Country music from a fan's point of view since 2008
Bill Anderson released his 72nd album last September. It wasn’t until last weekend when he hosted and performed on a new episode of Country’s Family Reunion on RFD-TV that I was finally inspired to review it.
The song he performed on the show was the album’s lead single, the fantastic “Everybody Wants To Be Twenty-One,” which he co-wrote with Jamey Johnson, who joins him on it. The somber ballad is about the passage of time, with Anderson and Johnson singing:
The young wish they were old and
The old wish they were young
Everybody wants to be twenty-one
“Everybody Wants To Be Twenty-One” begs to be covered by either George Strait or Kenny Chesney, who a few years ago would’ve had a major hit with it. He continues in a reflective mood on “Old Things New,” in which he sings about playing records from the 1950s, calling old friends, and taking photos of his departed wife out of the drawer to put back on display. He’s taking old things and making them new and taking stock of his life as it is in the present moment.
He continues the theme on “Thankful,” a brilliant ballad in which he lists everything that matters to him including his more than fifty years in country music where the universe has allowed him the opportunity to live in Nashville, where he’s been able to write songs that have morphed into standards and become a legend of the Grand Ole Opry. But, in his eyes, those things pale in comparison to the folks he’s been able to entertain all these years:
For without you life wouldn’t mean a doggone thing
And I’d just be a singer with no song to sing
A wounded bird grounded with a broken wing
I’m thankful that none of that is true
cause most of all I’m thankful for you
“Thankful,” which is tastefully presented with beautiful ribbons of steel guitar throughout, is one of three cuts Anderson wrote solo. “Dixie Everywhere I Go” is an intimate conversation between a bartender and a customer, a man who moved to Buffalo from the South. The customer explains to the barkeep how he takes his southern upbringing, Dixie as he refers to it, wherever he travels. Turns out the barkeep also has a Dixie, a woman he loves. The lyric is very good and engaging, although the multiple meanings of the word Dixie are a bit cutesy for my taste.
The third of Anderson’s solo cuts is “Something To Believe In,” a list song about needing the tried-and-true in life. The Harmonica-laced “Dead To You” finds Anderson single, after his woman severed ties, making it clear she never wants anything to do with him again. He clearly wants to win her back, but clearly doesn’t know what to do. He co-wrote the ballad with John Paul White, who has made quite the career for himself in the Americana realm since The Civil Wars disbanded a number of years ago.
The harmonica makes another appearance, this time on “Watchin’ It Rain,” a mournful ballad about a man devastated in the wake of his woman walking out on him. The track is depressing and slow, with a moody bluesy undertone that fits nicely with the lyrics.
He reverses the sad tone on “That’s What Made Me Love You,” a traditional country ballad led by twin fiddles, steel guitar, and a lyric in which he lists all the things that endears him to his woman. Anderson’s vocal didn’t have enough twang for me, but other than that, this is one of the many standout tracks on the album.
“Practice Leaving Town” puts such a clever spin on the traditional breakup song, it’s amazing it hasn’t already been written before. Anderson sings of man in a relationship that’s clearly on the rocks. Neither party has the courage to end things for good, but he knows it’s coming so he fires up his “gettin’ out of dodge pickup” and drives “about fifty miles” before turning around. The relationship may or may not ever officially end, but if it does, he’ll know exactly what he’ll do and where he’ll go.
The album’s brilliance continues on “The Only Bible,” in which Anderson, in a co-write with Tim Rushlow, introduces us to Norman, a man Anderson actually went to college within Athens, Georgia. As he puts it, Norman wouldn’t attend church or go to a bible study because he felt they were full of hypocrites and fools who would talk the talk but wouldn’t walk the walk. Norman wanted people to lead by example every day since “we may be the only Bible someone ever reads.”
The only time the album deviates from its charted course is on “Waffle House Christmas,” which Anderson co-wrote with Erin Enderlin and Alex Kline. The song is a charming and humorous tale about a family displaced on Christmas morning after the tree caught on fire and the turkey burned to a crisp. They check into a motel and venture to the local Waffle House to salvage what’s left of the day. A video, which prominently featured Enderlin and Tanya Tucker, was popular this past holiday season.
