http://www.countrystandardtime.com/cdreviews.asp Country music CD reviews from CountryStandardTime.com Copyright 2007, Country Standard Time 21 May 2013 17:55:44 GMT 21 May 2013 17:55:44 GMT 60 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5109 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5109 Jason Boland and the Stragglers have released a new country album that sounds old. This isn't to imply that the sound is aged in a negative way; they have a classic country maturity that isn't heard too much these days with the exception of Jamey Johnson. For those not familiar with the music of Boland, the first track is a great way... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5107 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5107 George Strait may have reached his seventh decade, but he shows zero signs of slowing down. In fact, Strait seems to be getting even more consistent as he gets older. Strait doesn't stray all that far from the formula that has resulted in superstar status. First and foremost, that means his sonorous voice is mixed far above the music, a... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5102 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5102 On the fourth album released on her label, Home Perm, Ashleigh Flynn continues to do what she's always done best: seduce us with lively stories backed by tender, raucous, and rollicking instrumentals. In the tales on "A Million Stars," Flynn celebrates and recovers for our view the lives of the numerous women - some well-known, such... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5058 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5058 "Wilderness" is another twisted menagerie of The Handsome Family songs. Once again, husband Brett Sparks sings their songs, sometimes in a bellowing gravedigger voice, after adding music to wife Rennie's lyrics. This time out, each and every tune is named after an animal, insect or other such nature creature. However, Rennie studies... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5106 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5106 Chances are good people will think they've heard an unknown Dierks Bentley song on the radio, when in fact it was actually a Craig Campbell tune. That's because Campbell sounds a whole lot like Bentley during "Never Regret." About the only chief difference between Campbell and Bentley songs, however, is how Bentley adds so much humor to his tunes. He also has a far more expressive singing voice.... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5096 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5096 It's rare that an artist can maintain a solo career while also sustaining his or her role in an established outfit. So credit Ruth Moody with being able to do both. A lynchpin in the successful Canadian folk/roots trio the Wailin' Jennys, she garnered kudos with her first individual outing "The Garden" in 2010. As if to prove... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5067 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5067 For those who thought "Hell on Heels" was a one-off side project for Miranda Lambert (along with sidekicks Angaleena Presley and Ashley Monroe), think again. The Annies, aka "Lonestar Annie" (Lambert), "Hippie Annie" (Monroe), and "Holler Annie" (Presley), are no novelty act. Instead, they tackle material that you just are unlikely to hear on mainstream country radio both in subject matter and sonics.... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5052 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5052 Some six years and counting after their spectacular debut on the bluegrass scene, with a couple of handfuls of IBMA awards garnered along the way, Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent continue to avoid the trap of sputtering out after using up their best material on the first couple of albums. The primary reason is, although they are adept at writing... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5038 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5038 Lady Antebellum probably needed a change in direction after "Own the Night" dropped in 2011. The material was overly geared towards taking dead aim at the radio jugular and not the best material. That isn't the case this time out on the trio's fifth release because most of the songs veer away from being obviously radio fodder... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5095 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5095 Modern bluegrass can sometimes be a sanitized affair, with crystal clean recordings and slick arrangements taking most of the soul out of the mountain songs and traditional origins of the music. Frank Solivan isn't a raw Stanley Brothers style performer, but he has left enough grit and substance in his music to keep it far away from mainstream mediocrity.... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5094 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5094 Many bluegrass musicians spent time in the Bluegrass Boys. Peter Rowan's gig was from October 1964 to March 1967. While most of the graduates of Monroe's school of bluegrass stayed close to those bluegrass roots, Rowan's adventures have varied from the path. He sometimes adds a country influence (Big Twang Theory), R&B (Twang... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5015 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5015 Despite the carefree, cruise-line posture of most Kenny Chesney records, there's always a nagging suspicion that his party-time vibe is about as predictable as a plastic pink flamingo on a Palm Beach patio. Yet Chesney's career-long theme of girls, guitars, beer and beaches (not always in that order) - and the occasional piece of farm machinery - has yet to wear thin. And with summer fast approaching, that's okay.... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5097 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5097 Hailing from Cadillac, Mich., singer, songwriter, and guitarist Winslow-King has lived in New Orleans since 2001. Since living in the Big Easy, he's collaborated with a number of local musicians from John Boutte and "Washboard" Chaz Leary to Paul Sanchez. On this new album, he and his partner, singer/washboardist Esther Rose,... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5090 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5090 Jerry Miller has been standing in the shadows for some time now, a highly sought after sideman backing musicians such as The Spurs and Eilen Jewell (with and without the Sacred Shakers), among many others. The all-knowing internet seems to have a hard time differentiating between him and the Jerry Miller who was one of the original members of... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5089 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5089 In some respects, Eric Brace and Peter Cooper make a perfect pair. The former is the leader of the alt.-country combo Last Train Home, while the latter gained prominence as the music critic for the Nashville newspaper The Tennessean. Together, they've found obvious chemistry, courtesy of a mutual musical mindset and a shared Rolodex that's yielded an impressive cast of support players.... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5088 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5088 No,no, not that Steve and Eydie, the husband and wife duo Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme who had a couple minor hits in the pre-rock era and after that were on every telethon or second-rate variety show in the '60s and '70s. The new and improved Steve and Edie features actor, comedian, novelist, playwright and all-around wild and crazy... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5087 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5087 It still seems bizarre that such a great singer-songwriter like Lori McKenna, who's written songs for the likes of such country luminaries as Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, among others, as well as crafting her own records, reflecting an honest and insightful look into real life, is not a household name. Yet, perhaps, the Massachusetts-based artist is just fine with that, as her latest album, ironically titled after her home state, seems to suggest.... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5091 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5091 It is sometimes an unwise decision to look back at music written years ago, and try to breathe new life into them. Perhaps there was a reason these songs never inspired a budding audience or career at that time. Well, that is just what The Steel Wheels have done with their new release "No More Rain," but after one listen many may wonder what took so long for these songs to find their way out once again.... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5081 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5081 It's been an interesting trajectory for Amy Speace. Mentored by both Judy Collins and Ian Hunter - an unlikely combination if ever there was one - she won the praises of NPR and luminaries like Nanci Griffith and Guy Clark, each of whom tapped her to open for them on tour. Her string of albums have indicated she's worthy of such high regard, but her latest, "How to Sleep in a Stormy Boat," offers the definitive proof that further kudos would be well justified.... Country Music News http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5079 http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=5079 Underlying the entire CD is some talented instrumental work by Marcy Marxer and her friends playing a well documented and broad array of instruments. The mixture of styles and genre is unusual and gives rise to an inference that the target market is fans (and new fans) of Marxer rather than being aimed at, say, the old time crowd.... Country Music News