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Friday, April 10, 2009

Son of A Preacher Man -- John Rich

Ever hear a really good song and rush out to buy the album, only to discover that the one really good song sounds nothing like the rest of the album? Welcome to Son of a Preacher Man by half of Big & Rich, namely John Rich.

Shuttin’ Detroit Down is perhaps the best song to come out so far in 2009 and it kicks off this set of tunes, some topical of today’s times. One fear you have with Rich is that he’ll slide into the buffoonery that marred the Big & Rich collaborations. He avoids that for the most part, and in the process might play it a little too safe. Anyhow, the first track on this album is a more-than-solid great country tune.

Sadly, the album rapidly slides downhill from there. Trucker Man has the in-your-face guitars that marked Big & Rich, but really doesn’t do a whole lot other than make noise. Good Lord and the Man is a song about World War II and patriotism. Not quite Toby Keith, and not bad. Another You is a power ballad that Rich’s voice can’t pull off.

The album almost regains traction with Preacher Man, but the bluesy sound at the beginning degenerates into an over-produced ending. I Don’t Wanna Lose Your Love is typical 1980s pop — perhaps Rod Stewart could have done better with this song. Once again, we get an over-produced finale. John escapes the ballads with Everybody Wants To Be Me, a rocker of the first order. Not a good rocker, but a rocker nonetheless. It’s vaguely reminiscent of Huey Lewis’s The Heart of Rock And Roll. Vaguely.

You can’t have John Rich without a neo-hillbilly white trash ode, and If You Want To Turn a Country Boy On fills the bill here. This kind of stuff was interesting back when Hank Jr. was first doing it, but in the ensuing three decades it’s gotten pretty predictable. The album bottoms out with Why Does Somebody Always Have To Die. This one is difficult to describe. Blues? Bad? I’ll go with bad blues. After Why Does … the bland predictability of I Thought You’d Never Ask is a breath of not really fresh air. Steve Wariner does this kind of material soooo much better. This one has radio-ready written all over it.

Just about the time you think the album has completely clunked out, along comes Drive Myself To Drink. This is a 1940s swing arrangement with country-drinkin’ lyrics. The juxtaposition of the conflicting styles is really a hoot. Great, great tune. Great, great idea. Think Sinatra singing lyrics written by Harlan Howard.

Songs added to Goodtime Country Radio’s rotation: Shuttin’ Detroit Down; Good Lord and the Man (barely); Drive Myself To Drink.

Overall this album would probably rate only two stars out of five for its long stretch of blandness in the middle. But the bookend songs of Shuttin’ Detroit Down and Drive Myself To Drink pull the rest of the material up a notch. Let’s give John Rich three stars out of five. ***

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

What's this about "no boundaries?"

What is it with country music? Especially country radio? Everyone tries to fragment the music into sub-genres, when the beauty of country music is the combination of sound and history.

Turn on your radio and you'll hear "hot country" -- Toby Keith, Sugarland, Keith Urban and the rest. But no Clint Black or Randy Travis, never mind Hank Williams. You might catch a passing reference to Johnny Cash, and a token playing of "I Walk the Line" every now and then.

If you're lucky, you might have a "classic country" station, but even these seem to fragment the music. Some consider "classic" to be post-outlaw -- Waylon, Willie, the Oak Ridge Boys, Barbara Mandrell. Others consider "classic" to be pre-outlaw -- Hank and Lefty, Bill Anderson, Buck Owens (but not Jimmie Rodgers or Floyd Tillman). There's very little cross-over between the two versions of "classic."

So I'll ask again -- What is it with country music? Country music is a tapestry, not a few random threads. It's Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams and Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings and Garth Brooks and -- gulp -- even Carrie Underwood. And if you follow the branches of country music away from the main trunk, you'll find the Eagles and the Byrds and -- continuing further out -- Jackson Browne and Bruce Springsteen.

That's the purpose of Goodtime Country Radio -- to present the full tapestry. We like Lucinda Williams and Hank Thompson and Bob Dylan and George Strait. We'll explore more of this in the days and weeks to come. Listen -- it's all country!


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