DON JOY & MELANIE LYNN
Wade Jackson Tribute
Take Me With You – Please Be Mine – Don’t Be
Angry – I’ll Take You Back – Dying Laughing – Daddy’s Baby Girl – Wild
Wild Wind – Grand Ole Opry In Heaven – Red Roses Blooming Back Home –
Room Number 10
Angry – I’ll Take You Back – Dying Laughing – Daddy’s Baby Girl – Wild
Wild Wind – Grand Ole Opry In Heaven – Red Roses Blooming Back Home –
Room Number 10
Today, my first review session of 2016, I have the extreme
pleasure to review two CD’s, both of them by Don Joy and Melanie Lynn
who make their home in Missouri. What is the real treat here is hearing
the songs of Wade Jackson done so well. This is classic country with a
capital “C” and this couple know exactly how to make these kind of
country songs stand out so valiantly, so bravely, so beautifully. You
might not be familiar with Wade Jackson. For one thing, he is the
brother of Stonewall Jackson, but maybe more importantly he’s the
composer of all the songs on this great album, including one of the
sweetest country love songs ever written “Don’t Be Angry.” Country music
in the classic and traditional style speak of ‘real’ things, ‘real’
feelings, ‘real’ experiences, which is nearly the opposite of so-called
country music coming from Nashville in this year of 2016. Unfortunately
the so-called country songs we hear today are written at the command of
whoever holds the purse strings, very very different than the obvious
true feelings of a songwriter who is composing and writing on paper with
tears streaming from their eyes. That’s what Wade Jackson is all
about. The ‘real-deal.’ What is also ‘real-deal’ about this recording
is the absolutely devoted real-country style of Don Joy and Melanie
Lynn. If this CD was on the market 20 years ago it would be an instant
hit. In today’s world, real country music has a hard time surviving,
but the good thing about it is with couples like this that are so
devoted to the music, the meaning of the music, and the ultimate
satisfaction it gives both the performers of it and the listeners of
it, this very American music genre still has a chance of surviving. The
same message holds true for elderly Wade Jackson, who is still out
there, holding his own, keeping the ‘real’ country music alive. This
session of his songs are extremely well done, and if I were a little bug
on the wall of the recording studio that Don Joy and Melanie walked
into that first session they did with these incredibly accomplished
musicians, I can just hear the sighs moving around the room, as each and
every one of them whispering, we finally got some ‘real’ country to
record. The entire session is extremely well done, including “Daddy’s
Baby Girl” done in the old Red Sovine style of ‘telling’ the story to
music. Wow, what a treat to hear Don Joy do this with such amazing
sincerity and honesty. Wade Jackson is up in his years, but he still
performs, and he has been nominated for induction into America’s Old
Time Country Music Hall of Fame. Keep your fingers crossed he makes it
to LeMars, Iowa, Aug. 29-Sept 4, 2016 for the ceremonies.
pleasure to review two CD’s, both of them by Don Joy and Melanie Lynn
who make their home in Missouri. What is the real treat here is hearing
the songs of Wade Jackson done so well. This is classic country with a
capital “C” and this couple know exactly how to make these kind of
country songs stand out so valiantly, so bravely, so beautifully. You
might not be familiar with Wade Jackson. For one thing, he is the
brother of Stonewall Jackson, but maybe more importantly he’s the
composer of all the songs on this great album, including one of the
sweetest country love songs ever written “Don’t Be Angry.” Country music
in the classic and traditional style speak of ‘real’ things, ‘real’
feelings, ‘real’ experiences, which is nearly the opposite of so-called
country music coming from Nashville in this year of 2016. Unfortunately
the so-called country songs we hear today are written at the command of
whoever holds the purse strings, very very different than the obvious
true feelings of a songwriter who is composing and writing on paper with
tears streaming from their eyes. That’s what Wade Jackson is all
about. The ‘real-deal.’ What is also ‘real-deal’ about this recording
is the absolutely devoted real-country style of Don Joy and Melanie
Lynn. If this CD was on the market 20 years ago it would be an instant
hit. In today’s world, real country music has a hard time surviving,
but the good thing about it is with couples like this that are so
devoted to the music, the meaning of the music, and the ultimate
satisfaction it gives both the performers of it and the listeners of
it, this very American music genre still has a chance of surviving. The
same message holds true for elderly Wade Jackson, who is still out
there, holding his own, keeping the ‘real’ country music alive. This
session of his songs are extremely well done, and if I were a little bug
on the wall of the recording studio that Don Joy and Melanie walked
into that first session they did with these incredibly accomplished
musicians, I can just hear the sighs moving around the room, as each and
every one of them whispering, we finally got some ‘real’ country to
record. The entire session is extremely well done, including “Daddy’s
Baby Girl” done in the old Red Sovine style of ‘telling’ the story to
music. Wow, what a treat to hear Don Joy do this with such amazing
sincerity and honesty. Wade Jackson is up in his years, but he still
performs, and he has been nominated for induction into America’s Old
Time Country Music Hall of Fame. Keep your fingers crossed he makes it
to LeMars, Iowa, Aug. 29-Sept 4, 2016 for the ceremonies.
RECORD REVIEW BY BOB EVERHART – www.ntcma.net
for Country Music News International Magazine