Reviewed by Tony Cummings

Country music's much loved husband and wife duo have been so busy touring with mainstream big names over the last few years that their recordings have been thin on the ground. This in fact is their first album together in eight years and with star guests like Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin and Led Zeppelin man Robert Plant it's bound to attract attention. The inclusion of Mr Plant makes one think of the Robert Plant/Alison Kraus mega seller and certainly this has the same organic, stripped down production. And the less is more approach definitely works with Larry Campbell's fiddle and John Deaderick's keyboards adding lovely touches to Buddy and Julie's vocals and the use of the muted trumpet played by Kami Lyle on the slow ballad "Long Time" an inspired choice. Yet despite the excellence of the vocals with Buddy tending to feature on the jaunty rhythmed numbers and Julie doing the slow songs, I was left a bit let down. Too many of the lyrics revolve around the tried-and-tested clichés of country, like cheating wives and brooding sadness, while Patty Griffin's vocal on "Don't Say Goodbye" can't hide the meandering quality of the melody. There are a couple of standouts here, "One Part, Two Part", penned by R&B man Dee Ervin, is a quintessential wallow in country music hurt while the closing rendition of Leon Payne's "The Selfishness In Man" is poignantly powerful. But those hoping for a glimpse of the sublimely transcendent Julie gave us on her classic oldies like "How Could You Say No" or "All My Tears" will be disappointed by this rather depressing set of songs.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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