Country music from a fan's point of view since 2008
Country music enjoyed one of its cyclical popularity booms in the early 1980s, in large part thanks to the success of the film Urban Cowboy. At that time, most artists had crossover ambitions and the music became more and more pop-oriented, but there was a quiet backlash brewing. It started roughly around 1981 with the major label debuts of Ricky Skaggs and George Strait and it continued through 1984 with the release of Reba McEntire’s landmark My Kind of Country album, and The Judds’ commercial breakthrough hit “Mama He’s Crazy”. Still, these artists were very much the exception rather than the rule. By mid-decade, the Urban Cowboy craze was over, and country music was once again in the commercial doldrums. No one took much notice when an unknown singer named Randy Traywick was signed to a singles deal with Warner Bros in 1985, but within a year Traywick, rechristened Randy Travis by the label, would be the hottest commodity in country music.
Randy’s first release was the Don Schlitz and Paul Overstreet composition “On The Other Hand”, a hardcore traditional ballad, which along with Randy’s nasal baritone, had no crossover appeal whatsoever and was not what radio wanted. Consequently, it died at #67 on the charts. Randy and producer Kyle Lehning were unrepentant. Fortunately, Warner Bros. allowed them to try again with the equally traditional “1982”. Written by Buddy Blackmon and Vip Vipperman, the song’s original title was “1962”, but the writers granted Randy permission to change the lyrics to something more age-appropriate. To everyone’s surprise, radio took notice this time and “1982” managed to climb all the way to #6. Encouraged by this success, Warner Bros. made the unusual decision to re-release “On The Other Hand” in April 1986. And the rest, as they say, is history. Now that Randy had a legitimate hit under his belt, radio programmers were now willing to give “On The Other Hand” a listen, and it quickly shot to #1.
Suddenly, everyone was talking about Randy Travis, who quickly returned to the studio to record an album to capitalize on the success of “On The Other Hand.” When the album was near completion, he and Kyle Lehning expressed their hope that they could sell 50,000 to 60,000 copies so the label would allow them to record a second album. Clearly they didn’t realize that they were about to alter the course of country music for the next several years. Storms of Life was single-handedly responsible for country music’s return to its roots after decades of what seemed to be an inevitable drift towards pop. As a result, what would soon be known as the New Traditionalist movement was now firmly underway as other artists, old and new, including some of Nashville’s most pop-leaning acts, followed Randy’s example and began releasing more traditional-sounding music. Those who did not were unceremoniously purged from the radio airwaves.
The album reached store shelves in June 1986, nearly one year to the day after the initial release of “On The Other Hand.” It was produced by Kyle Lehning, with Keith Stegall co-producing on two tracks. It contained both “On The Other Hand” and “1982”, along with Randy’s own composition “Reasons I Cheat”, which had been the B-side to “1982”, as well as seven newly-recorded songs. The uptempo “Diggin’ Up Bones”, written by Paul Overstreet, Nat Stuckey and Al Gore (not the former US Vice President), was the next to be sent to radio and like its predecessor, it quickly rose to #1. By now Randy was now being interviewed by the mainstream press, who openly pondered the last time they’d heard the word “exhuming” used in a song. Yet another Paul Overstreet composition, “No Place Like Home” was selected for the album’s fourth and final single. This song is somewhat forgotten today, but it is one of Randy’s best ballad performances. It peaked at #2 in the spring of 1987.
Storms of Life is one of those rare albums that contains no filler, which is great from a fan’s point of view but it makes a critic’s job much more difficult because it isn’t possible to talk about an album’s flaws when there simply aren’t any. All ten tracks are strong enough to have been successful singles. It’s difficult to choose favorites, but if pressed I’d have to go with “My Heart Cracked (But It Did Not Break)” and “Messin’ With My Mind”, both of which show the extent to which Lefty Frizzell influenced Randy’s music, as well as “Send My Body” and “Reasons I Cheat”, both of which allowed Randy to showcase his songwriting skills. “Send My Body” is a surprisingly upbeat sounding song about a condemned man, who despite his innocence, is determined to meet his fate with poise and grace, requesting that his body be returned to his hometown for burial. “Reasons I Cheat” is another beautifully performed ballad. As its title implies, it’s a cheating song, but one in which the protagonist expresses few feelings of guilt, but rather seeks to rationalize his actions and does so quite effectively, because, surprisingly, he comes across as a sympathetic figure.
