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With Stacy Harris:

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Porter Wagoner 

Best of Grand Old Gospel 2008
Rating * * * *

I don't generally review gospel CDs.  I make an exception here, because this is the last CD to be released prior to Porter's passing (though it arrived just after he died), because the Thin Man from West Plains would have referred to these as sacred rather than gospel songs, and because, ironically, Wagoner didn't live till 2008.

With 22 songs on two CDs (including guest performances featuring Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Pam Gadd and Ralph Stanley) there, if you like the songs and the singer you can't go wrong.

Trouble is, I don't like the messages of songs.  Not on the first disc anyway. 

If you like hellfire and brimstone/fear-based religion you will strongly disagree.

My sentiments made the listening on Disc 2 all the more refreshing.  Leading off with the Mother Church of County Music (with a tip of the hat- had Porter worn one to Roy Acuff),  Porter seems to be more in his element.  Brother Harold Dee illustrates Wagoner's famous recitation skill, though that song is as cloying as I remember it when Porter made it a staple of his eponymous TV series.   

I wish When My Time Comes to Go had been played at Wagoner's funeral.  It would have been the perfect sendoff, just as it would have been my choice for Song 22 (rather than Song 14).  You'll find Rank Strangers (which was performed- as a tribute- at Porter's funeral) here, illustrating the singular style and the voice of the singer who loved my description of him as Johnny Cash meets Howdy Doody . 

JIMMY DALE

Rating: * * * *

Typically, a new artist doesn't receive songwriters' best material.  So, it's encouraging that Jimmy Dale's debut, self-titled CD has some impressive moments.

While the "push" is on for Bad Luck, the first single from the CD and while Enough to Make an Angel Cry, with its images of a homeless Vietnam vet and references to other familiar societal ills (crime, illegitimacy, drugs and violence) manipulates to move the masses, I like the sleeper, A Long Ride. 

Those who may be disappointed that Dale's Hell and High Water is not a cover of the T. Graham Brown hit,  should feel that regret lift when they hear Jimmy sing this particular torcher.

No torture here.  Just a versatile artist (Jimmy even does a little Cajun music) with some decent material, my favorite of which is a song about good luck, titled Pink Fuzzy Dice.


Kathy Kieffer
(Advance Single)
Caught Up in Your Gravity
Rating: * *

I was caught up in my inability to put my finger on what is about this CD that causes me to react as I do.  I'm guessing Kathy's producer has advised Kieffer to "sing sexy."

To a female reviewer,  the result sounds affected, though Kathy's natural artistry isn't entirely hidden.

Men tend to hear whatever it is that female singers exude differently, but Kieffer got stuck with a female reviewer!  (Since the advance CD didn't come with artwork , I have no idea what Kathy looks like.  That's a plus when the above observations come to mind.)

Carole King

Welcome to My Living Room (DVD)

Main Feature Running Time: 110 minutes

Bonus Feature Running Time 25 minutes

Rated * * * * *

Just released, this DVD features the filming of Carole’s August, 2005 live performance in Ternecula, California and additional footage of a 2006 concert in Sydney, Australia.  Additionally, viewers are treated to sections titled The Making of the Living Room Tour (featuring interviews with Carole and her band, complete with a “behind-the-scenes” view) and Songwriting 101 (an entertaining tutorial, that, as it sounds, demonstrates how songs are written- on stage, to boot!)  They also see Carole and the band in rehearsal    Exuding the intimacy suggested in the DVD’s title, Carole breezes through nearly two dozen selections (including a medley), encompassing her hits (as a songwriter, singer or both)- and then some!    King is accompanied by Rudy Guess and- here’s the Nashville connection- Gary Burr. Whether you’re of the Little Eva, King- (Gerry) Goffin, or Tapestry eras, or even too young to remember any of these, you can’t help but enjoy what, for my generation, is a trip down memory lane with Carole, updated for the 21st century. Highlights: Welcome To My Living Room, Beautiful, Up on the Roof, It’s Too Late, Locomotion

Lisa O'Kane

It Don't Hurt

Rating ** 1/2

Lisa O’Kane is of the stature that she can command songs from Music Row’s finest tunesmiths (when she isn’t writing her own), but I don’t find John Prine’s Speed of the Sound of Loneliness (despite its provocative title) to be the most interesting performance on this CD.

Indeed, sometimes Lisa’s own material is- well, not up to standards she set with her last release- though Ain’t Done Nothin’, has some great lines about a guy who’s less than a great lover; a man who even the protagonist’s dog “don’t like.” I’m not a great fan of songs that milk popular cultural phrases, though I like the “attitude” Lisa voices in I’m Done, but there’s something to be said about the saga of a woman torn between staying and leaving, Got the Car Running, and a plea for redemption Paying for My Sins.

So take that which is good, add that which is merely radio-friendly and you’ll have pleasant fare that excites at times as it makes you hopeful Lisa will come up with something even better next time out.

Where It Belongs

Tess Reyes

Rating ***

Mix equal parts of Brenda Lee and Tanya Tucker, throw in a little Teresa Brewer, Lacy J. Dalton and Connie Cato.  Now, tone down some of the brassiness and you have a singer in what fans are coming to know as the Tess Reyes tradition. 

