Here's a couple of reviews in today's Daily Telegraph. Don't think much of the Kelly Willis one, although she had a picture with it. ---------- Steve Earle and the Del McCoury Band The Mountain (E2/Grapevine) Few albums make such a good first impression as Steve Earle's new disc. It's like an infectious rash you can't leave alone. In contrast to the tracks on El Corazon - his maudlin, though terrific previous album -The Mountain is a collection of catchy bluegrass songs written by Earle in homage to master bluegrassman Bill Monroe. Each tune, brilliantly performed by the Texan Del McCoury Band, is a gem, combining the pacy, individual melodies of banjo, mandolin and fiddle. This deceptively simple music is the sound of hillbillies at play, the sound of pure, genuine country and, as such, finds little favour with Nashville's rhinestones sophisticates. None of this will bother Earle, who has spent a lifetime upsetting people. Run-ins with authority - from his schoolboy days when he brandished a sawn-off shotgun in class to the time he was jailed for assaulting a policeman - have often been reflected in the angry, rock-tinged songs about the plight of working men. Behind all this is the pain of songwriting, which he has likened to living with a wild animal: "It's that unexplainable force that causes you to be depressed. As long as the Beast is there, I know I will always write." He's still writing, better than ever, and, in shifting from blue-collar to bluegrass with these cheery, hand-clapping songs, it appears he's tamed that Beast. Kelly Willis What I deserve (Rykodisc) Kelly Willis's voice is described as "mellow" by her publicists, and it is true that on the weaker tracks here she lives down to this uninspiring tag. Her voice is soothing, but also bland and soporific on the below-average love songs written by her husband, Bruce Robison. Elsewhere, though, it is throaty, raw and full of character. On tracks such as Take Me Down, about a lousy boyfriend, and Dan Penn's Real Deep Feeling, the singing is strong enough to stand comparison with the muscular performance of someone such as Wynonna. In the five years since her previous full-length album, the Austin-based singer writer and guitarist has changed styles. On this, her forth record, she's ditched the honky tonk and the Texas rockabilly and blues in favour of more mainstream material. The best track is her own Talk Like That, a nostalgic look back at family ties. It is a wistful reminder of what a good country song is meant to be: a poignant story well told. ------------------- Louise -- If you like rocking country music, check out the Okeh Wranglers web site at: http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/bluesmoke
