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Miss Leslie finds her voice on new album
By JOEY GUERRA
Houston Chronicle 2008
Between the Whiskey and the Wine isn't just the name of a standout tune on Miss Leslie's new studio disc. It's where several of the heartfelt odes -- to faded love, losing your identity and ultimately finding yourself -- comfortably reside.
Drinking away sorrows figures into several other songs, including I Can Still Feel, Hold Back the Tears, To Get Through This Day and Honky Tonk Hangover. Expect to find a few tears in your beers, whiskey or wine.
But this is more than just a collection of nighttime downers. Houston's pre-eminent honky-tonk female has crafted a collection that bristles with emotion, a look into the musical soul of a real, live woman.
"This album is about a journey I started several years ago -- a journey towards finding myself and living that person without apologies," Leslie (whose last name is Sloan) says in the liner notes.
She's come a long way. Just a few years ago, Miss Leslie's rollicking sets consisted of obscure honky-tonk tunes from the '50s and '60s and a smattering of originals. But experience has since translated into real artistry. She wrote every song on Between the Whiskey and the Wine, and they flow seamlessly with her live catalog of covers.
Leslie still echoes Connie Smith throughout the disc, one of her primary influences. But more than ever, the new record captures the dynamic quality of her live performances. Thank producers Ricky Davis and Tommy Detamore, who keep things unfussy and put the focus on Leslie's big, bold vocals.
I'll Stand in Line is a hopeful, hopping ode to unrequited love, and there's a joyful sense of satisfaction in kiss-off tune I'm Done With Leaving. Each moment crackles with immediacy.
Honky Tonk Hangover is the disc's most playful moment, buoyed by Leslie's feisty vocal performance. She even manages a few yodels. Try and not smile at least once.
There's real sadness here, too. Pretty Girl laments a woman whose seemingly perfect image masks real, untapped heartache. And during I Can Get Over You, Leslie repeats the title in hopes of convincing herself, more than a former flame, that she's doing OK.
It's sad, really, that commercial radio favors the watered-down likes of Sara Evans and Taylor Swift over real country grit. But In the Matter of Me and You could, with just the smallest chance, be a huge hit. It's sentimental but not syrupy, slick but never obvious, artfully capturing the pain of divorce.
Leslie's band is astonishingly good, every part perfectly complementing the next. Sloan's fiddle flows effectively alongside Dave Biller's guitar, Ric Ramirez's upright bass and Timmy Campbell's drums. And Ricky Davis' sublime steel guitar is like another vocalist. It gives the entire thing an added layer of emotion.
Love Will Find You closes things on a hopeful note, Leslie vowing that, despite so much pain, her honky-tonk heart will heal again. It's a soaring, soulful sound.
From a review in Third Coast Music:
Beween The Whiskey And The Wine **** (Four Stars)
Ken Irwin the music lover is a big fan of Leslie Sloan, and, indeed, what's not to love? Already an outstanding real country singer, much admired by FAR DJs and the like, and with a growing regional following, her third album is not only a major leap forward in confidence and style - shaping each individual word to maximum effect, she really sounds like a star - it's entirely original material, and if someone told you some of her songs were actually covers of early 60s hits, you'd have to be supremely confident in your knowledge of the period to argue the toss. More likely, you'd think I'm Done With Leaving, I Can Get Over You, In The Matter Of Me And You and the sensational You Left Me A Long Time Ago, somehow slipped by you. For all these reasons, Ken Irwin the record label exec had to pass on signing Sloan to Rounder. Her appeal is also her problem, the star she sounds like is from some 50 years ago. Though she sails under the flag of convenience of honky tonk, she really sings and writes Hard Country, a subgenre, neatly summarized by the title of Barbara Ching's book Wrong's What I Do Best, that has all but fallen off the musical map, perhaps because it was so quickly coopted by countrypolitan. Splitting her time between bars, divorce courts and packing her bags, Sloan celebrates, if that's the word I want, the messy emotional lives of exactly the kind of people country music used to be for and about.
