After
disappearing from the country charts for a while, Mark
Chesnutt is back with a new album, Rollin’ With the Flow.
Chesnutt notes that he has traveled a long road to get to
this album, which was released by Lofton Creek Records, but
believes it was well worth it. Mike Borchetta had been
trying to hunt Chesnutt down for years, and ask him to
record an album with him, but it wasn’t until recently that
Chesnutt finally did so.
Borchetta worked for Curb and Broken Bow
Records before ending up at Lofton Creek. Borchetta was one
of the first to hear Chesnutt back in the late 80’s when Joe
Ladd took Chesnutt’s CD to labels. He had been trying to
sign Chesnutt for years, but to his dismay, Chesnutt signed
with other record companies each time. Finally, after
signing with Columbia and MCA, Chesnutt ended up meeting
Mike in person, and knew from that point on that he could do
great things with him. Now, all of that time and all the
phone calls Borchetta placed to Ladd have paid off, and
Chesnutt has released Rollin’ With
the Flow.
Opening with a possible fan favorite, the
album includes one typical Chesnutt cut after another. The
first tune on the album states that there are only so many
“Things To Do In Wichita” when you’re heartbroken. Chesnutt
follows that with a few great ballads on the album including
“When You Love Her Like Crazy” and the prevailing “When I
Get This Close To You.”
The Charlie Rich classic, “Rollin’ With the
Flow,” was a number one hit for Rich back in 1977.
“Going On Later On” and “Live To Be 100” are
two fun, upbeat toe tappers while “She Never Got Me Over
You” is a little slower, but nonetheless strong and
meaningful.
In “(Come On In) The Whiskey’s Fine,”
everything has gone wrong, but be sure to come on in anyway,
there is nothing wrong with the whiskey. “If the Devil
Brought You Roses” has a little bit of a Tim McGraw feel to
it but “Woman” and “Long Way To Go” are distinctly
Chesnutt’s style. Along with the vocals, the steel guitar is
mainly what gives each of these songs the characteristic of
a Mark Chesnutt song.
“Man In the Mirror,” which depicts the
powerful admiration a boy has for his father, is a very
well-written song. The lyrics at the beginning of the song
pulled me in immediately, and I was pleasantly surprised
with the other verses as well as the chorus.
“Now
I realize just how wise he was
Sometimes without talkin’ he still taught us
His strong hands of justice would end with a hug
He knew nothing was stronger than the power of love.”
This album, as well as the last two released
by Chesnutt, was produced by Jimmy Ritchey. “When he comes
into the studio, he just sings," he said. "He's one of the
classic voices of our generation who continues to bring a
'breath of fresh air' to country radio. I'm honored to work
with him.” With four platinum albums, five gold albums and
14 number 1 singles, Chesnutt has created something
wonderful for his fans, once again.