I'm more impressed with the singer than I am with most of the dozen songs found here (exceptions noted below).   While you won't find a better classic than End of the World (as evinced by the scores of cover versions, including Reyes'), nobody performed that standard better than Skeeter Davis, so  for Tess to include it here, presumably as filler, makes no sense to me. 

Since "It all begins with a song," here's hoping for some more inspiring material, Skeeter's signature song and those below excepted, next time around. 

Highlights: Can't Take This Any Longer, Life is So Wonderful, Turn and Run Away and Saying Goodbye.

Highlights: End of the Worldm

n't Take This Any Longer, Life

is

Soul Season

Tim Krekel Orchestra

Rating *****

If Tim Krekel’s newest CD doesn’t offer a song for every mood, well- I’ve lost count at 11. The singing and “orchestral” (that would be Tim on guitar, harmonica and lead vocals, along with an assortment of 10 equally-talented instrumentalists and background singers) performances are first-rate.

Highlights: Casualties, I Can’t Help Myself (Noooo, not as in the Four Tops, Sugar Pie/Honey Bunch and all of that)  Love One Another (Do I hear Big & Rich covering this one? )  I Just Can’t Cry Anymore, Stir Me Up Inside and a strange, post-game midnight hour burial tribute to Wilson Pickett.

Deana Carter

The Chain

Rating ***

Deana Carter’s fifth studio release is a tribute, largely in duet form, to her father, noted session player/producer, Fred Carter, Jr.

The Chain links Deana not only to her dad, but to standards largely more of Fred’s era than her own.

Leading off with Deana’s solo version of Roy Orbison’s classic Crying, (Carter’s version, veers from the original, alternately evoking vulnerability and a vamping that makes the listener wonder what the arrangement would have been if k.d. lang had been a party to it.)

Carter’s fans will love her duets with Kris Kristofferson (Help Me Make It Through the Night),  Dolly Parton (Love Is Like a Butterfly), Jessi Colter (I’m Not Lisa) and John Anderson (Swingin’).   Lay Lady Lay (performed without Bob Dylan) and The Weight (minus The Band) remain, even as solos, men’s lyrics, so Deana’s including the songs doesn’t make any sense to me. (I guess you could argue that Carter’s presenting a lesbian persona in the former, but I don’t think that’s what the divorced mother of young Gray Hayes intends.)

Deana sound pensive when she sings On the Road Again, the tempo forcing Willie Nelson to slow down, though, as always, Nelson  sings behind the beat. I would have preferred to hear Deana singing Good Hearted Woman with Waylon Jennings (a computerized possibility), rather than with Shooter Jennings,  just as I would have enjoyed Carter singing The Boxer with Paul Simon rather than with Harper Simon.

And, though this has nothing to do with Deana, George Jones sadly gives a really tired performance with Carter on S/He Thinks I Still\Care. As tribute albums go, this isn’t bad. 

Deana couldn’t make a bad album, but Carter is not  (just) a cover artist and I’d like to see  her back with some good, original material.

Reba Duets

Reba McEntire

Rating *****

One of country music’s best artists singing songwriters’ best copyrights with other top artists can’t miss- and Reba Duets doesn’t. It’s easy to see why sales of this one are through the roof!

My favorites: When You Love Someone Like That (with LeAnn Rimes), Because of You (with Kelly Clarkson), She Can’t Save Him (with Trisha Yearwood) and Everyday People (no- this is not the Sly & the Family Stone smash, it’s Carole King singing something other than a Carole King copyright with Reba.  Lorrie Harden, Tommy Harden and Don Rollins wrote this tribute to unsung heroes and heroines). 

JoJosh Turner Live at the Ryman

Rated *** 1/2

Cracker Barrel Presents Josh Turner Live at the Ryman If you’ve never been to a Josh Turner concert, you’ll feel like you’ve had the privilege after listening to this 14-song Cracker Barrel collection, Turner is able to engage his audience (whether speaking, joking, introducing the band members, or singing to the crowd), showcasing his rich bass vocal as he leads off with the campy Way Down South. 

Josh mixes new songs, the most lyrically-interesting of which is Loretta Lynn's Lincoln, with suitable covers of Hank Williams (I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive), Merle Haggard (Silver Wings) and George Jones (He Stopped Lovin' Her Today) standards before closing with his signature song, Long Black Train.

Todd Fritsch

Sawdust

Rated ****

The only thing missing from Sawdust is a song of the same title.

If you’re out honky-tonkin’, these are the songs you’ll want to hear on the jukebox. And, with 17 selections from which to choose, you’re bound to have a few favorites.

What’s Wrong With Me, a multimedia hit, courtesy of Todd’s video featuring Eddy Raven’s cameo, both asks and answers the perennial question. I’m partial to No Part Of and Guilty Conscience, two statements of cowboy wisdom that should be as popular with listeners as Honky Tonk Talk will be among those bar-scene veterans and Tables will be to those chasing dreams of country stardom.

If you’re not already wanting to go home to the Armadillo, Todd’s teaming with Gary P. Nunn on Every Honky Tonkin’ Hero (Has His Day) might provide just the incentive for packing a bag.

Outstanding