DISClaimer Single Reviews: Miranda Lambert Delivers ‘Echoey Soundscape’

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Miranda Lambert. Photo: Robert Ascroft

In the aftermath of the AMA festivities, there’s a lot of Americana flowing through this week’s DISClaimer column.

Americana favorites Rhiannon Giddens, John Prine, Bernie Taupin and Ken Pomeroy are here. So is Music Row songwriting standout Dan Alley, who wins the DISCovery Award.

My enduringly precious Miranda Lambert has the Disc of the Day with her retro, change-of-pace ballad performance of “Two Things Can Be True” from her forthcoming Crisco album.

DAN ALLEY / “Losin’ End of Lovin’ You”
Writers: Dan Alley; Producer: Lukas Scott; Label: River House Artists
– Beautifully produced, featuring rippling acoustic guitar, sighing steel and heartache harmonies. Alley sings in a wonderfully honest, unaffected tenor tone with shades of mountain loneliness. He has been named MusicRow’s Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year due to his cuts by Luke Combs, Lainey Wilson, Jon Pardi, Luke Bryan, Hudson Westbrook and others. This demonstrates that he has the chops of an artist, himself.

MIRANDA LAMBERT / “Two Things Can Be True”
Writers: Brendan McLoughlin/Ilya Toshinsky/Jesse Frasure/Kris Wilkinson/Miranda Lambert/Natalie Hemby; Producers: Jesse Frasure, Miranda Lambert; Label: MCA
– Deliciously, lusciously “old school,” with a dreamy, echoey soundscape surrounding her softly sweet/sad ballad delivery. Somewhere Patsy Cline is smiling.

KEN POMEROY / “Sentimental Lady”
Writer: Robert L. Welch; Producers: Dakota McDaniel, Ken Pomeroy; Label: Rounder Records
– This folkie is a Native American singer-songwriter with a gentle, plain-spoken delivery. Her understated, whispery cover of the 1977 Bob Welch pop hit is a languid charmer. Pomeroy was named Emerging Artist of the Year at the Americana Music Awards last week.

JOHN PRINE / “Dogs In Burlington”
Writers: John Prine; Producer: Howie Epstein; Label: Oh Boy Records
– Gently rollicking, with plenty of backbeat rhythm and a silly-goofy, merriment lyric. Previously unreleased, this track by the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member was cut during the sessions for 1996’s Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessing LP. The album’s 30th-anniversary reissue includes demos, acoustic renditions and/or alternate versions along with the original tracks, plus five previously unheard tunes.

EMILY ANN ROBERTS / “Lonely Boy”
Writers: Emily Ann Roberts/Frank Rogers/Ryan Beaver; Producer: Frank Rogers; Label: RECORDS Nashville/Sony Music Nashville
– This MusicRow award winner recently snagged a CMA New Artist of the Year nomination. Her new single is a lilting, smiling invitation to romance. The acoustic production scampers along delightfully behind her soaring, East Tennessee vocal twang. I remain a total fan of this lady.

RILEY GREEN / “Ten Pairs of Boots”
Writers: Chase McGill/Joe Fox/Josh Miller/Seth Ennis; Producers: Dann Huff, Riley Green; Label: Nashville Harbor Records & Entertainment
– A ballad meditation about growing up and growing older in his footwear. Low-key, relaxing, contemplative listening.

MONTE WARDEN & THE WAGONEERS / “Stout and High (Redux)”
Writer: Montgomery Warden; Producer: Brandi Warden; Label: Break A Leg Records
– Warden has re-recorded this 1988 Wagoneers chestnut. It now has even better snap, crackle and pop.

MICHELLE BRANCH & MAREN MORRIS / “Goodbye to You”
Writers: Michelle Branch; Producer: none listed; Label: MB
– Branch’s 2002 pop hit has been re-imagined as a duet. Both women have strong voices, and their combination gives the song a more “womanly” vibe than Branch’s youthful original.

JORDAN DAVIS / “What Do I Do If You Don’t”
Writers: Greylan James/Jacob Davis/Jordan Davis; Producer: none listed; Label: MCA
– “Mess” remains the chart-climbing single. This new track by Davis is a terrific thumper, laced with heartache. He sings with punchy intensity while the production pulses around him. Highly recommended.

SHABOOZEY & GUNNA / “High Noon”
Writers: Chadron Moore/Collins Chibueze/Jasiel Almon Robinson/Nevin Sastry/Sergio Giavanni Kitchens/Tyler Johnson; Producers: Julian Nixon, Mike Hector, Nevin Sastry, Sean Cook, Shaboozey, Tyler Johnson; Label: American Dogwood/EMPIRE
– A dark, doomy, neo-cowboy vibe permeates this drawling track. This one’s pretty much all attitude and no singing. The two rappers will perform the outlaw-revenge tale on the VMA’s on Sunday. 

LACI KAYE BOOTH / “Hell Or Highwater”
Writers: Annika Bennett/Khal Yassein/Laci Kaye Booth; Producer: Ben West; Label: Lost Highway Records
– The gently rolling, country-rock production and her breathy, wafting vocal disguise a lyric about a bad-ass gal who loves ‘em and leaves ‘em. Highly listenable.

BERNIE TAUPIN & BRANDI CARLILE / “Come On California”
Writer: Bernie Taupin; Producer: Frank Liddell; Label: Vertigo Abbey Road Recordings
– The beautiful, slow waltz reflects Taupin’s experiences in his adopted homeland. He is an admirable communicator, but Carlile is wasted on a barely audible harmony vocal.

RHIANNON GIDDENS / “Hope Is the Thing With Feathers”
Writers: Emily Dickinson/Niwel Tsumbu/Rhiannon Giddens; Producers: Dirk Powell, Rhiannon Giddens; Label: Nonesuch Records
– The title tune of Giddens’ new collection is a fluttery soprano ode with folksong-like bird imagery. An attractive, fair-and-tender-maidens performance.

Robert K Oermann
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