“Waffle House Christmas” is an excellent addition to the album and a welcomed change of pace. Anderson typically leans heavy and serious and while it may have benefited from some lighter tunes, it’s a wonderful album of quality country music. I don’t think the majority of the songs lend themselves to repeated listenings for me, many are the “if you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it” type of songs, but there isn’t a clunker in the bunch.
In the press materials for the album, Anderson said by album 72, many would assume he’d just mail it in, which he says isn’t the case. He certainly didn’t mail it in at all. The only crime here is that the album has flown so low under the radar it’s all but been overlooked. I highly recommend checking it out for yourself. You won’t be disappointed.
Grade: A
2015’s Young For a Long Time is the second post-major label studio album from Little Texas, and like its predecessor, 2007’s Missing Years, it finds Porter Howell taking over lead vocalist duties from the now departed Brady Seals and Tim Rushlow. He is not as gifted a vocalist as his former bandmates, but he does a decent job. Unfortunately, the band’s sound is inevitably changed from what fans were used to, and the album’s material is not particularly inspiring. It’s a country rock effort, with no fiddle or steel anywhere to be found in the track listing.
The band members wrote all of the album’s songs themselves, and also shared production duties with Anthony Martin. The final product is somewhat uneven. There is far worse music being played on country radio as we speak. Young For a Long Time never quites rises to the levels of greatness, but it never sinks to the depths of terrible, either, with the sole exception of the bro-country number “Yeah Yeah Yeah” which is every bit as awful as the title suggests. I guess they didn’t get the memo that the bro-country trend was past its peak in 2015.
While the album’s up-tempo numbers are distinctly non-descript and unmemorable, the ballads aren’t bad. I quite enjoyed “Take This Walk With Me”, which would make a good wedding song, and “How Many Chances”, which finds the protagonist frustrated when the object of his unrequited love continues to turn a blind eye to the faults of her current lover. The album’s two best tracks, however, are re-recordings of Little Texas’ best known hits, “What Might Have Been” and “God Blessed Texas”. Both are decently performed, but their inclusion is bound to draw comparisons – probably unfavorable — to the band’s earlier incarnation. Re-recordings rarely recreate the magic of the original versions, even when the key players remain the same.
It’s difficult for any band that undergoes major personnel changes to remain commercially viable. Little Texas is certainly no exception. Young For a Long Time is not a great album by any means, but it exceeded my expectations. While I wouldn’t rush out to buy it, it’s worth listening to if it’s included in any streaming services (like Amazon Music) to which you might subscribe.
Grade: C
After their eponymous album failed to reignite their career Little Texas all but disappeared. Tim Rushlow joined Brady Seals in perusing a solo career, riding high with the #8 “She Misses Him” when Atlantic shuttered its Nashville division in 2001 (which, if you may remember, also displaced Craig Morgan). Seals, despite multiple attempts, never gained traction with any of his solo recordings.
Duane Propes, Del Gray, Porter Howell, and Dwayne O’Brien resurrected Little Texas in 2004 with pushback from Rushlow, who sued in an attempt to block them from using the ‘Little Texas’ name. His attempts were unsuccessful and the band signed with Montage Music Group in 2007. The band’s first new release in ten years was The Very Best of Little Texas: Live and Loud, a concert album with Powell at the helm.
The band returned a month later with Missing Years, a proper studio recording produced by Anthony Martin. Little Texas hardly had a prayer of a legitimate resurgence, although it didn’t deter Montage from pushing ahead with three singles from the album.
They led with “Your Woman,” an awful and generic electric rocker, which didn’t chart. The title track was a slight return to form, a pop ballad, that miraculously peaked at #45. Final single “Party Life,” another generic rocker, also failed to chart.
