DISClaimer Single Reviews: Reba Is ‘Packed With Personality’

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Variety is the spice of life, which explains the striking audio diversity in this edition of DISClaimer.

For your listening enjoyment, we have blues, disco, honky-tonk, r&b, folk, and more today. Country and Americana have seldom sounded better.

Reba McEntire is a bona fide superstar, a Country Music Hall of Fame member, a TV sit com star, and a still-vivacious contributor to her genre. Give the woman some R-E-S-P-E-C-T with a Disc of the Day award.

Warner/Reprise newcomer Theo Lawrence takes home this week’s DISCovery Award.

MEGHAN PATRICK / “I Sure Hope So”
Writers: Joe Clemmons/Karen Kosowski/Meghan Patrick; Producers: Karen Kosowski, Meghan Patrick; Label: Riser House Records
– Patrick rocked this year’s CRS New Faces show and is a two-time CCMA Female Vocalist of the Year (2017, 2018). This echoey country rocker kicks up dust as she unspools a message of resilience. In a potent backwoods soprano, she tells us that there’s life on the other side of a breakup. A solid winner.

LITTLE BIG TOWN / “We Could Have It All”
Writers: Ashley Monroe/Jimi Westbrook/Karen Fairchild; Producers: Gena Johnson, Karen Fairchild; Label: MCA
– Jimi takes the lead on this deliciously melodic power ballad, and then the group unfurls its perfect four-part harmony and sends the song soaring.

PYNK BEARD / “Mine, Lord Willing”
Writers: Coleridge Tillman/Trevor Brown/Warren Okay Felder/Zaire Koalo; Producer: Oak for The Orphanage; Label: Red Bull Records
– Pynk Beard triumphed when he auditioned last week on America’s Got Talent with this joyous, high-energy bopper. This week, he advanced into the next round, still bounding with infectious enthusiasm. Give him some timely spins, because he’s got the goods.

JASON ALDEAN / “Anytime Soon”
Writers: John Edwards/John Morgan/Kurt Allison/Tully Kennedy; Producer: Michael Knox; Label: Broken Bow Records
– The big, oomphy production is the star here. His vocal, deeply embedded in the mix, takes a back seat. The song is forgettable.

DASHA / “Memo”
Writers: Ashley Gorley/Ben Johnson/Dasha/Shane McAnally; Producer: none listed; Label: Warner Records
– A kiss-off tune with a kick of rhythm and a shot of attitude. She’s a dancing queen.

RILEY GREEN / “Imagine That”
Writers: Jonathan Singleton/Ray Fulcher/Riley Green; Producer: none listed; Label: Big Machine Records/Nashville Records Harbor & Entertainment
– Moody, yearning and broken hearted.

BUDDY MILLER & DAN PENN / “Don’t Look Back”
Writers: Ronald White/Smokey Robinson; Producer: Buddy Miller; Label: New West Records
– A revelation. These two take the 1966 Temptations golden oldie to an unexpected country place. Penn’s effortlessly soulful voice and Miller’s hillbilly croon make the lyrics sound utterly fresh.

CARTER FAITH, LACI KAYE BOOTH & BABY NOVA / “Pearl Handled Pistol”
Writers: Carter Faith/Chris Tompkins/Laci Kaye Booth/Jessie Jo Dillon; Producer: Tofer Brown; Label: MCA/Gatsby Records
– A bluesy, haunting, minor-key warning with an atmosphere that swirls like lazy cigarette smoke. She is not a gal to be messed with. Carter Faith’s debut collection, Cherry Valley, made news as an ACM Album of the Year nominee. You’ll find this darkly listenable track on its deluxe edition, Cherry Valley Forever.

K. MICHELLE / “Jesus & Whiskey”
Writers: Ernest Keith Smith/Jordan Dozzi/Kimberly Michelle Pate/Rocky Block; Producers: K. Michelle, Kristian Bush; Label: BBR Music Group
– This is the title tune of an album that will drop on Oct. 16. K. Michelle is an r&b star and a standout on TV’s Real Housewives of Atlanta and Love & Hip Hop. Her move to Nashville was a re-boot, and her transition to country music rings with authenticity. Bush’s production is marvelously supportive of her earnest, plaintive delivery of the heartache tune. She even yodels a bit. Applause, applause.

REBA McENTIRE / “Ring, Ring”
Writers: Bob DiPiero/Karyn Rochelle/Kellie Pickler; Producer: Dave Cobb; Label: Rockin’ R Records/MCA
– Reba’s calling. She’s in police custody and in a heap of trouble because of rowdy behavior involving clocking a rival in a honky-tonk. The track rocks, the lyric is clever as hell, and the superstar’s vocal is packed with personality.

LANCE COWAN / “The Air That You Breathe”
Writers: Karen Leipziger/Lance Cowan; Producer: Scott Paschall; Label: Lantzapalooza Müzik
– Sensitive, engrossing and intimate. This touching world portrait is the title tune of the new album by this folkie Americana artist. The entire acoustic collection is gentle audio seduction.

MORGAN FREEMAN & KEB’ MO’ / “Cadillac Assembly Line”
Writer: Mack Rice; Producers: Eric Meier, Howard Stovall, Lawrence “Boo” Mitchell, Martin Gellner, Morgan Freeman, Neale Murray, V.G. Jairam, V.G. Jaishankar; Label: Decca Music Group
– Smoldering and fevered. Oscar-winning actor Freeman shows an impressive grasp of electric blues with Nashville’s own Keb’ Mo’ providing the voice for his Symphonic Blues Experience. The backing musicians are The Ground Zero Blues Club Band, who perform at Freeman’s Mississippi night spot.

THEO LAWRENCE / “I Love You, Bartender”
Writers: Bill Anderson/Theo Lawrence; Producer: Chris Scruggs ; Label: xxx
– Wry and winking. The lightly Latin rhythm is sweet and steel-soaked. His softly crooning singing style tackles the lyric with complete seriousness. Ya gotta love this guy: He issued his song on a 45 r.p.m. vinyl record.

Robert K Oermann
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