I try not to get swayed by other people’s reviews of albums, but must admit that after reading Ninian Dunnett’s review on the BBC website, before I’d bought the album, I was a bit worried. The over-riding feeling from her review was that with his 20 year tenure at Arista coming to an end, Alan Jackson had left his best stuff in the locker, ready for the next chapter of his phenomenal career.
On first hearing I agreed with the review, there were maybe ahlf of the dozen tracks that sounded good, the rest being nothing more than filler. Three more listens over the last two days have changed all that. I really like this album and even though it might not have any career songs like Here In The Real World, Chattahoochie, and countless others, it had no duffers either.
AJ wrote eight of the dozen and hopefully there are better songs still in his pen, waiting for the label change before sparking back to life. It’s probably no coincidence that the best songs are the ones written by others.
His slow Georgia drawl shines throughout, this guy has a great voice and it’s perfectly complimented by the strong country of fiddles, steel and twangy guitar. The title track moves along nicely and will get repeated plays on my iPod over the coming years. Best track for me is the clever Jay Knowles and Adam Wright co-write, Taillights Blue.
The first single – It’s Just That Way
Hard Hat And A Hammer on the Late Show with David Letterman
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