Post by StevePulaski on Jan 13, 2015 23:05:32 GMT -5
Straight from the Heart (2007)
By: Daryle Singletary
By: Daryle Singletary
Rating: ★★★½
Following his departure from Giant Records after three underperforming albums in a row, Daryle Singletary ping-ponged from labels like Koch to finally landing at Shanachie five years after the release of his fifth album That's Why I Sing This Way (unheard by me) for a one album stint. That album turned into Straight from the Heart, which is the second album in a row for Singletary composed more of cover songs than original material. Since the release of his third album Ain't It the Truth, Singletary has made two albums composed predominately of classic honky-tonk covers and one album that was part greatest hits and part new material, making for a strangely uneven and questionable career move. My assumption was, following the lack of publicity for his three albums, Singletary tried (or was forced into) approaches that seemed either convenient or would ostensibly provide quick turnaround for labels. Nonetheless, Singletary doesn't seem fazed by a roller-coaster ride of a career; he still seems happy he was granted access to the mic for this long.
He's lucky that he has an incredible, diverse voice, which sings the high notes high, the low notes low, and makes you feel every emotion he's going through, all of which features that contributed to making his first four albums successes. Straight from the Heart is an album lucky to have the talent of Singletary, as he covers songs like "The Bottle Let Me Down," by Merle Haggard, "These Days I Barely Get By," by George Jones and Tammy Wynette, "Promises," by Randy Travis, "Some Broken Hearts Never Mend," by Don Williams, and "Fifteen Years Ago," by Conway Twitty, all to a level that surpasses any preconceived judgment of taking the easy way out in constructing an album.
Singletary sings these ballads with the heartbreaking honesty and possible empathy that they need to be sung with, especially tunes like "Bottle Let Me Down," a barroom weeper about a man who's binge-drinking is only corrupted by rampant thoughts of the disintegration of his relationship and "Fifteen Years Ago," where a man is haunted all over again by the memories of the love who left him fifteen years ago by the man she left him for. Another terrific track is "Jesus and Bartenders," a cover of Larry Cordle's, which gives us the perspective that the two souls who know the most about a man's feelings, sins, and real opinions are Jesus Christ and the bartenders at the local saloon. The only original song to be found on Straight from the Heart is "I Still Sing This Way," a presumed followup tune to the titular track on That's Why I Sing This Way that clarifies through all the glitz, glamor, and distracting glitters, Singletary's vocal talents and soulfulness will certainly shine through.
My praise for Straight from the Heart is deeply rooted in the fact that even though Singletary can release two albums mostly comprised of covers, a premature greatest hits album, and keep us waiting years on end for even an update on his work, the man churns out some of the strongest, most passionate country music in a day and age of manufacturing moods and tonalities. He's a blinding silver lining in a sea of blandness.
Recommended tracks (in order): "The Bottle Let Me Down," "Fifteen Years Ago," "Jesus and Bartenders," "I Still Sing This Way," and "Black Sheep."