-John Conquest, June 2008
From the DISClaimer column by Robert K. Oermann, Music Row Magazine:
SUNNY SWEENEY/Refresh My Memory Writer: J. Lauderdale/J. Sherrill; Producer: Tommy Detamore/Tom Lewis; Publisher: Mighty Nice/Laudersongs/Bluewater/Sony-ATV Tree/City Wolf/Big Yellow Dog, BMI; Sunny Sweeney (track) (www.sunnysweeney.com)
-Sweeney's Heartbreaker's Hall of Fame CD kicks off with this startlingly rootsy performance. If you love real country music, you'll be instantly hooked. Every track reminds you of why you fell in love with Jean Shepard, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Kitty Wells, Tammy Wynette and the rest of our honky-tonk angels. Sunny is a star in Austin, Texas, but deserves to be a national sensation.
From the DISClaimer column by Robert K. Oermann, Music Row Magazine:
The DisCovery Award goes to Sunny Sweeney. I previously encountered her when judging in Texas for the inaugural season of Nashville Star. I liked her then, and I like her now.
SUNNY SWEENEY/Heartbreaker's Hall Of Fame
Writer: S. Sweeney; Producer: Tommy Detamore/Tom Lewis; Publisher: Songs of Sunny, BMI; SS (track) (www.sunnysweeney.com)
-The title tune to Sunny's CD presents a Texas thrush with a delightfully personable delivery that's country to the core. Extra points for the excellent harmonica and steel-guitar work, as well as for the pointed lyric.
From the DISClaimer column by Robert K. Oermann, Music Row Magazine:
Texas to the rescue!
While there was certainly quality work from Music Row in this stack of platters (Billy Dean, Con Hunley, Jack Sundrud), it was the boys from the Lone Star State who turned in the best singles.
I have given Jason Allen consistent raves ever since he began making records. This week is no exception.
JASON ALLEN/John Boat Blues Writer: Jason Allen; Producer: Tommy Detamore; Publisher: Glad, BMI; D (track) (281-397-7300)
-This loping hillbilly blues just drips with Southern summertime heat. The harmonica work is particularly evocative. It turns out that D Records would be only too happy to see its roster graduate to major labels. Jason is young, good looking, a great writer and a hotshot, Paisley-level guitarist. He also has a large, established Texas fan base. Hey you A&R people, let the bidding begin.
From the DISClaimer column by Robert K. Oermann, Music Row Magazine:
JAMIE RICHARDS/They’ve Never Been To Texas Writer: Roger Springer/Mark Chesnutt/Slugger Morrissette; Producer: Walt Wilkins/Tommy Detamore; Publisher: EMI Blackwood/Songs of Jasper/EMI April, BMI/ASCAP; D (track) (www.jamierichardsband.com)
I quite agree with this anti- Music Row sentiment. While Nashville is busy making Sunday school lessons for Prozac housewives, there’s a whole world of barrooms, dancefloors, drinking, cheating, steel guitars and Saturday nights out there. Go to Texas and get real, people. That’s your audience.
From the DISClaimer column by Robert K. Oermann, Music Row Magazine:
Texans had the goods for this listening session.
Jamie Richards remains one of the finest young country stylists making records today. I have loved everything he's ever issued, but "Last Call" really takes the cake. Hardly anything from the major labels this week even comes close, the exception being the brilliant "Wake Up Older" by Julie Roberts.
Elsewhere in the Lone Star State, we find ......... Bobby Flores also.... turning in fine performances.
Texans like to brag. This week, they're justified.
JAMIE RICHARDS/Last Call Writer: Jamie Richards/Wade Battle; Producer: Tommy Detamore and Walt Wilkins; Publisher: Mike Curb/Grand LMG, BMI/ASCAP; D (CD-TEX)
-I've said it before, and I'll say it again. This guy makes records that are as good or better than anything the majors on Music Row can concoct. If there's a finer heartache performance than this on disc right now, I have yet to hear it. If the radio airplay investigators really want blood, have them ask why a great single on D Records like this can't get spins while a mediocre one on an international conglomerate can.
BOBBY FLORES/Your Old Love Letters Writer: Ray Price; Producer: Bobby Flores; Publisher: Sony-ATV, BMI; Yellow Rose (CD-TEX) (www.yellowroserecords.com)
-A vintage shuffle that goes down as smooth as vintage brandy.
From the DISClaimer column by Robert K. Oermann, Music Row Magazine:
As Texans will be the first to tell you, they’re bigger and better than anyone. But is that true in contemporary country music? Do Lone Star staters really make better records than Nashvillians? As it happens, there’s a CD service that compiles Texas tunes each month. In fact, the current, July, compilation of CD-Tex marks the San Antonio company’s second anniversary. I’m all about discovering new music. And everybody on the disc is new to me except for Jamie Richards and the previously reviewed Zona Jones. How do the unknowns stack up? Read on.
