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Reviews

Album Review: American Grandstand by Rhonda Vincent & Daryle Singletary

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Rating: 7/10

Yeah, I don’t usually talk about cover albums, especially when the album in question features covers so obvious as some of the ones here, like “Golden Ring” and “Louisiana Woman Mississippi Man.” But July is slow, and it gives me time to listen to this, and this album proves there are exceptions to everything.

Rhonda Vincent and Daryle singletary are a notable exception in this case, somehow managing to take timeless songs and make them sound fresh. It speaks to the quality of their individual voices, as well as to the way they blend together flawlessly and manage to convey emotion so well that they can breathe new life into songs which are almost tired by now. A couple of the songs on this record still sound a little superfluous or obligatory, even if the actual singing is good, but “After the Fire is Gone” is one of the best covers here, closely followed by “Above and Beyond” and “One.” These three covers open the album with its strongest moment and promptly erase any misgivings you might have had about another covers project. I’ll go right ahead and establish my classic country ignorance yet again by saying “After the Fire is Gone” is one I’d never heard before, and I have to say, after getting acquainted, I think I prefer this version.

And let’s not overlook the fact that these are actually duets, not new versions with backing vocals or versions where one person sings the lead, and the other has a token line or two. These are real, old-fashioned duets; it actually takes both of them to make these songs work, and each brings a valuable contribution to every track. They enhance each other vocally, as good duet partners should. They feed off one another like iron sharpens iron. Their harmonies are stellar. Appreciate that actual duets, not the kind with a few lines by a secondary performer, are incredibly hard to pull off. The male/female duet brings in a whole set of other problems, as you have to find a key that is flattering to both voices. Appreciate all that for a second, and then realize we’ve got a whole album of them here. I appreciate Jason Eady and Courtney Patton’s Something Together album–in fact, you’ll find that got a higher rating here than this, and it’s been criminally underrated and unnoticed–but my biggest criticism for it was that some songs felt less like duets and more like acoustic versions with backing vocals. That’s probably just due to the fact that they couldn’t agree on a flattering key for fourteen songs without relegating one of them strictly to harmony sometimes. But that’s never the case here, not even on one song, and musically, that’s pretty amazing.

The covers are cool, but I don’t think they’ll all hold up. Some of them, like the aforementioned “Louisiana Woman Mississippi Man,” just feel a little too obvious, as though Vincent and Singletary felt like there was some sort of unwritten rule that they couldn’t make a duets album without including certain songs. That’s mostly the reason for the 7; I just feel like even though this is cool now, a good portion of it will wear off once you do get past their incredible singing. I mean, it may take awhile to actually get past said singing, but when this happens, it’s the lesser-known covers, and more than these, the originals, that will last. Appreciate this for a second too–take all of that I said about arranging a duet, and then imagine the difficulty involved in writing them. But we do have several originals here, like the title track and “As We Kiss Our World Goodbye.” These serve to add a sense of legitimacy to the album and will make it outlast the novelty factor.

This is not some earth-shattering release that will change your world, but it is a very country album full of great songs and sung by an outstanding pair of voices. But what makes it special is the chemistry in those voices, and the fact that this record keeps up that long-standing and proud tradition of country duets. And duet partners–George and Tammy, Loretta and Conway, and in more recent days, Garth and Trisha, Vince and Reba. More recent than that? Think of Blake and Miranda, or even Tim and Faith for pop country. The point is, that tradition has survived throughout country’s history, and no, it’s not the same thing as Maren Morris selling herself out to blend into Thomas Rhett’s “Craving You” for three lines to score a #1 hit. This is a great showcase of real country duets, just another one of many traditions being forsaken by the mainstream. So it’s a great thing to get a record like this in 2017, to see that the country duet is still very much alive and well, and here’s to hoping that it’s not the last from these two excellent duet partners.