Missing Years is nothing short of a disaster with zero tracks worth highlighting. The biggest misstep in this album specifically is using Howell as the lead singer. The man may have some talents but they aren’t his voice, an unlistenable mix of growly gruff. Martin places him in the grunge rock style run into the ground by Jason Aldean and Brantley Gilbert, which suits him, but not the audience.
I understand that spotlighting Little Texas wasn’t a popular choice amongst our readers and I can fully understand how they’d unnerve those who prefer a more pure take on country music. But I’ve always enjoyed both Seals and Rushlow and the contributions they brought to the band. Missing Years proves they were the band. Without either of them, Little Texas is nothing more than a waste of space. I have no problem with the band reuniting, but I’m with Rushlow in wishing they didn’t use the Little Texas name for this wasted second act. It doesn’t matter, though, as no one truly cared if they reunited or not. Certainly not those fans who pushed Big Time past double platinum.
Grade: D
The sands of time ran out quickly for Little Texas as their eponymous fourth album, their last for Warner Brothers, barely charted reaching #47. By this time lead singer Brady Seals had departed the band leaving Tim Rushlow in charge of lead vocals.
Little Texas hit the marketplace thirty-one months after their third album, a delay that probably didn’t help their chances in the ever changing market. The three singles released from the album all tanked at radio with none reaching the top forty. Despite this, I regard this as possibly their best album, with tighter vocal harmonies and a nice array of songs.
The album opens with “Loud and Proud”, written in part by band member Porter Howell. This is one of the weaker songs on the album, sounding more rock than country, but it is not bad:
Show me a mountain
Tell me it can’t be climbed
I’ll find my way through any shadow of doubt
And I’ll meet you on the other sideI love a good challenge
Send them all my way
I’ll rise to any occasion
I am not afraidTo be loud and proud
And givin’ in to nothin’
Livin’ and a lovin’
I’ll never get enough
And all the ups and downs
I take ’em as they come
And I’ll be right here standing my ground
Loud and proud
“Bad for Us” from the pens of Porter Howell, Dwayne O’Brien and Tom Shapiro) was the first and most successful single, reaching #45. The song is a nice ballad about a relationship that seems to be on the rocks. Several radio stations featured this song as their pick of the week, but the song never did generate any momentum, not surprisingly since more than a year had passed since the band’s last single.
You really got a good one in
You hit me where it hurts
Just so you wouldn’t get the best of me
I fired back somethin’ worseI put you down
You show me up
Good for you
Good for me
Bad for usWe keep goin’ around and ’round
When’s it gonna stop
Real love’s not a matter of
Who comes out on top
“Ain’t No Time to Be Afraid” by Porter Howell and Allen Shamblin is another nice ballad, this one rather philosophical in nature. I would have picked this song for single release:
I was scared half to death
I couldn’t catch my breath
‘Cause that old tree down by the river
Was thirty feet highThat’s when I heard my daddy’s voice
He said, Son you’ve got a choice
You can climb down now
Or you can flyThis ain’t no time to be afraid
Or look the other way
If your prayers have all been prayed
Then you just let it come what mayIf you’re not brave enough to try
Then life will pass you by
All we have is today
There ain’t no time to be afraid
“Long Way Down” sounds more like up-tempo 60s pop than anything else. Nashville songsmith Bob DiPiero co-wrote this with Porter Howell and O’Brien.