ELEVEN HUNDRED SPRINGS/Why You Been Gone So Long Writer: Mickey Newbury; Producer: Tommy Detamore/Eleven Hundred Springs; Publisher:Sony-ATV/Acuff Rose, BMI; Palo Duro (CD-Tex) (866-PALO-DURO)
—This classic Newbury song is generally performed as a rocker. The band slows it down to a moody, bluesy, loping drawl that’s really cool. In fact, this is the best version of this standard I’ve ever heard. The echoey steel guitar work gets extra points.
JAMIE RICHARDS/Wasted Writer: Jamie Richards/Jeff Batson; Producer: Walt Wilkins/Tommy Detamore; Publisher: Mike Curb/Hi-Value, BMI/ASCAP; D (CD-Tex) (281-397-7300)
—This guy is no stranger to DisClaimer. In the past, I’ve hailed him as a major honky- tonk stylist. His latest, an uptempo barroom bopper, only confirms my belief in him.
From a review in the Nashville Tennessean:
She's not your average country singer, and that's good
Sunny Sweeney
Heartbreaker's Hall of Fame
Big Machine Records
I was thinking for a while there that the contemporary country album was dead. Here's an instance where I'm glad to admit that I was wrong. Much of what Music Row puts out these days cannot rightly be called an "album," in that the collections of songs aren't intended as complete musical thoughts. Many country singers are faux-rapping or badonka-donking one minute, and the next minute they're crooning a heartfelt ballad about God, family, country or all of the above.
Variety is at least one of life's spices, so that can be all well and good. But too often, a something-for-everyone approach comes off as disjointed. Sometimes, if you throw too much against the wall, nothing sticks at all, and the wall ends up crumbling down. Depends on what you're tossing around, I suppose. In any case, the quasi-new year looks to be holding some good counter-balances to this trend. Martina McBride's album will be released in April, and it's a cohesive piece of work. Ditto for Miranda Lambert's next effort, due out in May. And Big Machine Records - of "No, Toby Keith isn't involved in this anymore" fame - has just released a sweetly swinging little country album from Sunny Sweeney.
"Cohesive" doesn't mean "concept album," and Swee-ney's themes and characters vary. But the music is squarely country, dusted in Texas soil and presented without the compression and computer-driven hoo-ha that often makes it hard to tell one country radio artist's stuff from the next. Sweeney wrote many of these songs and chose the others wisely. Bucking another Music Row trend, she picked several cover songs that had already been out on others' albums. Thus, Tim Carroll's rollicking honkytonk gem "If I Could," Jim Lauderdale's "Please Be San Antone" (co-written with one of those infamous Dixie Chicks), Keith Sykes' gorgeous "Lavender Blue" (presented here as a duet with Lauderdale), Iris DeMent's "Mama's Opry" and the Thom Schuyler-penned "16th Avenue" all get fresh airings. Sweeney's own songs sit nicely in the mix, with some superb musicians (guitar man Casper Rawls, electric guitarist/steel player Tommy Detamore and others) playing with grace and spunk. Sweeney originally put this album out herself, and Big Machine has picked it up and re-released it in its entirety. No effort has been made to make it more "mainstream," more mass-appeal or more like a Ford truck commercial. Good thing, as it's fine the way it is: good songs from an effective honkytonk singer. It sounds like real, handmade country music, from some world-class hand-makers.
- PETER COOPER, STAFF WRITER
From a review in the Austin American Statesman:
Sunny Sweeney: Heartbreaker's Hall of Fame *** (Three Stars)
The local honky-tonk scene has been a little gray lately, but here comes a burst of light from Longview named Sunny Sweeney. This debut is downright irresistible, with Sweeney's hankering for hooks not disturbing the hayseed charm. Produced by Heybale drummer Tom Lewis and steel guitar wiz Tommy Detamore, "Heartbreaker's Hall of Fame" is a sweet, drawling mix of wistful, melodic sway and dancefloor precision.
