlier rendition, and it is just another slow ballad.
The album closes with the fabulous Don Schlitz composition “The Greatest”. Although the song only reached #26 on the country singles chart, I suspect that the song reverberated with many male listeners and led them to seek out the album when it was released. I know that many times I was that little boy in the song, and I purchased the CD on the strength of this song alone without really caring about what was on the rest of the album.
Little boy, in a baseball hat
Stands in the field with his ball and bat
Says “I am the greatest player of them all”
Puts his bat on his shoulder and he tosses up his ballAnd the ball goes up and the ball comes down
Swings his bat all the way around
The world’s so still you can hear the sound
The baseball falls to the groundNow the little boy doesn’t say a word
Picks up his ball, he is undeterred
Says “I am the greatest there has ever been”
And he grits his teeth and he tries it againAnd the ball goes up and the ball comes down
Swings his bat all the way around
The world’s so still you can hear the sound
The baseball falls to the groundHe makes no excuses, he shows no fears
He just closes his eyes and listens to the cheers
After a series of mediocre disappointing recordings, It was nice to see Kenny release a decent album. This isn’t a great album, and it isn’t very country, but it is good. Kenny is in good voice throughout, and several of the songs, especially the three released singles and the title track are outstanding. The album could stand some more variation in tempos, but as is, the album is worth a B
My Kind of Country 