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Reviews

Single Review: Sara Evans’ “Marquee” Sign”

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Rating: 6/10

Sara Evans–yet another name to be added to the list of artists who produced a string of quality music, both traditional and more pop-leaning, and then unceremoniously got spit out by the Nashville machine when they perceived that her usefulness to them had expired. Music Row has just as big a problem with casting its older artists aside as it does with fostering its female talent, so since Sara’s got both strikes against her, it’s no surprise that this release is an independent one. But she spent nearly twenty hears on a major label, so she had a great run, and often label independence can bring an artist like this freedom to make the kind of music they want to make and be a positive step creatively.

But it’s clear from listening to “Marquee sign,” one of the pre-released tracks from Sara’s upcoming album Words, due out Friday, (7/21), that Evans has absolutely no idea what to do with her newfound independence.

It’s not that this offering is a bad song; in fact, under the production and process, it’s a pretty good one. Lyrically, it’s got some nice metaphors, and although the idea of wishing there had been a sign to let you know an ex was going to be trouble is a little simplistic, there’s some good imagery in the verses that carries the idea in a more subtle way. Lines like “I wish you were a pack of cigarettes ’cause you would have come with a warning before I let you steal my breath” display a more imaginative way of conveying the same ideas. It’s certainly a relatable theme, and Sara Evans gives a technically great vocal performance as always.

But it’s the way that that technically great performance is robbed of the emotion by the overproduction, rendering her almost lifeless in places and too happy for the song’s material in others, that ultimately makes this song an uneven listen. The chorus particularly emphasizes that lifeless quality–it’s catchy, sure, but you don’t connect with anything she is supposedly feeling here at all. You have cheerful echoes of “lit up like a marquee sign” in the background after the last chorus belying the premise that this is actually a heartbreak song. Sara Evans has always done some more pop-leaning stuff, and done it in a good way, so it’s not the style itself here that doesn’t work, it’s the overproduction and the way it can’t really settle on a specific style. It leans sometimes toward pop country, other moments to pop rock, and then there are times it goes almost bluesy, like in the outro. It just seems very unsure of itself, and that probably speaks to Sara Evans’ current state of mind.

There’s a good song underneath, and this reminds me painfully of the first song by a promising new artist who hasn’t quite developed their sound. You see promise and potential, but the problems are also front and center. But you root for the artist because they’re still developing, and you know that time can iron out the rough spots and make them shine, if only they don’t succumb to the pressures of the spotlight and the whims of a label. The problem with Sara Evans is that she’s already been on that label for nearly twenty years, and now she’s left alone to try to find her own sound. Some artists find independence a blessing and embrace the creative freedom they’ve always wanted, but others struggle to adapt, and it would seem, at least from this song, that Sara Evans is in the latter category. But just like a new artist with a debut album, we can’t judge too much off one single, so we wait for Words and hope it will see Sara Evans taking more of a definite direction with her music.

Written by: Sara Evans, Jimmy Robbins, Heather Morgan

Reviews

Album Review: Charley Pride–Music in my Heart

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Rating: 8/10

The Apple Music description of this album is unintentionally hilarious, citing it as “traditional country.” Why is this funny? Because in all my time using the service, I’ve never seen anything so specific labeling a country project: you get “country,” “Americana,” “folk,” “singer-songwriter,” and it’s the same in other genres. You don’t get specifics like “pop country,” “Red Dirt,” or “country rock.” I did see “traditional folk” on Shinyribs’ latest, but that’s arguably not even all that accurate, so I’m not sure that counts as specific. But this album is so unabashedly country that even the Apple Music people felt it should be called “traditional country.” And you know what? If there’s been any album in 2017 or really during all the time I’ve written here that deserves this classification, Music in my Heart qualifies. Forget genre-bending and trying to undefined country music; Charley Pride has made an album so undeniable and unapologetic in its countriness that even Apple Music recognizes it and wants to make sure you’re entirely aware that this is different from Sam Hunt and all the others irresponsibly using the term to market music that is nowhere close to country at all and is more often than not crappy in its rightful genre as well.