The second single off the album was “Your Mama Won’t Let Me”, which died at #64 on the charts. It is pretty generic, pleasant but not all that memorable. Del Gray, Thom McHugh and Keith Follesé composed this song
Like to take you to the movies on a Saturday night
But your mama won’t let me
Steal you away for a Sunday drive
But your mama won’t let meShe’s one step ahead of me every time
When I get too close she draws that line
Thinks I’m trouble but I’m not that kind
Your mama won’t let me make you mine
“All In The Line of Love” from Porter Howell, Dwayne O’Brien and Stephen Allen Davis is yet another pleasant but fairly generic ballad
I think the label missed a bet in not releasing the Bob DiPiero-Walt Aldridge song “Living in a Bullseye” as a single. I don’t think it would have been a huge hit but I suspect it would have at least cracked the top thirty. The song is a mid-tempo ballad with clever lyrics that would resonate with any blue collar worker:
I heard the whistle blowing as I pulled in the gate
I knew without looking, I was already late
Praying the boss wouldn’t catch me again
Sweating bullets while I was sneaking inI’m living in a bullseye, ground zero
It’s kinda scary when the arrows fly
I ain’t trying to be no superhero
I duck and cover just to stay alive
Living in a bullseyeEight hours later, at a half past five
I’m listening to my radio and pulling in the drive
The music telling me a thing that’s good
So I’m crossing all my fingers and I’m knocking on wood
“The Call” by Walt Aldridge and Tim Rushlow was the final single released from the album, peaking at #71. It’s a nice ballad with sleek vocal harmonies. I heard it quit a bit here in Central Florida, but it apparently tanked elsewhere:
You can run but you can’t hide
You can keep it all inside
Take it from a fool who’s tried it all
Pay attention to a friend
Who swore he’d never fall again
You’re gonna answer
When you get the call
“Yesterday’s Gone Forever” (Dwayne O’Brien, Jim Rushing) has the feel and sound of eighties country minus the annoying synthesizers. When released it really had no singles potential, but I can recall times when this introspective ballad would have done very well with radio:
For all of my good intentions
Heartfelt every one
I’ve left so much love unspoken
So much of life I’ve left undoneI could’ve made a difference
I just never made the time
Now yesterday’s gone forever
And today ain’t far behindShould’ve taken that job in Dallas
Or the one in San Antone
Should’ve left that girl in the city
And married the one back homeI’d love to run back through the years
To tell her I was blind
But yesterday’s gone forever
And today ain’t far behind
The album closes with the Porter Howell – Chuck Jones rocker “If I Don’t Get Enough of You”.
If I don’t get enough of you
I can’t think, I can’t sleep
If I don’t get enough of you
I can’t eat, I get weakWithout you there to hold me tight
Well, I can’t make it through the night
I don’t know what I’m gonna do
If I don’t get enough of youIf I don’t get enough of you
I don’t act like I should
If I don’t get enough of you
It’s a fact, I’m no good
I think this is a better album than their first three efforts – good production, decent songs (none of the Texas chauvinism that marred earlier albums) and a really tight band augmented by Jeff Huskins on fiddle and piano, and Dan Dugmore & Sonny Garrish on pedal steel guitar, plus really good harmony vocals.
Why then did this album tank ?
I think the answer is three-fold:
1) There apparently some element of dissension in the band. Both Brady Seals and Tim Rushlow thought that they could become big solo stars, something that neither achieved.
2) A long lapse between the release of the third and fourth albums – to put it bluntly, radio forgot about them.
3) Changes in the country music market place which ultimately led to the domination of faux country acts like Rascal Flatts and Jason Aldean.
I would give this album an A-
Little Texas released their debut album, First Time for Everything, in March 1992. The record, co-produced by James Stroud, came a little more than three years into their contract with the Nashville division of Warner Bros.
The band’s debut single was recorded in December 1990, but released in September 1991. “Some Guys Have All The Love” is an excellent piano and percussion laced mid-tempo ballad with ear-catching harmonies from the group. The song’s official title is ‘love’ but I have heard it called “Some Guys Have All The Luck,” as well. The track peaked at #8.
The B-side of their debut, the album’s title track, was issued as the second single. The track is a countrified power ballad I never really hated, but finally analyzing the lyrics for this review proves otherwise. “First Time For Everything” is weak, and justifiably peaked at #13.
“You and Forever and Me” was the album’s most successful single, and remains one of my favorite songs Little Texas released during their heyday. The track retains their formula, yet succeeds on the winning melody, Tim Rushlow’s wonderful lead vocal, and the band’s harmonies. The song peaked at #5.
