Every now and then you get a reminder you can’t judge a book by it’s cover. Â I downloaded the Carrie Rodriguez/Ben Kyle collaboration, We Still Love Our Country, with a little trepidation. Â I’m thinking, are they going to try to outdo Toby Keith by gushing on an entire album? Â Never fear, it should really be titled “we still love our country music”.
After Rodriguez knocked a couple of classic country covers out of the park last year on Love and Circumstance, I suppose this is a natural progression. Â To start with the last song on the album, Love Hurts, she does it again in a duet with her partner on the album, Romantica front man Ben Kyle. Â I feel like the standard for duets was set by Gram and Emmylou with this song, but I have to say Carrie and Ben are in the same league. Â The other song where their vocals are so on target is My Baby’s Gone, a Hazel Houser number that in this case reminded me of some of the old Porter Waggoner and Dolly Parton duets.
This project isn’t all sad and melancholy pairings though. Â I loved Fire Alarm, an original that’s so John Prine (he ain’t had a job since he was 30, his hands are small and his feet are dirty, some day I’m gonna make him mine) it comes off like a tribute. Â Be sure to check it out if you like the Prine/Dement version of In Spite Of Ourselves from last year’s In Person & On Stage. Â And speaking of John Prine, they also cover his Unwed Fathers tune.
Clocking in at just under 30 minutes, We Still Love Our Country is barely more than an EP. Â But aside from the opening Your Lonely Heart that’s Nashville pop, every song hews to the theme. Â It’s a reminder there are a lot of country gems written before country was cool. Â With an old soul take on several of them here, this album will push you to go back and listen to a few of those classics again.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.