The album opens with “Little Piece Of You,” and straight
off you’ll notice something interesting going on. It’s country music, but with
a 1960s pop thing happening as well. It’s a wonderful combination, and fits
well with the song’s opening lines, “Where’d
you find that old school soul/They don’t make those anymore.” And I
completely fell for her vocals on the next lines, “Did you go diving deep down in the ocean blue/For that little piece of
you.” Clearly her own soul is timeless.
That’s followed by “My First Rodeo,” a fast-paced bit of
country bliss, with a good beat. The band is cooking here, though of course Whitney
Rose’s vocals are what take center stage. I’m not a big fan of false endings,
but I love when this song comes bursting back in, and actually I just wish it
went on longer after that. From there, Whitney Rose switches gears for “The
Last Party,” one of those slow, gorgeous, heart-breaking country numbers. “Go cover every jukebox, smash all the
guitars/There’s no more music now, even sad songs feel so far away/Board up
every theatre, there’ll be no more shows/Why do the birds still sing? Surely
they must know.” (This reminds me a bit of that excellent W.H. Auden poem
that is read in Four Weddings And A
Funeral.)
“Heartbreaker Of The Year,” the CD’s title track, is a
country song, but with the cool vibe of a tune like “Fever,” with a prominent
bass line, and even has finger snaps. It’s a song about someone who is making
it in the entertainment field, walking the red carpet to receive an award, but
from the perspective of a woman no longer in his life. “You won’t find me too drunk at the after party/You won’t find me in bed
drowning in tears/I’ll be sitting with paper and pen/Working out the math so it
won’t happen again.” But my favorite lines are “You must have taken a class in fading away, friend/You must have taken
a class in drawing folks near.”
While I was surprised that the first song had a certain
1960s pop flavor, the first of two covers on this CD is a 1963 pop hit, “Be My
Baby,” here done as a duet with Raul Malo. “Be My Baby” was written by Jeff
Barry, Ellie Greenwich and Phil Spector, and was originally recorded by The
Ronettes. This version doesn’t open with that famous drumbeat. It’s followed by
“The Devil Borrowed My Boots,” which actually has something of a late 1960s
soul vibe – horns would certainly not be out of place here. And at one moment
the guitar briefly reminds me of “Harper Valley PTA.” This is a fun song. “Don’t be fooled by the boots, that wasn’t me.”
While the first of this CD’s two covers is a classic pop
tune, the second is a classic country song, Hank Williams’ “There’s A Tear In
My Beer,” here done as a sweet, beautiful, slow number, almost like a lullaby, Whitney's voice nearly angelic.
CD Track List
- Little Piece Of You
- My First Rodeo
- The Last Party
- Only Just A Dream
- Heartbreaker Of The Year
- Be My Baby
- The Devil Borrowed My Boots
- Ain’t It Wise
- Lasso
- There’s A Tear In My Beer
Musicians
Musicians on this album include Whitney Rose on vocals
and acoustic guitar; Raul Malo on vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar and
percussion; Nichol Robertson on electric guitar, acoustic guitar and mandolin;
Jerry Dale McFadden on piano and organ; Jay Weaver on bass; Paul Deakin on
drums; Burke Carroll on pedal steel, lap steel and dobro; and Drew Jurecka on
strings.
Heartbreaker Of The
Year is scheduled to be released on August 21, 2015 on Cameron House
Records.
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