Music CDs Reviews - Page 16

Earl Scruggs and Friends
Compilation
MCA Nashville

Banjo master Earl Scruggs’ first new album in 17 years has combined his signature sound with the music of some of today’s biggest musical artists. Elton John revisited Country Comfort from his 1970 album Tumbleweed Connection, Sting contributed Fill Her Up, Don Henley and Johnny Cash collaborated on Passin’ Thru, and a stellar group of musicians, including actor/comedian Steve Martin, collaborated on a breathless version of Foggy Mountain Breakdown.

Other friends who appear with Scruggs include Dwight Yoakam, Billy Bob Thornton, Travis Tritt, Gary Scruggs, Melissa Etheridge, Marty Stuart, Paul Shaffer, Leon Russell, and John Fogerty. Scruggs’ trademark five-string banjo united these artists’ broad range of material.

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This album, by one of the most enduring groups in country music, is filled with the vocal blend so familiar after nearly four decades. Don Reid, Harold Reid, Phil Balsley, and Jimmy Fortune apply their distinctive four-part harmony to wistful songs of love lost (Too Long Ago, It Should Have Been Me, and Look at Me) and love found (In Love With You and Darlin’ I Do).

The Statlers, known for their uplifting lyrics and tempos, weave other themes through this album: never give up, tell your loved ones how you feel about them before it’s too late, and be grateful for what you have.

Showtime, the quartet’s first album in more than five years, also includes two soaring cuts of their trademark gospel music—The Other Side of the Cross and I’ve Got Jesus on My Side.

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Pull My Chain
Toby Keith
Dreamworks Records

This follow-up to Toby Keith’s blockbuster How Do You Like Me Now?! already has one hit, I’m Just Talkin’ About Tonight, and more are destined to follow.

Songs, most of which were co-written by Keith, include Tryin’ to Matter, about a guy desperately trying to save a relationship; My List, which Keith says sounds “like an old Glen Campbell song, a retro-country Gentle On My Mind”; and Forever Hasn’t Got Here Yet, which “flies fast and hits hard.”

I Wanna Talk About Me is a, well, unusual country rap song composed by Bobby Braddock, who co-wrote the ultimate country song, He Stopped Loving Her Today. “I do very little outside material, but Bobby heard my song Getcha Some (from 1998’s Greatest Hits, Volume One) and saw I wasn’t afraid to be different,” Keith says. “I know what I’m supposed to be doing: what no one else is doing.”

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Three Mo’ Tenors
Rodrick Dixon, Victor Trent Cook,
Thomas Young
RCA Victor

You’ve heard The Three Tenors and the Irish Tenors. These three classically trained African-American tenors belt out Broadway show tunes, hit operatic high notes, sing the blues, and stir the soul with gospel and spirituals on this live CD.

The tenors are Victor Trent Cook, who received a 1995 Tony Award nomination for Smokey Joe’s Café; Rodrick Dixon, who’s performed at some of America’s largest opera houses; and Thomas Young, an internationally known tenor whose career has spanned three decades.

The CD’s diverse musical styles include Let the Good Times Roll, Were You There?, America the Beautiful, The Jazz Cat/Minnie the Moocher, and a medley from the 1970s, Love Train/Oh Girl/Betcha By Golly Wow/Midnight Train to Georgia.

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This gifted Texas storyteller is known for his unique musical style, blending touching stories with infectious melodies and a sometimes tongue-in-cheek perspective.

With a musical style similar to fellow Texas singer-songwriters Lyle Lovett, Charlie Robison, and Nanci Griffith, Keen sings of “Goodtime Charlie and Wanderin’ Bill” in Wild Wind, one of 11 songs on this CD, scheduled for release earlier this month.

Other cuts include the first single, the traditional folk song, Walkin’ Cane, about traveling and life’s woes; I Still Miss Someone, written by country legend Johnny Cash; and the Keen-penned Fallin’ Out, with such lines as, “Somewhere down the line I’ll write you letters now and then/I know that you won’t read a word but I can still pretend.”

