MIKKI DANIEL
Cowgirl Swing
She Should Be Me – Swingtime Rocking Chair –
On The Street Where You Live – Leave The Cards Alone – I’m Gonna Lock
My Heart and Throw Away the Key – She Could Ride – Cold Blue Eyes –
Polka Dots and Moonbeams – I Met Jesus in Texas – Prince Charming – It’s
a Sin to Tell a Lie – She’s Gone – Girl from Kentucky – Heaven in the
West
On The Street Where You Live – Leave The Cards Alone – I’m Gonna Lock
My Heart and Throw Away the Key – She Could Ride – Cold Blue Eyes –
Polka Dots and Moonbeams – I Met Jesus in Texas – Prince Charming – It’s
a Sin to Tell a Lie – She’s Gone – Girl from Kentucky – Heaven in the
West
I’m one lucky guy to get a CD like this to review. What
this magnificent work does for me is: It explains ‘why’ the huge
mega-corporate major companies, who own labels, who own most of the
radio stations and publishing houses, and just about everything else in
the music business are so scared of wonderful artists like Mikki
Daniel. Mikki has that special ‘gift’ I like to refer to in music, as
something inside a person, a performer, a writer, a recording artist, a
vocalist. That’s what Mikki Daniel is. She more than accurately refers
to her music as ‘cowgirl swing.’ I am so so so glad she doesn’t call
her music ‘country.’ Why? Because it is far far far better than what
we hear as ‘country’ today, and it still retains the spirit,
originality, and what I like to refer to as the ‘soul’ of what country
music once was. Mikki has that same ‘soul’ that Bob Wills had. Same
‘soul’ as Spade Cooley. Same ‘soul’ as Michael Nesmith. Same ‘soul’ as
Circe Link. Same ‘soul’ as Willie, and Johnny, and Waylon, and so many
more of the really really great recording artists. No wonder she scares
the big boys. Put all that together, and add one very beautiful young
woman, and you have what a deserving young artist has already attained.
I really like her ‘go-back’ to Streets of Laredo on “Leave the Cards
Alone.” The musical backing is superb all the way through, with some
stunning guitar tracks provided by Tommy Nash, Chuck Pangburn, Dale
Morris Jr., and Mikki herself. Two great fiddlers, Brook Wallace and
Haily Sandoz. Couple of the songs even have the banjo of Scott
Whitfield, and two drummers make the songs distinctly different in the
rhythm part, Patrick Bubert and Josh Rodgers. The interesting players
are Dave Alexander on trumpet by Dave Alexander, and clarinet &
saxophone by Jon Stutler. Mark Gheen plays piano, and Nathan Phelps on
bass makes it all gel together really nice. With nine of the 14 songs
on this CD, some a little jazzy at times, but Mikkie doesn’t hesitate to
git right back to cowgirl, and she does it so smoothly and so
elegantly, its a really nice CD to hear over and over. I’ll be passing
this one along to the Rural Roots Music Commission who select CD of the
Year awards at the annual convention in LeMars, Iowa. Since I sit on
that board, I would recommend to Mikki that her CD is already on the
table for “Western Swing” of the year, we’ll see. This one is five
stars, plus a little. Congratulations Mikki on a job well done. I’m a
fan of Circe Link, I hope you are too.
this magnificent work does for me is: It explains ‘why’ the huge
mega-corporate major companies, who own labels, who own most of the
radio stations and publishing houses, and just about everything else in
the music business are so scared of wonderful artists like Mikki
Daniel. Mikki has that special ‘gift’ I like to refer to in music, as
something inside a person, a performer, a writer, a recording artist, a
vocalist. That’s what Mikki Daniel is. She more than accurately refers
to her music as ‘cowgirl swing.’ I am so so so glad she doesn’t call
her music ‘country.’ Why? Because it is far far far better than what
we hear as ‘country’ today, and it still retains the spirit,
originality, and what I like to refer to as the ‘soul’ of what country
music once was. Mikki has that same ‘soul’ that Bob Wills had. Same
‘soul’ as Spade Cooley. Same ‘soul’ as Michael Nesmith. Same ‘soul’ as
Circe Link. Same ‘soul’ as Willie, and Johnny, and Waylon, and so many
more of the really really great recording artists. No wonder she scares
the big boys. Put all that together, and add one very beautiful young
woman, and you have what a deserving young artist has already attained.
I really like her ‘go-back’ to Streets of Laredo on “Leave the Cards
Alone.” The musical backing is superb all the way through, with some
stunning guitar tracks provided by Tommy Nash, Chuck Pangburn, Dale
Morris Jr., and Mikki herself. Two great fiddlers, Brook Wallace and
Haily Sandoz. Couple of the songs even have the banjo of Scott
Whitfield, and two drummers make the songs distinctly different in the
rhythm part, Patrick Bubert and Josh Rodgers. The interesting players
are Dave Alexander on trumpet by Dave Alexander, and clarinet &
saxophone by Jon Stutler. Mark Gheen plays piano, and Nathan Phelps on
bass makes it all gel together really nice. With nine of the 14 songs
on this CD, some a little jazzy at times, but Mikkie doesn’t hesitate to
git right back to cowgirl, and she does it so smoothly and so
elegantly, its a really nice CD to hear over and over. I’ll be passing
this one along to the Rural Roots Music Commission who select CD of the
Year awards at the annual convention in LeMars, Iowa. Since I sit on
that board, I would recommend to Mikki that her CD is already on the
table for “Western Swing” of the year, we’ll see. This one is five
stars, plus a little. Congratulations Mikki on a job well done. I’m a
fan of Circe Link, I hope you are too.
RECORD REVIEW BY BOB EVERHART – www.ntcma.net
for Country Music News International Magazine