COUNTRY JACK HARPER
Here’s a few I wrote…and a few I didn’t
I’d Say We’re Even – I’ll Never Stand In
Your Way – Crawfish Crawfish – I Love you Because – The Strangest Thing I
Ever Saw – Heart of a Clown – Baby’s Gone – Here Comes My Baby Back
Again – Go West Young Man, to West Monroe – I Dreamed of a Hillbilly
Heaven – Mississippi
I am very familiar with Gene Breeden who is the lead
guitarist and producer of this CD. Breeden knows what country music is,
and he also knows what it isn’t. Fortunately for Country Jack Harper,
Gene did a remarkably good job keeping this CD right down the line
classic and traditional country music. The first song that grabbed me
was “Crawfish Crawfish” … WOW the fiddle and Dobro are magnificent on
this song. I mean these guys are having “FUN” recording this one. And
believe it or not it’s a well written Jack Harper song full of fun.
But, he doesn’t linger in that aura, he jumps right back into classic
country. That’s what makes listening to CD’s that do not come from the
‘mill’ in Nashville so much fun these days. It’s still ‘real’ and it’s
still ‘authentic.’ The musicians in Nashville can play anything, and
do, but some of them still know what that ‘true’ country sound is like,
and they dig until they find it. That’s what happened for lucky Jack
Harper on this session. It is extremely well mixed, and ALL of the
musicians are enjoying doing this session. Probably won’t make a spot
next to Blake Shelton on the top-40, that takes tons of money, but if it
did, it would be above him. Of the ten songs on this super good
listening experience, I like Jack’s own originals best. He makes a nice
blend of the combination, but I like his humor best, especially in
“That’s The Strangest Thing I Ever Saw” which has a nice Ray Stevens
touch to it, but still it’s Jack’s own song through and through. All of
his own originals stand out considerably in this session. He picked
some nice ‘other’ songs to record, but his own are the best. Gene
Breeden did a super nice job on the session and the mix, for my poor old
‘country’ ear, it’s right on the mark. He invited Barry Wayne to do
the drums as well as engineering; Billy Anderson on piano and bass; John
Heinrich on steel guitar, Dobro, and banjo, and David Russell on
fiddle. Sure do like that fiddle Mr. Russell….you are the mandatory
in ‘real’ country music, don’t let them put you on a shelf. Singers
came in handy too; Lorraine Walden, Les Barnett, and Barry Wayne. Off
this one goes to the Rural Roots Music Commission
RECORD REVIEW BY BOB EVERHART – www.ntcma.net