It’s a gross understatement to call Storms of Life a landmark album, as its importance can not be overstated. I consider it to be one of the finest country albums of all time, and the most significant one released during my own lifetime. Far exceeding Travis’ and Lehning’s modest sales ambitions, it ultimately earned triple platinum certification at a time when even gold-level sales for country albums were rare. As a result, it caused a shake-up of the entire country genre, the likes of which had never seen before, and will probably never been seen again. Sadly, within a few years of its release, country music lapsed back towards pop, a trend that continues to the current day.
It is nothing short of a disgrace that Warner Bros. has allowed the 25th anniversary of Storms of Life’s release to pass without a remastered and expanded re-release; however the album is still in print in its original form and easy to find.
Grade: A+
By the late 1990s, country radio had decidedly cooled toward George Jones, just as it had done with most of his contemporaries. During that decade, Jones had made the transition from hit-maker to country music’s elder statesman. Although the radio hits had tapered off, he still managed to generate respectable sales, with two of his 90s discs earning gold certification. However, the sales weren’t considered good enough for him to keep his record deal, and in 1999 he parted ways with MCA Nashville after an eight-year stint with the label. It looked as though his major label career was over when he was suddenly given a reprieve — albeit a temporary one — when he was signed to the Nashville division of Asylum Records. The label assured him that he could have complete creative control and asked only that he record the album that he would have made twenty years earlier if he had been sober.
Jones teamed up with producer Keith Stegall, best known for his work with Alan Jackson, and his old pals Vince Gill and Patty Loveless who supplied harmony vocals to the project. The album that resulted was Cold Hard Truth, which was released in June 1999. It was hailed by the label as George’s return to hardcore country, which may have been overstating things a bit, since Jones had never abandoned his traditional sound. Still, the album was a change in direction in a sense, as its material was more substantive and serious, with none of the semi-novelty tunes or beat-driven “Young Country” style songs that had been characteristic of his work with MCA.
By this time, Jones had 158 charted singles — more than any other artist in any genre in history — under his belt. He kicked off the Asylum era of his career with “Choices”, a song about living with consequences of one’s actions which Billy Yates and Mike Curtis seem to have written with George in mind. In a just world, “Choices” would have returned George to the top of the charts, much as “Buy Me A Rose” would do for Kenny Rogers a few years later. Unfortunately that didn’t happen, but “Choices” did reach a respectable #30, higher than any of his MCA singles except for “High-Tech Redneck”. Interest in the song was undoubtedly fueled by the controversy that ensued when Jones refused to perform it on the CMA’s award show because that organization refused to allot him enough time to sing it in its entirety. However, the song holds its ground on its own merits, and is one of the finest performances of Jones’ career. One can imagine another singer tackling “Choices” but not with the credibility that Jones brings.
Jamie O’Hara’s “The Cold Hard Truth” was chosen as the follow-up single. It is another fine performance, somewhat similar in theme to “Choices”, but it is not quite as good a song. It stalled at #45. For the next single — his last on a major label — Jones released the more light-hearted and somewhat fluffy “Sinners & Saints”, written by Vip Vipperman, J.B. Rudd, and Darryl Worley. It peaked at #55.
Many artists have difficulty obtaining first-rate material once their hit-making days are over, but that definitely was not the case here. There are some true gems from some of Nashville’s finest songwriters among the album cuts, including “Day After Forever” from the pen of Max D. Barnes, “Ain’t Love A Lot Like That” written by Mark Collie and Dean Miller, “This Wanting You” by Bruce Burch, Bruce Bouton, and T. Graham Brown, and Emory Gordy Jr.’s and Jim Rushing’s haunting “When The Last Curtain Falls”.
The Asylum era appeared to be off to a strong start for the new millenium, but regrettably we will never know what direction they would have taken with subsequent projects. The label’s Nashville office was shut down in 2000 by its parent company Time Warner. George apparently turned down an offer to join the Warner Bros. Nashville roster, opting instead to become a partner with former Asylum president Evelyn Shriver in the newly formed Bandit Records, which has released all of his music from 2001 to the present day.
Cold Hard Truth is somewhat of a creative renaissance for Jones, more consistent in quality than any other album he’d released in the preceding decade. Although at age 68 his voice was beginning to show signs of wear and tear, he proved that he was still worthy of the title of country music’s greatest living singer. The album was meant to be a commercial comeback for George, and indeed it was a both a critical and commercial success, earning gold certification. However, it will be best remembered as the capstone to his major label career and it is hard to imagine how he could have ended his tenure with the majors on a higher note.
Grade: A
Cold Hard Truth is still readily available in both CD and digital form from sources such as Amazon and iTunes.
My Kind of Country 