The queen of the Poodle Dog Lounge, where she plays most Sundays (next: Oct. 15), Sweeney has been playing live for only two years and yet her music struts with the confidence a shot of tequila will give to the prettiest girl in the room. Easy comparisons would be to Patty Loveless and Kasey Chambers, plus there are traces of Dolly Parton, though as a songwriter, Sweeney's got to orbit the globe a few times to be in Queen Dolly's ZIP code. Wisely, she gets most of her material here from seasoned writers such as Jim Lauderdale -- the LP's spiritual adviser -- Iris Dement and Keith Sykes.
This is local music that doesn't sound local. Catch her while you can; Nashville's holding on line two.
-- Michael Corcoran
From a review on countryreview.com:
Jamie Richards: Between These Lines
Album Review
by George Peden
His story plays like a well-worn country song. It’s got all the ingredients of home, wished-for-dreams, and pursued possibilities. He’s Jamie Richards. This Oklahoma-raised and Nashville-based singer songwriter grew up toiling the farm by day and playing the honky tonks by night. But tip jar hoot and holler gigs weren’t offering any dream fulfillment, so he did what any enterprising wannabe would do. He waved goodbye to the cows – and headed for Nashville. He arrived, according to his publicity flier, with little more than a bed, a black and white TV and a couple of hundred dollars.
To survive, while treading miles and pounding Music Row doors, he worked the hard slog of construction. It took 10 determined years, but luck and persistence finally met. He traded his hammer for a pen and grabbed a writer’s job at Curb. Then, in 2002, he released his debut on the Houston, Texas-based label D Records. Not long after, the buzz started. Many in Nashville raved about the newcomer. The industry heavies said he was holding a mirror up to anything on the Row. It was heady praise. But, and importantly, Richards backed it up. He charged the Texas Music Chart and struck with several tracks claiming their target.
It’s probably an ideal place to leave the good luck story, right? Wrong! The good just got better. Richards is back. He has a new album. And what a killer! The traditionally influenced and sounding singer is a strong contender in the "must have" category with his drawl-soaked 15-tracker, Between These Lines.
The album has enjoyed early chart placement for his first single, "Wasted," and if that’s not enough, music critics and fans have embraced the mostly co-written album with positive enthusiasm. Add to the mix a CountryReview.com favorite in Walt Wilkins as album co-producer along with Tommy Detamore, and it’s not hard to hear why. Sprinkle in plenty of fiddle, steel, piano, mandolin, tales of drinking, warm lovin' and cold leavin', some memory-etched ballads and some rockier moments, flavor a little Tex-Mex, and you’ve got one heck of an album.
From a review by Gary P. Nunn:
Kina had the wisdom to tap the talented Tommy Detamore who, in my opinion is producing the best country recordings being done in Texas these days. Together they have put together a lineup of first quality original material, including several co-writes and a sexy duet with Aaron Watson who also hails from the Abilene area. I can sense Aaron's guidance and direction in bringing this project to fruition which also speaks to her ability to make wise decisions.
Kina has a near-classic country voice reminiscent of Loretta Lynn with just enough edge on it to identify it as coming from Texas. In fact, she covers nicely Loretta Lynn's classic "Fist City" without being patronizing. The opener, "Gun-shy" blasts out of the chute with a strong, energetic rhythm track, with lyrics that are earthy and real and straight out life in a small Texas town. Her duet with Aaron Watson, "Love Me And Then" is a sensual love ballad that has top 40 country radio written all over it. My favorite is the title track, "Copenhagen Kisses", that defines the territory with which she seems to be so familiar and displays the honesty of expression of a gifted creative artist. She seems perfectly comfortable telling the listener exactly where she's coming from. Last, but certainly not least, her country girl natural beauty, easy going presence, and understated sensuality are bound to attract an audience as she moves forward with her fledgling career. I like Kina Lankford and I like "Copenhagen Kisses".
From Jim West, Program Director, KAYD, Beaumont, Texas, written to Wes Daily, President, D Records:
"You really have a great CD with Jamie (Richards).....The songs are strong, Jamie is singing better than I've ever heard and just the "feel" of the CD going song to song is better than some "Nashville" CD's. The producer, Tommy Detamore, is really one of the best producers in the business. Tommy also plays on the CD, but he plays as if he really loves the music and you know he does. Tommy's not just playing "licks" but has "feeling" dripping from every note that adds to the total recipe. Jamie and Tommy have put together not only one of the best "Texas" CD's but also one of the best "country" CD's period. In doing so they have,in my opinion, just raised the bar for Texas music production and song crafting."
