Music CDs Reviews - Page 14

Brooks and Dunn
It Won’t Be Christmas Without You
Arista Nashville
This CD mixes Ronnie Dunn and Kix Brooks’ signature cowboy honky tonk with the more traditional elements of Christmas music. That means you get the slow, sweet sounds of White Christmas and I’ll Be Home for Christmas mixed with their raucous trademark spin on Winter Wonderland, Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town, Rockin’ Little Christmas, and Who Says There Ain’t No Santa Claus?

Patti Page
Sweet Sounds of Christmas
C.A.F. Records
“For many years some of my ardent fans have pleaded with me to record another Christmas album,” Patti Page says. Sweet Sounds of Christmas should please them, with 12 carols, including The First Noel, Jingle Bells, and Little Drummer Boy.

Lee Ann Womack
The Season for Romance
MCA Nashville
Lee Ann Womack’s duet with Harry Connick Jr. (Baby It’s Cold Outside) sets the tone for this jazz-flavored, sultry CD. No steel guitars here, either. Womack touches on tradition with Silent Night and White Christmas, but other tracks include The Man With The Bag, Forever Christmas Eve, What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve, and the title song.

Patty Loveless
Bluegrass and White Snow: A Mountain Christmas
Epic Records
Mandolins, dobros, and banjos bring a comforting simplicity to classics such as Away in a Manger, O Little Town of Bethlehem, and Little Drummer Boy. With Patty Loveless’ crystal voice and backing vocals by Dolly Parton, Trisha Yearwood, Ricky Skaggs, Vince Gill, Amy Grant, and Rebecca Lynn Howard, this bluegrass collection will become a classic.

Golden Slumbers: A Father’s Lullaby

Rendezvous Entertainment/Warner Bros. Records

The inspiration for Golden Slumbers, a collection of old, new, and unexpected lullabies performed by top instrumentalists, came with the birth of Dave Koz’s niece, Jordan.

At her mother’s request for songs that would create a comforting, relaxing environment, Koz, whose brother (Jordan’s father) is musician Jeff Koz, and other artists created Golden Slumbers.

Tracks include When You Wish Upon a Star, Brahm’s Lullaby, Hush Little Baby, You’ll Be in My Heart, Blackbird, and Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, all performed by artists who recently have become fathers, godfathers, or uncles.

Skidaddle!
Buck Howdy
Prairie Dog Entertainment

Since Roy Rogers and Gene Autry rode off into the sunset, singing cowboys are few and far between around these parts. But now we’ve got Buck Howdy, whose delightful ditties (Buckaroo, Skidaddle, and The Unicorn) and Western remakes of old standards (Don’t Fence Me In, Ghost Riders in the Sky, Splish Splash, and The Lion Sleeps Tonight) make us feel like we’re all sittin’ around the campfire.

“There’s something about cowboy music that touches everybody, no matter where they live,” Howdy says. “Maybe it’s the simplicity and comfortable feeling of the songs. Maybe it’s that folks are hungry for songs that remind them of the good old days and they want to share them with their kids.”

Parents will want to share these with their kids; the songs are composed to appeal to children, yet are sophisticated enough to appeal to Mom and Dad, too.

Wheels

Hometown News
VFR Records

Comparisons to the Everly Brothers are inevitable, particularly with the extraordinary vocal blending that showcases this duo’s tight harmonies. They’re not brothers, but Scott Whitehead and Ron Kingery share similar backgrounds, musical style, and songwriting.

The debut album’s first release, Minivan, with the lyrics, Goodbye 20s, hello minivan, is a humorous “coming of age thing,” Kingery says, about trading in the sports car (and carefree youth) for room for car seats. Wheels, the title cut, is a touching “circle of life” piece about rolling through life—first in a stroller, finally in a wheelchair. Nine more songs that Kingery and Whitehead call “homemade music” round out the album.

“We have this criteria we use for songs … and we call it the ‘Grandma Test,’” Kingery explains. “We came to an agreement that we wouldn’t ever sing or write a song that would embarrass our grandparents.”

Grandma—or anyone—would like Wheels just fine.

Will the Circle be Unbroken 30th Anniversary Edition
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Capitol Records

Three decades before the remarkable success of the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, country and bluegrass legends such as Roy Acuff and Maybelle Carter joined the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band to record bluegrass’ first platinum-selling album, Will the Circle be Unbroken.

The landmark album has been remastered and packaged with previously unseen photographs, new liner notes, additional in-studio dialogue, and two new tracks. What remains are bluegrass classics such as Wildwood Flower, Orange Blossom Special, Lonesome Fiddle Blues, Foggy Mountain Breakdown, and I Saw the Light sung by country and bluegrass mainstays Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, and Merle Travis.

“With a career that spans 36 years, Will the Circle be Unbroken still stands as our proudest moment,” says Jeff Hanna, Dirt Band vocalist.

The music’s timelessness is the “magic ingredient” that has made Will the Circle such a must-have classic, says John McEuen, fiddler, banjo-picker, and founding band member.

Dream With Me Tonight
Sandman Records

These original lullabies, written by Lanny Sherwin, himself a father, are sure to make toddlers’ bedtime more enjoyable. Melodie Crittenden’s soft, soothing, vocals are perfect for unwinding at the end of the day—for baby and parent.
The beautiful melodies are enhanced by lyrics that envelop a child in a blanket of love and security. What a wonderful, peaceful way to drift off to sleep. From Moon Music:

Moon music is playing soft on the breeze
And you can hear it as you’re drifting off to sleep
And if you should waken before the night is through
We’ll rock-a-bye to the music of the moon.

Other songs include Too Many Animals in My Bed; Dream With Me Tonight: Stars Are Wishes; and Goodnight, Nightlight. The CD also adds instrumental versions of five of the songs.

Dream With Me Tonight’s lullabies are practically a guarantee to make bedtime easier. And with 10 percent of the proceeds going to the Spina Bifida Association of America, the CD will make life easier for some children.

Beautiful Stars
Isaac “Dickie” Freeman
Lost Highway Records

Isaac “Dickie” Freeman—the deep, rich, bass voice of legendary gospel quartet the Fairfield Four—steps up to the microphone alone in his first solo album—at age 73 and after more than a half-century of musical experience.
“I’d never thought about doing a solo album,” Freeman says. “I thought, ‘Well, I could go back to my childhood when I was coming up in Johns, Ala.—the songs my mother and the people in her choir sang a capella.’”

With the exception of I’ve Got Heaven on My Mind—written especially for Freeman by Prairie Home Companion host Garrison Keillor—all of the tracks on Beautiful Stars are traditional, gospel classics, including Because He Lives, Jesus is on the Mainline, Standing on the Highway, and When We Bow in the Evening at the Altar.

The Longest Cast: The Fly-Fishing Journey of a Lifetime
Alexander Taylor
The Lyons Press

Alex Taylor’s dream journey—fly-fishing in some of the most pristine waters across the globe—allowed him to catch a tigerfish in Botswana’s Okavango Delta and stalk huge brown trout in New Zealand’s crystal-clear rivers.

Taylor was accompanied by acclaimed photographers Peter and Beverly Pickford, who captured stunning images of salmon fishing in Ireland, casting on the Rio Grande in Pategonia, Argentina, fishing for trout in Bhutan, at the top of the world in the Himalayan mountains, and searching for grayling in Alaska.

Taylor’s essay on each destination is followed by descriptive and important facts on the specific destination, including advice on when and where to go, strategies for success, and which tackle and flies are best to use. That helps when you take your dream journey.