Keen, somewhat of a superstar in Texas, continues to emerge in markets outside the Lone Star State. Gravitational Forces, Keen’s ninth album, should pull in a lot more listeners.

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The story of Bridget Jones, the thirty-something, irrepressible British woman who finally takes control of her life, is told through this soundtrack that combines the old with the new.

New music by rockers Shelby Lynne (Killin’ Kind and Dreamsome) and Sheryl Crow (Kiss That Girl) and pop/soul artist Gabrielle (Out of Reach) is combined with Chaka Khan’s I’m Every Woman and Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye singing Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart).

Add to that several remakes—Jamie O’Neal covers Eric Carmen’s All By Myself, Robbie Williams sings Frank Sinatra’s Have You Met Miss Jones?, and Geri Halliwell does It’s Raining Men by The Weather Girls.

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Two of country music’s most distinct voices blend in this album that runs the range from stone country to a Beatles influence. “Sammy and I have wanted to record an album together ever since we met,” Morgan says.

Morgan and Kershaw’s title cut is a country version of the Barbra Streisand/Bryan Adams duet which first appeared on the film soundtrack The Mirror Has Two Faces. Also easily recognizable is Kershaw’s version of the old Louis Armstrong tune What a Wonderful World.

The 12-song album—Morgan and Kershaw duet on six songs and solo on three each—also includes That’s Where I’ll Be, written by the pair, and He Drinks Tequila, the first single.

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Pam Tillis’ new album marks the first time she and her father, Mel Tillis, sing a duet on an album. Waiting on the Wind, with its sweet melody, advises a daughter to make her dreams come true, rather than waiting for things to magically happen.

Tillis’ clear, crisp voice is showcased in this 12-song album that features such gems as Which Five Years, about getting older and being proud of it; It Isn’t Just Raining, a duet with Vince Gill; and Trying.

“Trying is about an ambitious young girl who dreams of being a star but is wise enough to know that it’s the journey there that matters,” Tillis says, “and not necessarily the destination.”

Tillis, a recent Grand Ole Opry inductee who’s enjoyed an enduring career, probably knows a little about that.

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You know how spring weather makes you want to roll down your car window and crank up the music? Here’s the perfect CD. The Van Zant brothers front their own bands—Donnie does vocals for 38 Special, Johnny sings lead for Lynyrd Skynyrd in place of their brother, Ronnie, who died in a 1977 plane crash—but they’ve teamed up on their second “brother” CD for some guitar-laden, rowdy, fun Southern rock.

One of the best cuts is Oklahoma, a song the brothers wrote to pay homage to the people of that state. “After watching the news about the devastating tornadoes that ripped through Oklahoma, we were just really amazed and inspired by how the people there weren’t complaining,” Donnie says. “In fact, they showed an incredible amount of faith and strength in how they pulled together to help each other. And it wasn’t that any … of them were trying to be heroes. It was about helping your neighbor and just being their brother.”

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Christian artist Michael W. Smith’s vivid imagination laid the groundwork for his first all-instrumental release. “I visualize these scenes in my mind and write the score to accompany them,” Smith says. “With this new release, I’ve finally written a soundtrack for the movies in my mind.”

The title cut reflects a major Civil War battle that occurred in Franklin, Tenn., where Smith lives. “I visualized a young soldier returning home after the war, and I started seeing it as if it were part of a movie,” he says.

Hibernia (the Latin word for Ireland) was inspired by Smith’s long desire to visit the Emerald Isle, and portions of this album were recorded in Dublin with the famed Irish Film Orchestra. Two songs are tributes—one to a longtime friend, the other to a classmate of his son, both of whom died young. The songs brought Smith peace as he composed them—and he wants to pass that along. “Life can be tough, our struggles can weigh us down,” he says, “but I want this music to be a reminder that God is bigger than all this we see around us.”

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