On Mon, 25 Jan 1999, Jon Weisberger wrote:
> First, I'm soliciting opinions of two cover-heavy recent issues, both of
> which I vaguely recall being discussed here before: the Two Dollar
> Pistols' Step Right Up! and The Okra All-Stars.
Neither one does much for me. As far as I'm concerned, the Pistols are
way overrated as a honky tonk band. Too many bludgeoning, clunky rhythms
and John Howie's vocals could use a *lot* more finesse. His oversinging
on some of the songs makes for a downright painful listen. There's still
a few things on the disc though that might be worth your while ("Lonely
Avenue" stands out for me). I have pretty much the same execution
quibbles with the Okra All-Stars. As much I like the work of Dave Schramm
and Jeb Loy Nichols, I don't think those guys have much of a feel for
honky tonk.
> Second, do you suppose that the persistent misattribution of "Wild And
> Blue" is an effort to cover up the fact that writer John Scott Sherrill
> gets cuts with the likes of Brooks & Dunn?
Nah, just the usual country-music ignorance that we've come to expect from
rock critics.--don