The final two singles were ones I never even knew about until digging into Little Texas for this review. Both charted in the low teens, so their exclusion from the band’s Greatest Hits album is justifiable. “What Were You Thinkin,’” a bland mid-tempo in similar vein, peaked at #17. The final single, the warmed over pop ballad “I’d Rather Miss You” didn’t do much better, reaching #16.
The five remaining numbers showed Little Texas playing with a wider array of sonic textures. The best of the bunch is “Down In The Valley,” a barnburner solely written by Brady Seals that gives Ricky Skaggs a run for his money. The worst is “Better Way,” a gravely mess.
I’ve always really enjoyed the first three singles from this album and never bothered to check out the rest until now. It’s hard to see where Little Texas fits into the greater conversation of the early-90s, especially with this album, which makes few concessions to stake a claim as anything resembling country music. I wasn’t aware, or at least I’d forgotten about the hair and fashion, which is enough to make Billy Ray Cyrus want to puke. The look and sound aren’t gelling with me.
But I’ve always really enjoyed Little Texas and some of my favorites from them come from this album. First Time for Everything is far from a fine album but it isn’t atrocious, either. I don’t think the melodies have aged too much and I still find the whole proceedings listenable. Those high marks say a lot about an album released almost twenty-five years ago.
Grade: B
The founding members of Little Texas got their start in music 1983 when Porter Howell and Duane Propes joined forces while still in High School. Tim Rushlow and Dwayne O’Brian began playing together in Arlington, Texas the following year. They first came together, with additional members, as The Varsities, performing both on the road and at Opryland as a 1950s show band.
The band concept eventually dissolved and the guys invited old friends Brady Seals and Del Gray, who started as musicians in country singer Josh Logan’s backing band, to join them in their new venture as a country/southern rock band. They started playing 300 dates a year around the United States. The six of them officially became Little Texas, named for a place outside Nashville where they used to rehearse, in 1988.
They caught the ear of Warner Bros. and were signed to the label in 1989. The band released their debut album, First Time For Everything, in 1991. The album went gold and garnered the hits “Some Guys Have All The Love” (#8), “You and Forever and Me” (#5) and the title track, which peaked at #13.
Their biggest success came in 1993 with their 2x platinum, Big Time, which spawned “What Might’ve Been (#2), “God Bless Texas” (#4) and their sole chart topper “My Love.” The band’s rendition of “Peaceful Easy Feeling” was included on Common Thread: Songs of the Eagles, which won them the CMA Award for Album of the Year.
The Academy of Country Music named Little Texas their Top Vocal Group in 1994. Kick A Little came in September, with both the title track and “Amy’s Back in Austin” charting in the Top 5. The band also went through a regime change when Seals, who had co-written all the band’s biggest hits, departed to embark on a solo career. Their Greatest Hits album would feature their final Top 5, “Life Goes On” the following year.
With the band now in transition, they contributed “Kiss A Girl,” from The Little Mermaid to the various artists collection The Best of Country Sings the Best of Disney. Another tribute track, “Beast of Burden” was featured on Stone Country: Country Artists Perform The Songs of the Rolling Stones. They also collaborated with Jeff Foxworthy on “Party All Night” from his Crank It Up: The Music Album.
Little Texas released their self-titled fourth album, the band’s final for Warner Bros., in 1997. Coming three years after Kick A Little, they had lost their momentum and thus weren’t able to regain traction with country radio. Shortly thereafter the band officially disbanded. Rushlow went on to a one-hit-wonder solo career when the excellent Alzheimer’s themed “She Misses Him” peaked at #8 in 2000.
Propes, Gray, Howell and O’Brian resurrected Little Texas in 2004, but faced pushback from Rushlow and Jeff Huskins, who sued in a failed attempt to block them from using the ‘Little Texas’ name. This second incarnation has produced two studio albums – Missing Years (2007) and Young For A Long Time (2015). A concert album, The Very Best of Little Texas: Live and Loud has also been released.
I hope you enjoy our look back at Little Texas throughout the month, sprinkled amongst our Best of 2016 coverage.
My Kind of Country 