October ‘07 Album Review Wrap-Up

October is over with and it seems like there was a whirlwind of new music. Some was good. The rest? Not so much. Browse through our assessments of the albums and let us know what you thought about the quality of October’s releases.

Brooks & Dunn — Cowboy Town
What is most disturbing about Cowboy Town is that it shows reverse artistic progression–instead of using their considerable success as a launching pad for a body of artistically engaging material, Kix and Ronnie have offered up a collection of songs that pander, to a greater extent than any of their previous albums, to commercial notions of patriotism (”American Dreamer”) and Christianity (”God Must Be Busy”). Also, who gave Kix a mic? No, seriously…I thought they kept those locked up when he was in the studio. — Jim Malec

Cross Canadian Ragweed — Mission California
A perfect album for the alt country fan who doesn’t care about lyrics that make any sense whatsoever. “Record Exec” is about…something to do with the fact that they can’t get on radio (I think), and “Lawrence” sure sounds nice…but the images jump around from “yellow submarine” to “christmas” to “daddy’s guitar strings” and…screw it; just stop trying to rationalize and enjoy the pretty sounds. — Jim Malec

Merle Haggard – The Bluegrass Sessions
The Bluegrass Sessions lacks the fast-paced breakdowns that have become a staple of bluegrass music. The seasoned musicians are akin to 100 meter sprinters being forced to run a marathon–minus even a kick at the end. Instead Sessions opts for lyrically focused music, which is never a bad thing when Haggard is involved, but might come off as a little disingenuous to those perusing the record store looking for hardcore bluegrass. Let’s call it a bluegrass-lite/country blend and enjoy it for the fine acoustic album that it is. — Brody Vercher

Ryan Bingham – Mescalito
Honest-to-goodness vagabond Ryan Bingham harnesses his whiskey-saturated vocals to deliver studious tales that reflect the sum of his life experiences. Whether they’re tales of trains, traveling, or drunk cowboys they come off as wholly believable; which makes this somewhat of a rarity in an industry that thrives off artists looking to record the next big hit– even if they have to sing about bobbin’ heads. — Brody Vercher

Deana Carter — The Chain
It’s hard to believe that a collection of country classics including the likes of “Crying” and “Help Me Make It Through The Night” can sound as bland and unimaginative as Carter manages to make them. On The Chain, 1997’s most promising new artist strips twelve legendary songs of everything that made them special, turning some of the greatest material the genre has ever known into a weirdly elevator-infused collection of boring sameness. That’s a perfect way to stage a comeback… — Jim Malec

LeAnn Rimes – Family
Establishing herself at a young age no one has ever doubted Rimes vocal talents, but the release of her latest album sees the emergence of a full blown artist singing her own songs. She describes Family as her most personal album to date and shares writing credits on each of the main tracks; lending a solid cohesiveness to the overall feel. Despite the strong showing the songs come off as a little too slick. Strip back the glossy production and I’d be singing Family’s praises for the strong, emotive album that it’s begging to be. — Brody Vercher

Carrie Underwood – Carnival Ride
Carnival Ride is more a terrible disappointment than a horrendous album, but it reveals important deficiencies in Carrie’s artistry. It demonstrates that much of the artistic maturity exuded by this overnight success was illusory and that some pronouncements about Carrie’s endless talent were premature. — Matt C.

Dwight Yoakam – Dwight Sings Buck
Dwight Yoakam’s latest release doesn’t live up to the promise of its lead single. “Close Up the Honky Tonks” is one of the few bold and imaginative tracks on an album where Dwight otherwise sounds timidly reverent of his hero, Buck Owens. The fact that Yoakam may be Bakersfield’s finest living vocalist means that it’s still a good project, but at the end of the day it just makes you want to throw an old Owens album on the turntable. — Matt C.

Gary Allan – Living Hard
Overall, Gary Allan has made an artistic statement with Living Hard and despite my initial dissapointment, that is worth being lauded. He certainly hasn’t remained stagnant and the transition is actually a logical one. Besides, it’s not “Like It’s A Bad Thing” that he don’t do it like everybody else does. The album could have been an all out rock fest, but Allan shows suprising restraint in delivering masterful performances and only a couple of bad ones. — Brady Vercher

Rissi Palmer — Rissi Palmer
Rissi Palmer is an excellent country singer, but the material on her debut album is about as exciting as watching a race between a tortoise and a snail. These songs slip back and forth between radio-friendly country and pop-flavored progressiveness, but there is little substance to hold onto–with the exception of “Flowers On My Windowsill” which is catchy, engaging, and offers a glimpse of just how good Palmer could be with better songs. — Jim Malec

Shooter Jennings – The Wolf
Every once in a while a writer will offer up the offspring of famous artists and ponder why it’s so hard for them to achieve success. Sometimes it comes down to the simple fact that they aren’t as vocally gifted as their famous parents; other times they try so hard to differentiate themselves that their music ends up suffering. And so it goes with Shooter Jennings. He’s at his strongest, and most enjoyable, when recording music reminiscent of that from his father’s catalog, but he takes too many missteps (exemplified by “This Ol Wheel”) on The Wolf to call it a breakthrough. — Brody Vercher

Josh Turner – Everything Is Fine
Everything Is Fine might not be the kind of record that launches Turner into global superstardom–it is a humble record; at times a deceptively simple record; and it is a record that is strongly laced with traditional undertones. At the same time, however, it is a record that shows considerable growth over his previous two releases, and, in this critic’s opinion, it is a record that far exceeds expectations. — Jim Malec

Gretchen Peters – Burnt Toast & Offerings
Gretchen Peters’ latest, Burnt Toast & Offerings, is a quiet and introspective collection of precisely-crafted songs that is remarkably detached from the usual heavy-handed imagery and overwrought production of today’s Nashville. Seldom wasting a word, Burnt Toast showcases an unparalleled maturity of thought; these stories are smart and poignant and come together to spin a complex web of human emotion. — Jim Malec

Ricky Skaggs and The Whites – Salt of the Earth
The vocal performances and musicianship on this collection of Gospel standards are so fantastic that even very familiar material assumes transcendent meaning. The family harmonies of Sheryl, Sharon and Buck White shine throughout and they trade the lead with Ricky Skaggs’ high lonesome sound. Patriarch Buck White is the weakest vocalist of the group but gets some of the best material to work with in “Wreck on the Highway.” — Matt C.

Alison Krauss & Robert Plant – Raising Sand
If you can make it to “Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)” without falling asleep, then I congratulate you. Otherwise, I don’t consider it country and rating it in the context of country albums would be unfair. – Brady Vercher

More albums released in October that you might want to check out.

Faith Hill – The Hits
A half-hearted effort to collect some of Hill’s biggest hits. You will find two new songs among the collection, “Red Umbrella” and “Lost”.

Owen Temple – Two Thousand Miles
This is the fourth album for Texas singer-songwriter Owen Temple after a five year hiatus.

Charlie Daniels – Deuces
Daniels is joined by more than a few notable country artists for thirteen covers– some pulled from his originals, and others come from a cross section of musical genres.

Sara Evans – Greatest Hits
Evans’ own effort at a Greatest Hits package with four new songs: “As If”, “Love You With All My Heart”, “Pray For You”, and “Some Things Never Change”.

Robin English – Velvet-Covered Brick
I can’t really find any information on this one except that it was supposedly released on October 30th and includes “Cotton Field Girl” and “Mamas Don’t Let Your Cowboys Grow Up to be Babies”.