Two country music mainstays — rebel Sammy Kershaw and innovator Paulette Carlson — are hoping their new releases will breathe new life into stalled careers.
Carlson, the founding creator and driving voice behind the award-winning 1980s band Highway 101, returns to music after a decade-plus absence to raise her daughter.
"It's About Time" is a fine reintroduction to a woman who probably couldn't care less if radio paid her any attention. Carlson's album feels almost like a selfish indulgence into the music she likes: rich and twangy, where steel guitar and fiddle are fine bedmates with acoustic guitars and a rich, soothing bass line.
Most of the songs exceed radio's mandated three minutes by a minute, which is about the time you need to properly tell the stories Carlson has to tell about her beloved Vietnam vets, to whom she has dedicated the album. They get their turn on "Thank You Vets," a sentimental but not sappy singing telegram to old soldiers such as her brother Gary.
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Carlson's nasal-tinged voice is part Stevie Nicks, part Natalie Maines — smoky, rich and nuanced with a few hints of straining with age — and sounds as if she stepped right off the pages of Highway 101's last project, the 2004 "All Time Greatest Hits" package.
Like Carlson, Kershaw dips into the twangy well on each of the 10 songs on "Honky Tonk Boots," his debut on the indie Category 5 Records label that reunites him with über-producer Buddy Cannon (Kenny Chesney, Ray Scott, Joe Nichols). This is Kershaw's first album since his 2004 Audium Entertainment effort, "I Want My Money Back."
That album was one of the best Kershaw has put out, but it was a victim of poor marketing and bad headlines — he and his wife, Lorrie Morgan, were on the verge of a very public breakup, but they managed to reconcile. Judging from the lengthy thank-yous and apologies in the liner notes, Kershaw is likely hoping that everyone has forgiven him and will judge "Honky Tonk Boots" on its own merits.
If they do, they will appreciate that Kershaw has returned to his roots — rich ballads and twangy swings on which he can bury the strains of a voice well-abused by smoking in a rich blanket of trills and inflections that take their cue from the master, George Jones. He shines brightest on the ballad "One Step at a Time" and the uptempo, frolicking title song. There's also plenty to love in the ditty "Mama's Got a Tattoo" and the breakup toe-tapper "Leavin' Made Easy."
Reviews
Sammy Kershaw, "Honky Tonk Boots" (Category 5 Records)
Paulette Carlson, "It's About Time" (Pandean Records)
