Comments on: Rissi Palmer – “Country Girl”

By: Matt C

Matt C — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 04:36:24 +0000

No, I’m saying that I thought that Jim tried too hard to squeeze something positive out of a terrible song.

By: Chris N.

Chris N. — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 03:14:09 +0000

“The best way to overcome closed-mindedness is to be honest about that.”

So anyone who says they like it is just being dishonest? Because I like it.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 01:24:41 +0000

That a black woman sounds great singing Country Music shouldn’t surprise anyone–isn’t Country Music, at least to some extent, the music of the south? The music of the working man? Of the poor? Of the rural? Aren’t our songs, at the foundation of the genre, the songs of farmers and of coal miner’s daughters? Aren’t they songs of addiction and violence? Of love and heartbreak?

Well-said. Check out Candi Staton’s absolutely killer cover version of “Stand By Your Man,” and, of course, the incomparable Gladys Knight’s version of “Help Me Make it Through the Night.”

I’m not at all impressed by this single, though, particularly the production. But I’m definitely in favor of increasing all types of diversity (race, political point-of-view, style) on country playlists, so I do hope Palmer has better material than this on her album.

It’s also worth mentioning that, while they’re not shooting for the type of mainstream success that Palmer clearly is, there have been some excellent country / “Southern Soul” records by black artists recently– Staton’s His Hands, Solomon Burke’s Nashville, and especially Bettye LaVette’s upcoming The Scene of the Crime, which was performed and co-produced with Drive-By Truckers.

By: Jim Malec

Jim Malec — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 23:12:55 +0000

Calling it the worst single of the year is probably an overstatement, because there is some reasonably fresh writing in certain places.

It’s not a gem, and that’s for sure. But I think Palmer makes the song sound better than it is, and that’s worth noting, because it begs the question, “what could she do with better material?”

By: Matt C.

Matt C. — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 22:42:22 +0000

There’s more than a lot to criticize here. In fact, this is the worst song that I’ve heard this year and one of the worst of the last several years. The best way to overcome closed-mindedness is to be honest about that.