From a review by John Goodspeed, San Antonio Express News:
Jason Allen slammed a home run with his debut album,Something I Dreamed, which spawned a trio of Texas radio hits, including "Lucky Arms," the No. 3 song for 2003 on the Texas Music Chart. He's back at the plate, and the bases are loaded. Wouldn't It Be Nice is even better, beginning with Allen's choice of songs from top writers, including Jim Lauderdale,Clay Blaker, and his own catalog. Add Allen's growing vocal prowess, and it's a memorable album. Racing up the chart is the first single,"Your Heart Turned Left (and I Was on the Right)", a 1960s George Jones album cut written by Harlan Howard that Allen gives a bouncy Buck Owens spin....Allen also cuts loose with hard-core country romps. A standout is "Chicken Pluckin'," a red-hot vocal/instrumental ode to a picker with stellar guitar work from Redd Volkaert of Merle Haggard's band and Randy Cornor along with some smoking steel guitar from Tommy Detamore of Cherry Ridge Studio, who produced most of the songs. Allen co-wrote the title track, a bouncy tune about yearning for the good old days, which, judging by his second CD, are here to stay.
From a review by Greg Roberts, Country Line Magazine:
Well, the boy has done it again. I remember raving over his last CD and wondering if he could do it again. The answer is a resounding yes. The thing about Jason Allen is that not only is he one of the purest voices to come along in a long time, but he also surrounds himself with some magnificent musicians who absolutely smoke. On top of all that, what impresses me is his choice of material, with a mix of story songs like “John Boat Blues,” love songs like ‘My Favorite Song” or fun honky-tonk rousers like “Hold “ Em’ Up.” One of my favorites was “Chicken Pluckin’," featuring Red Volkaert, Tommy Detamore and Randy Cornor absolutely ripping up some guitar solos. Twelve songs, 12 hits as far as I’m concerned, and any radio station that doesn’t play this are just a bunch of idiots. Country is alive and well with Allen taking the reins, and I’ll make a prediction for you: he’ll be one of the next big stars to come out of Texas and go national, just watch.
From a review by John Philibert of Country Music People:
Jason Allen, Wouldn’t It Be Nice *** (Three Stars)
More unashamed honky tonk from our friends in Texas, this time from one Jason Allen whose Wouldn’t It Be Nice appears on the revived historic D Records. This new incarnation is run by Wes Daily, grandson of Pappy Daily who, for new readers, owned the original D Records and managed and produced George Jones in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s....Allen is the owner of pleasant, light, youthful vocals, the band is top notch.....It’s reassuring to know that this kind of album is still being made-and appreciated.
From a review by Jerry Renshaw , Austin Chronicle:
The Return of Wayne Douglas, The Ever-Expanding Musical Legacy of Doug Sahm
Doug Sahm raved to all his friends about Ed Burleson. The young, Dallas-area singer's country chops struck a nerve with the legendary Texas Tornado. As the two grew closer, Sahm offered Burleson a guiding hand, putting his weight behind the youngster's debut, My Perfect World, and assembling talent such as Commander Cody's Bill Kirchen on lead Telecaster, New Braunfels singer-songwriter Clay Blaker, Tommy Detamore on steel guitar, Alvin Crow on fiddle, and of course, Sahm himself contributing a guitar solo or two. The result is a heartfelt country effort by a young songwriter whose vision comes with its share of reflection and uncertainty, especially on the striking title track.
Sahm had long discussed starting his own label, calling it Tornado Records, naturally, and cutting his own pure honky-tonk album. Since he had already put together a great lineup for the Burleson sessions, Sahm booked more time at Floresville's Cherry Ridge Studios and simply went to work on his own project. Abetted by Augie Meyers, pianist Ron Huckaby, and son Shawn, he knuckled down with Detamore co-producing and cut 12 tracks over two weeks in July and August of 1999. Overdubs were still in progress when Sahm passed away unexpectedly three months later.
Left unpolished is a beautifully rich and mature-sounding disc, The Return of Wayne Douglas, an album tinged with melancholy and regret. It sounds eerily like a last album, like a hindsight summation of a career and a life. The playing is all first-rate (a disc-for-disc comparison to My Perfect World makes it clear it's the same band), with a clean production sound that stops short of being overly sanitary and slick....
