Album Reviews | Country California

Ronnie Fauss Honors Songwriting Heroes

November 15, 2011 by C.M. Wilcox 1 Comment

For anyone paying attention, the clues were there. Shades of Kristofferson showed up in "The Saddest Love That's Ever Been Made" on 2009's New Songs for the Old Frontier. On Mulligan one year later, "It's a Long, Long Way" recalled Todd Snider's "My Generation, Part II." Sadly humorous character sketch "Tia Maria" (also on Mulligan) seemed torn from the shared notebook of John Prine and Blaze Foley. I'll bet you didn't even know they shared a notebook. You'll find all of the above … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Album Reviews Tagged With: Ronnie Fauss

Album Review: Justin Haigh – People Like Me

July 6, 2011 by C.M. Wilcox 9 Comments

If you missed Justin Haigh's first album -- and possibly even if you didn't -- People Like Me is liable to set your head spinning. Sophomore albums by little-known artists on small-time Texas indie labels (Apache Ranch Records' only other act is Nashville Star Season 1 runner-up John Arthur Martinez) aren't supposed to be this consistently wonderful. From the first few lines of self-penned album opener "All My Best Friends (Are Behind Bars)," it's clear that Haigh is working in the same Texas … [Read more...]

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Marty Stuart and Brennen Leigh: Alive with the Spirit of Country

September 8, 2010 by C.M. Wilcox 4 Comments

If you haven't been finding enough good traditional country music to suit your fancy lately, you haven't been paying much attention. There's plenty of it coming out all the time. Here are two of my recent favorites: Recorded at Nashville's historic RCA Studio B with a band built around his Fabulous Superlatives, Ghost Train: The Studio B Sessions is ostensibly Marty Stuart's love letter to traditional country music, but it also serves as a handy distillation of everything lovable about the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Album Reviews Tagged With: Brennen Leigh, Marty Stuart

Succinct Album Reviews: Blake Shelton, All About Tonight

August 10, 2010 by C.M. Wilcox 3 Comments

I think we might be due for more Adventures with Fake Jamey Johnson pretty soon... but for now, here's our cardboard friend weighing in on Blake Shelton's new EP (yeah, I said it), All About Tonight. … [Read more...]

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Donna Beasley – Under the Rushes (Album Review + Giveaway)

July 15, 2010 by C.M. Wilcox 9 Comments

On the opening track of Under the Rushes, Donna Beasley characterizes herself as "a hillbilly singer in a town of pop stars," but the album that follows settles just as frequently, and just as effectively, into a sort of slinky Americana territory, country instrumentation mingling with an untwanged voice that could just as easily veer pop. As a songwriter, though, her sensibility is firmly country. On "Just What I'm Looking For," sung with Elizabeth Cook and Tim Carroll somewhere in the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Album Reviews, Giveaways Tagged With: Donna Beasley

Succinct Album Reviews: Trailer Choir, Tailgate

July 7, 2010 by C.M. Wilcox 3 Comments

At long last, the full-length debut from Trailer Choir is available. Fake Jamey Johnson was first in line to buy it at the store, but he found it an exhausting listen for the mixed feelings it aroused in him. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Album Reviews Tagged With: Fake Jamey Johnson