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Jim Lauderdale
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Headed For The Hills
Dualtone
Release: 5/18/2004
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Rated:
Review by:
Lindsey M. Keen
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Every songwriter in Nashville has a story. Whoever can tell it
the best and make millions of people believe it is different.
Jim Lauderdale rode in from the West with a cloud of dust
behind him, a guitar by his side. Fueled by his drive to write
Country and Bluegrass music, he settled down in
Nashville.
Lauderdale's 1987 debut album with George Jones was
never released. Struggling to be noticed until 1991, his
second (Rodney Crowell produced) release eventually had
two of its songs, "The King of Broken Hearts" and "Where
the Sidewalk Ends," picked up by George Strait for the
Pure Country soundtrack. From that moment,
Lauderdale's songs began to soar through the Country radio
airwaves - Lauderdale-penned singles for Patty Loveless,
George Strait, Mark Chesnutt, Vince Gill, Kelly Willis, Rick
Trevino and Gary Allan were hits. However, Lauderdale's
own albums like Planet Of Love and
Whisper were overlooked until he collaborated
with Ralph Stanley for the Grammy award winning I
Feel Like Singing Today. "If there is one thing I like,"
says Lauderdale, "is to make one
record different form the next. Some of them are stylistic,
like Ralph Stanley. He has his own sound, so I have to write
in the framework of that sound."
"Robert Hunter is someone I've always wanted to write
with," says Lauderdale as he begins to comment that it's
been a personal goal of his to record with Stanley and
co-write with Robert Hunter, renowned lyricist for the
Grateful Dead. "So, I got a hold of Rob Bleetstein, who
works with David Grisman. He gave me Hunter's e-mail
address and I described to him what I was doing. Hunter
faxed me a lyric and I put a melody to it, and he liked it.
Shortly after that he sent me another one quickly back. It
was hard to pen down only a few tracks for this album," says
Lauderdale, referring to the actual 42 recorded tracks, yet
only 13 are on Headed For The Hills.
"I try to work with people I've always dreamed about
playing with," says Lauderdale. And he managed to get the
best Nashville has to offer. Headed For The
Hills features Emmylou Harris, Tim O'Brien, Gillian
Welch, Bryan Sutton, Alison Moore and Darrel Scott. The
album conjures up stories of distant lovers, lonesome street
cats
and a journey into the remote Southern hills - searching for
territory to haunt that will set one's soul free.
So, where are the other 29 tracks? |
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