That’s ultimately the strongest point of this record. There’s great Americana and pop country and Red Dirt, and we shouldn’t let genre solely dictate our musical tastes, but there’s something so inexplicably comforting about hearing fiddle and steel and three-chord arrangements that words just can’t express. If you’re a fan of country music, even if you’re not a purist–which I’m certainly not–you can’t help but listen to this album, with its shuffling rhythms and scandalous amounts of fiddle and steel, and be thankful that not everyone has forsaken this sound for Americana or some other blend of country. IN sound, this is country in its purest form, or at least in the purest form you’re going to get it in 2017.

But just because it’s country doesn’t mean it’s good, so let’s talk about the writing. I don’t think any one song is going to blow you away, but the lyrics are pretty strong throughout. It’s just as country in theme as it is in sound, featuring many songs about love and heartbreak. “New Patches” is a pretty clever take on a tried-and-true country theme, likening finding someone new to the inadvisable practice of sewing new patches on old garments. “All by my Lonesome” is another standout, and the copious amounts of fiddle here certainly help. “The Way it Was in ’51” is the only one that really deviates from these themes, and it’s one of the strongest songs on the record lyrically, really painting the pictures of that year well. But honestly, sometimes you don’t even pay attention to the lyrics because you’re so caught up in the sound.

Although not every song stands out, the universality in these songs does, and this relatability is the thing that Willie Nelson’s record lacked. That’s no criticism of Willie, but he reflected much on old age and the end of life, and at seventy-nine, Charley Pride could be doing the same. Again, no disrespect to Willie Nelson, or to Pride if/when he explores these subjects, but the songs of Music in my Heart are much more relatable and universal in theme, and that’s what ultimately was missing for me on God’s Problem Child. This is an album that I think will have considerably more mileage for younger listeners, and certainly for me.

There’s not much to criticize here, but the lack of variety thematically does start to make this run together a little in the middle of the record. There’s virtually no variety in tempo either, so that doesn’t really help matters. The closer and title track is really the only up-tempo track here, and it probably could have used a couple more earlier on the album to spice things up.

Overall, this is just a really comforting record. I don’t really know how else to put it. You aren’t going to be blown away lyrically, but there are still a lot of good songs. The highest point of the album, though, is that honest, three-chord country. I say all the time, “this isn’t the album to buy if you want fiddle and steel,” usually followed by praise of the album. But friends, this most certainly is the album to buy if you want fiddle and steel; you’ll have no shortage of them. I should also mention how good Charley Pride’s voice is at his age–I was admittedly a little amazed by that. This is not a flawless record, but it’s a good one, and one a lot of people will surely enjoy.

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Reviews

Album Review: Sons of the Palomino (self-titled)

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Rating: 7/10

Before I get too in-depth about this album, I would like to talk about what Sons of the Palomino are trying to do here. With this album, the band tries to recapture an era and a feel, that of the Palomino, a club where classic country stars played during the 80s and 90s. Megan told me I should read the band’s biography before listening to the album, and though I would have liked it anyway given how country the material is, I’m glad I knew all of the information about the band’s goals going in. It helps give the album a special feel.

As for the album itself, I did not love the whole thing. There were songs that I felt were too sleepy for my taste, like “Old Roads and Lost Highways”. Then, the album had a couple songs which I did not connect to emotionally, like “Whiskey Years”. I should have liked the latter more than I did, as it tells the tale of a man looking forward to the day where he can be sober and not have to drink his pain away.

For all of the lackluster moments on this album, though, I felt a real love for the instrumentation. Even on songs I did not care for, I always loved the actual musicianship. The steel guitar, fiddle, piano…it all goes back to the days of an older style of country. It’s a style that I personally gravitate toward, so even when I was ambivalent about the actual lyrics, I always liked the instrumentation.

