Despite growing up with contemporary country music, I’m not exactly a fan of it. At least not the things they put on the radio. For me, he has always been too tame. The stereotype of rural people who drink beer and drive trucks is not enough to really get my attention.
Sure, country music has good vocalists, but what good is a great voice without some substance? Not everything has to be Johnny Cash shooting a man in Reno, but I mean, come on. How many songs about cheating husbands do we really need?
Several years ago, Natalie Maines was the voice of country radio mainstay The Dixie Chicks. I admit it, I liked some of his songs. At the moment, they seemed more willing to push the boundaries of what country music liked to explore. And Maines’s voice was strong. I liked hearing her sing.
After a statement in London during George W. Bush’s presidency, the Chicks’ popularity collapsed and Maines took time away from music to focus on herself, her marriage, and her family.
The family is the focus – specifically, motherhood – of the well-named Mommy, his first solo album.
Mommy is a collection of nine versions and one original song. The songs are typically rock or alternative rock, but include a wide variety of artists. Probably the most famous is the title track, “Mother”, remade from the original Pink Floyd song on Wall, but others include “Without You” by Eddie Vedder and “Lover, You Should Have Come Over” by Jeff Buckley.
Aside from the large selection of songs, what I really like about the collection is the voice of Maines. Like I said earlier, her singing was one of the reasons I noticed The Dixie Chicks. Here, she sounds incredibly confident, but she’s willing to approach these songs with a humility that is often pushed aside in favor of bombast and sheer volume. Sure, she can go for it (just listen to tracks like Patty Griffin’s “Silver Bell” or even the original album track “Take It On Faith”), but there’s never a feeling of showing off. His voice works at the service of the songs.
Mother is one of the most amazing albums I’ve featured on this year’s chart, and it’s a refreshing injection of quality music into what (to me, anyway) has seemed like a pretty sterile stretch.
Make sure to stop by your local Slackers to get a copy today.