Detamore's steel work throughout the album is an elegant filigree around the edges of each song, and Kirchen refrains from any Telecaster hot-dogging, instead emerging to accentuate key parts of songs. Sahm's acoustic solos have an expressive tack that fits beautifully with the album's thoughtful mood -- he nearly turns Bob Dylan's ageless "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" into a pure Sir Douglas song. It all adds up to 12 songs that couldn't be a more appropriate, touching postscript to a life spent in music....Do yourself a favor and check out ..... the new Return of Wayne Douglas. Roll down the windows, go for a drive through South Austin or the Hill Country, and let ‘em blast.
From a review by David Fricke, Rolling Stone Magazine:
Doug Sahm, The Return Of Wayne Douglas **** (Four Stars)
"This may be the last song I'll ever write for you": That line in "You Was for Real," a slice of fine country anguish on The Return of Wayne Douglas, comes with an extra chill. Recorded last summer in Floresville, Texas, near Doug Sahm's hometown of San Antonio, the album became his final bow when he died on November 18th at fifty-eight. But together these posthumous issues perfectly bookend Sahm's life in music, one as big and vivid as Texas itself.....Wayne Douglas (a reversal of Sahm's first and middle names) is not a return so much as a reaffirmation of the country swing and sentiment ever present in Sahm's music. He covers Dylan's "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" with cowpuncher pathos and takes the hippie groove of his '69 SDQ hit, "Mendocino," out to open prairie in "Beautiful Texas Sunshine." "Oh No! Not Another One" is Sahm's honky-tonk potshot at plastic country stars: "There's a young dude walking across the stage like a gazelle/Hell, I'll bet he never even heard of Lefty Frizzell." But Sahm doesn't sound bitter. He loved taking Texas music to the world; he sings like a man with plenty of work to do.......There is a return of sorts on Wayne Douglas: to "Texas Me," a song of Lone Star homesickness that Sahm first cut in '69 with the SDQ. Here, he turns the tune into a stone-country carol with a reflective choke in his throat: "I wonder what happened to that man inside/The real old Texas me."
From a review by Rob Patterson, San Antonio Current:
Doug Sahm’s Past-Perfect Country Album
....The disk is a genuine return for Sahm, not just to his hometown of San Antonio, but to the music he first made growing up there....by recording The Return of Wayne Douglas at Tommy Detamore’s Cherry Ridge Studio in Floresville-perhaps the best country music recording spot in Texas right now, Sir Doug truly brought it all back home again....Douglas Wayne Sahm left us with a picture-perfect example of Texas country as it always should be.
From a review by Michael Toland, Texas Music magazine:
Doug Sahm, The Return of Wayne Douglas
.....Produced by Sahm with pedal steel maestro Tommy Detamore, Wayne Douglas is Sahm’s final two-step into the realm of pure Texas honky-tonk. Steel, twin fiddles and special guest Bill Kirchen’s tasteful lead guitar accent the ten originals and two covers, but focus is on the rough voice of the star, leading these traditional-minded tracks down the kind of gravel road you never find in Nashville......Sahm’s mastery of the style and heartfelt songwriting and delivery make Wayne Douglas....a landmark in both his own catalog and that of Texas country music.
From “Critic’s Choice-The favourite albums of 2002”, wriiten by Duncan Warwick, Country Music People:
Doug Sahm, The Return of Wayne Douglas-
The late Texas legend’s final bow is sheer perfection and a reminder of how sorely he is missed. Everything the Texas Tornado loved about texas music in one great album....
From Newsweek Magazine’s “Critical Moment” column of July 31, 2000:
Doug Sahm, The Return of Wayne Douglas **** (four stars)
The Texas blues-rock-country icon’s posthumous CD: straight country, with a version of “They’ll Never Take Her Love From Me” almost up there with Hank Sr.’s
From a review by Gene Triplett, Daily Oklahoman:
Talley Collection Worth the Wait
Oklahoma-born James Talley had his name emblazoned across the covers of four critically acclaimed Capitol Records albums back in the late '70s. Talley's songs .... have stood up to the years with their timeless scenarios of blue-collar toil and troubled love. His latest of three recent self-released albums, Touchstones, is clear evidence of that......It's a collection of the best tunes from his long-out-of-print Capitol recordings, re-recorded with producer-guitarist Tommy Detamore and several of the musicians who worked with the late alternative-country genius Doug Sahm on his final album, The Return of Wayne Douglas. Talley loved the sound of Sahm's record, and instead of re-releasing his old studio work, he opted to buff a new sheen on his compositions with the help of Sahm's compadres.