With all of the things I didn’t personally get into about this album out of the way, let’s talk about the good stuff. The first track, “Runnin’ Around,” is what convinced me I needed to hear what this band were selling. It’s a mid-tempo country song about a man who knows his girlfriend is cheating, and how he won’t be there when she comes looking for him. Done a million times? Sure, but this band makes it fun, and again. The instrumentation here is stellar. The next song, “Authentic,” brings in something else unique about this album. At various points, there are featured guest stars singing in parts of the song. Well, the band certainly couldn’t get more “Authentic” than John Anderson, and let me tell you. Hearing him on this track was awesome. The actual lyrics tell of being real and true to yourself, and not trying to be some fake version of country. In the days of pop country, and many people not knowing what country really is, this song is a must-listen. “Countryholic” is pretty hilarious, as the song discusses a man who just loves Waylon and Willie, steel guitar, and boots. It’s a bit cliché, but I chuckled a few times.

I liked the slower and more feeling-driven “Outta This Town”. It’s all about a man who can’t seem to leave his hometown. The planes never stop there, the train never makes a trip to the town, and he gets a woman pregnant and marries her. Thus, he’s stuck in the town. This one features Emmylou Harris on backing vocals, and I thought it made a nice change from all the faster songs. As much as I’m bored of all the drinking songs in today’s mainstream country scene, “Hole In The Wall” was an easy listen. I didn’t love it, but it was pleasant enough. The lyrics revolve around wanting to find a little bar with cold beer, a small dance floor, and a jukebox. I just liked the instrumentation, the lyrics, and everything combined to make this an enjoyable, if not completely amazing, song. My favorite emotional song is definitely “Unbroken People”. It’s all about feeling the pain of losing loved ones, but leaning on platitudes people say like “everything will be okay,” or “you’re gonna make it.”. This was the song that really resonated with me emotionally, where most of the others failed to do so. Finally, there’s “Used to be a Country Town”. I loved Gretchen Wilson’s part of the song, and it really just made me want to go listen to more of her music. The song itself is all about how they used to party in a town that used to be country. They wasted their money, but they had fun doing it.

Overall, I liked this album. The guest stars featured made it really unique. There were some I actually missed until I later went back and looked at who was featured. I did not catch Vince Gill or Jamey Johnson. The musicians did a wonderful job at bringing back the sounds of 80s and 90s country, too. I love good piano, fiddle and steel guitar, and I got all three of those in spades. Lastly, I must talk about the skills of the lead singer. Jeffrey Steele has quite the vocal range. When I was first listening to this album, I thought there were more guest stars than the site of the Sons of the Palomino alludes to. In fact, it’s just that Steele can sing in both very low and very high registers. It’s pretty awesome stuff. I think if you like the 80s and 90s era of country music, you are doing yourself a disservice by not checking this album out. The instrumentation is great, there are some really well-done songs here, and seeing names like John Anderson’s on a contemporary project like this is really cool.

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Reviews

Album Review: Rod Melancon–Southern Gothic

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Rating: 8/10

Yeah, this has to be the most challenging review I’ve ever done, but it’s also one of the most fascinating albums I’ve ever covered in my time here, and I enjoy a challenge. I’ll go ahead and say right up front, this album isn’t going to be for everyone; in some respects, it’s not quite even for me as a fan, given the darkness which permeates this record, but that’s exactly the reason it deserves discussing–because it’s so far from anything I’d typically listen to, and yet the writing and the stories and the general feeling evoked by this record still hold my attention. In many respects, it reminds me of Robyn Ludwick’s latest album, This Tall to Ride, because both projects are dark and sometimes downright disturbing, but for listeners who can get past those features, there’s a lot to appreciate in each of these albums.

