CD Review Teea Goans – The Way I Remember It
by Christian Lamitschka for Country Music News International Magazine & Radio Show
Teea Goans – The Way I Remember It
Crosswind Music Group
Teea – 1
UPC 891063001048
Release Date – July 27th 2010
3.5 STARS Wwwu
1. I’m Still Not Over You
2. Walking The Floor Over You
3. He’ll Be Back
4. Same Ol’ Song and Dance
5. Lying In My Arms
6. Walk Out Backwards
7. I Don’t Do Bridges Anymore
8. Made For Loving You (feat. Dan Tyminski)
9. Two Arms, Two Lips, Too Lonely, Too Long
10. I Didn’t Mean To Love You 11. Letter From God
A young lady with a modern outlook to country music but with a firm understanding of its traditional values
On this 11 track debut Teea Goans demonstrates she is not your typical new country artist chasing modern day radio friendly hits but bucks the trend having a heart which is set on the traditional core values of country music. The album title THE WAY I REMEMBER IT, chosen by Goans, speaks volumes of the style of the record she wished to create bringing the time-honoured sounds missing in the current climate to the attention of a new generation. I have to admit that I was unfamiliar with most of the material on offer here, so with her pleasantly plaintive vocal for me she was shining a fresh beam of light through the cobwebs onto some classic songs of yesteryear whilst giving them a delicate modern twist.
Goans grew up in Missouri and cites her main musical influence as her Grandma Della Lee Faulkner who died six years ago. She was a popular regional act in Kansas in the 1960’s. As a mother of 7 children she was not able to follow a dream and go to Nashville so her granddaughter encouraged by both her parents and grandmother, packed a U-Haul and travelled to the bright lights to make that vision become a reality. Back then Teea was listening to local AM radio unaware of the modern pop stars but instead focused on the country sounds from the 60’s and 70’s.
When she turned eight she was spotted at a talent contest by the Truman Lake Opry and a year later she became a full-fledged member. She continued to perform there every weekend until she was 17 and opened for Grand Ole Opry acts such as Bill Anderson, Little Jimmy Dickens and Grandpa Jones. This afforded her the perfect training ground to hone her skills, playing, with a live band to a live audience. This passion for the solid country tunes therefore reflects in this albums track list.
In 2006 the first thing Goans worked on was the Ray Price show at the Ryman Auditorium through radio station WSM, who later asked her to book and run talent for The Opry warm-up show. While honouring those duties, Goans continued to write and demo songs. The late steel guitarist John Hughey of The Time Jumpers was someone who played on a demo she sang on. It was he who invited her along to Nashville’s foremost bluegrass club The Station Inn where The Time Jumpers played. Attending every Monday, she fell in love with Western Swing and became something on a groupie and got asked to join them on stage. It was there that she met the producer of THE WAY I REMEMBER IT, Terry Choate who was managing them at the time and had produced for The Gatlin Brothers – Larry Gatlin has since become a fan of Goans.
Together with Choate the selection process for the album took the greater part of a year finding the best quality songs to record. With a solid country footing It begins with the heartbreaker ‘I’m Still Not over You ’, written by Willie Nelson and recorded by Ray Price in 1967, whom Teea cites as a major inspiration. The production is slick, clean and uncluttered while Goans vocal is assured and conveys so much emotion. Joe Spivey who plays acoustic guitar and fiddle, the multi-instrumental performer of The Time Jumpers is credited as an associate producer on this album which features an impressive line up of players including three other Time Jumpers members in the production mix: steel guitarist Paul Franklin and fiddlers Aubrey Haynie and Kenny Sears.
Goans herself a songwriter decide to leave it to the professionals on this project and concentrate on the singing. The songs composers include many of whom are members of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. From the great Ernest Tubb came the million-seller ‘Walking The Floor Over You’, this honky-tonk number conjures up sepia toned images of couples swirling around a saw dust-covered dance floor.
Mike Johnson lends weeping steel with delightful touches on electric guitar (James Mitchell) on Joe Allen’s ‘Lying In My Arms ‘(a minor hot for Rex Allen Jnr). This showcases Goans gorgeous vocal, here it radiates comfort and warmth.
The Bill Anderson classic ‘Walk Out Backwards’, which back in 1961 was his second Top 10 is the stuff that real country music is all about. As fate would have it back in 2010 due to performer cancellations in a rare snowbound Nashville Teea was asked her to step in after receiving an early morning call from the music director of The Grand Ole Opry. At The Ryman Auditorium Jean Shephard a Hall Of Fame Inductee introduced Goans on stage to perform that number.
Union Station member Dan Tyminski and the singing voice of George Clooney on the Oh Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack ‘Man Of Constant Sorrow’, joins Goans as her vocal partner on Curly Putman and Sonny Thronkmorton’s tender ballad ‘Made For Loving You’ which provided a top ten material for Doug Stone. It proves that Dan possess an excellent country vocal together with his more familiar bluegrass one.
On ‘I Didn’t Mean To Love You’ penned by Merle Haggard and Red Lane shows Goans love for simple straight to the heart songs. The pain is believable in every anguished line delivered but this fresh treatment of a classic conveys a delightful charm.
An undoubted highlight is the moving ‘Letter From God’ written by Rob Crosby and Angela Kaset who wrote ‘Something in Red’ a career song for Lorrie Morgan. With such a breathtaking delivery it’s not surprising that Goans is earning the respect from her heroes whilst paying tribute to her for keeping age-old country tunes alive. One such name being stalwart Bill Anderson who thinks she is as “fresh as this morning’s sunrise” as well as being “country with a capital “C?”
For many die-hard fans THE WAY I REMEMBER IT will provide a trip down memory lane and for others an incite to songs from a bygone era, which ever is the case this easy listening collection will offer much pleasure and have both camps rubbing their hands in glee.
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