"You don't have the continuity of performance, the continuity of style, when you've got one old master that was recorded at this time in this studio with these players, and another one over here with this studio and these players," he explained."By going in with a whole team of really crack musicians and doing it as a concept, I just think we wound up with a much stronger album."....... Touchstones, is sitting at No. 10 on the Americana charts. Click here for Billboard Magazine article.
Testimonials
“Having done sessions at Cherry Ridge Studios as a musician, a producer, and a publisher, I would be very hard pressed to go anywhere else to record. It's that simple.”
Mike D. Daily
Steel Guitar--George Strait's Ace In The Hole Band
MDMusic
Hot Seat Music Group/Music Publishing
“When I first heard of Cherry Ridge Studio, I was told that Tommy Detamore had the best ears in the business. This came from a very well respected musician. When I first recorded the Jason Allen's debut project we went to Cherry Ridge Studio and walked out with an outstanding cd. The sound and quality of Jason's cd stands up to any production out there. We could not wait until the next time to record with Tommy and all of his incredible musicians. Jason and I returned for the second project in 2003 and a few month's later, Jamie Richards recorded his second project there also. All of Jamie's earlier recordings had been recorded in Nashville, but the CD he recorded at Cherry Ridge was by far his best. Tommy Detamore along with Walt Wilkins did an incredible job producing this cd. It has been stated by other artists that Jamie's new CD is the best thing they have heard in years. Sound quality and production is the most important element, but to experience such a relaxed, down home atmosphere as Cherry Ridge has, it makes it difficult to wait until it's time to go back and do it again."
Wes Daily
President, D Records
“I first heard Tommy Detamore's work when I received a copy of the late Doug Sahm's album, The Return of Wayne Douglas, from a friend. It is a tremendous work, which was lovingly mixed and edited after Doug's death by Tommy. I was struck by the musicianship assembled, as well as the terrific "sound" of that recording. It was impressive enough for me to travel to Texas from Nashville - where there is no shortage of great musicians and excellent studios - to record my Touchstones project. I later returned to mix my live album, Journey with Tommy. As Bobby Flores once commented to me, "Tommy has great ears," which is what it's all about. Plus, Tommy, not to mention his stellar musicianship, has a relaxed way about him that makes working in his studio an absolute pleasure. There is nothing better than being south of San Antonio in the springtime, with the bluebonnets in bloom, listening to a sample mix on the studio's deck, and watching Tommy's little dog, Ruthie, chasing squirrels through the live oak trees!”
James Talley, Cimmaron Records recording artist
“I manage Pauline Reese, who has recorded two CD projects at Cherry Ridge. The thing that sold us on Cherry Ridge Studio was the Doug Sahm CD, The Return of Wayne Douglas. We knew that if we could capture Pauline’s songs with that sound and quality that we would be extremely happy with the end result. The musicians there are outstanding and Tommy Detamore is a very talented engineer, let alone his performances on the steel guitar that are no less than fantastic. The folks at Cherry Ridge studio have a vast knowledge of many styles of music, but their interpretation of Country Music is incredible. Anyone looking to cut a country record as an independent artist should look no further. With all of that said, Tommy Detamore, his family and all of the musicians that work at that studio are very easy to get along with and they make the whole process enjoyable. Pauline has just completed her new CD The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly there and is extremely pleased with how it turned out. As long as we are independent and have the freedom to choose where we record, it will be at Cherry Ridge Studio. We are sold on this studio and the people that run it. Tommy cares about making quality records regardless of who is cutting them. Whether you are a veteran or a beginner, you can rest assured that the quality and sound will be great. Just take the time to listen to some of the projects that have been completed there and draw your own conclusion.”
John Burris, Manager of Pauline Reese and Owner of Paradora Records and Burris El Rancho Publishing
“Cherry Ridge Studio-SIMPLY THE BEST!”
Jennifer Weatherly, JK Records recording artist with five albums recorded at Cherry Ridge