The difference? Robyn sings with frankness about hookers and cocaine and paints pictures of life on the streets; you come away from that record intrigued by her ability to take the commonly accepted definition of country music that “it’s about real people” and use it to tell the stories of people often ignored by society as a whole and certainly by country music. Rod Melancon takes that definition to a much darker conclusion even than Robyn, telling us in the opening song, “With the Devil,” the story and thoughts of a serial killer. And that’s ultimately the most intriguing and arguably disturbing thing about this song and much of the album; real people do think like this, and Rod Melancon is indeed telling the stories of real thoughts experienced by real characters, even if the specifics are false. Now, I’m not saying this is a country record sonically–it’s got country touches, and a couple of country songs, but it’s mostly a rock record–but lyrically, this is what the genre was made for, to explore real stories and real emotions and perhaps evoke sympathy, or at least understanding, in the listener for the ones portrayed.

It doesn’t lighten up at all after the opener. “Perry” tells the tale of someone equally sinister, saying darkly, “ain’t nobody mess with Perry, and come out alive.” And then we are treated to the most intense moment on the whole album with “Lights of Carencro.” From the spoken word to Rod Melancon’s delivery to the production that can only be described as ominous, this song has to be the most disturbing tale I’ve heard all year. Here, the narrator tells us in sharp detail how his brother was killed in a motorcycle accident after being hit by an eighteen-wheeler. The driver carried on with his life unaffected, and the plan to exact revenge by the narrator’s dad failed. But many years later, the narrator’s brother would take his own revenge, as the driver died in a trucking accident. This is only made more intense by the fact that Melancon speaks the whole tale, and you can imagine your relative sitting across the table from you relaying the whole incident.

It does lighten up in a way after these three, in the sense that we go from sinister to melancholy. There’s “Dwayne and Me,” the story of two cousins who became friends and looked out for each other until Dwayne went off to war and never came back. There’s “Praying For Light,” where the narrator sings about watching the storm clouds build and hoping his land will still be there in the morning because he can’t afford to rebuild. There’s “Promises,” where the main character is stuck in his hometown after a knee injury in football and wishing he’d gotten to leave. It’s all very wistful, and Rod Melancon really has the right voice to pull out the desperation in these characters and make you feel what they’re experiencing. It’s a great example of a singer without a technically great voice using their tone and vocal ability to their advantage to convey emotion.

There’s one more disturbing moment on the album as well in “Different Man,” where we learn about Jimmy, a soldier who has returned home with PTSD. We hear, through the words and ever-building production, all the things going on in his head till finally it just explodes in the end. I’ll go back to the Jason Isbell song “Anxiety” here because Isbell used the angry production there to help the song, and I didn’t think it enhanced the story. I even found the outro somewhat distracting. This, however, is a good example of using the production to help tell the story, as it really adds a sense of frustration to the track, while also illustrating the lack of control Jimmy has over his own mind.

But Rod Melancon is not always dark or even depressed. WE get a nice break in the middle of the album with the fun, energetic “Redhead” that offers some balance to the project and serves to make the darker material stand out even more. “Redhead” also appears to show off more of Melancon’s personality; the other songs seem to be stories about other people, but this one seems to have more of Rod himself in it. The song also stands out because he’s singing about a hot single mom instead of your typical young girl. “Mary Lou” also adds a little variety to the record–it’s still a wistful heartbreak song, but it’s upbeat and stands out as a lighter moment on the album. Both of these songs, though not the best ones here on their own, were crucial to making Southern Gothic stand out and not just be one dark, depressing affair where the songs ran together.

So, overall, this is quite a good album. It’s going to come down to taste, I think, on your mileage with the record, but it shouldn’t be overlooked because there are some great stories here, not to mention many of them are enhanced by cool and interesting production. Rod Melancon does a fantastic job bringing life to these characters and telling the tales of people who no doubt have real-life counterparts but are nonetheless often ignored in music. If you like dark albums, you’re obviously going to enjoy this more, but I’m not someone who gravitates toward them, and this record still managed to stand out to me. I think that’s a testament to the kind of storyteller that Rod Melancon is, as well as to the fascinating listen that is Southern Gothic.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0UUMLOsIqc