|
John Anderson -
Easy Money
By: George
Peden, CSO Staff Journalist
 “I’ve
seen the price of fame, lost friends along the way; I’ve seen
the stars burn out and fall from the sky, while others fade away.
It’s a hard way; it’s a hard, hard way to make easy
money…” John Anderson –“Easy Money”
If you’ve ever
wanted to ride the tour bus, plug your guitar into a host of
honkytonks, and if you’ve imagined the life of a country star
comes with endless celebrity meetings and non-stop partying, well,
it’s time to reassess. Howard and David, the Bellamy Bros, gave
us a clue to life beyond the neon with their 90s hit, the
energetic, “Hard Way To Make A Easy Livin”. The tune
painted a different reality to the gloss manufactured on CMT.
The Bellamy boys
told us in song the perception of easy money for a couple of
hours’ work was a long way from the sweat and disruption of
packing and unpacking the gear across a calendar of one-night
stands. It’s a stark reality that often the glamour and glitz of
the music star is one founded on travel, fatigue and just plain
hard work.
New Muzik Mafia
recruit, John Anderson, covers that truth with the opening salvo
on his latest on Warner Bros, Easy Money. When the
music veteran declares,” It’s a damn hard way to make easy
money,” believe it. With over 30 years' industry know-how,
it’s the voice of experience singing here. And experience is
something Anderson has claiming rights on.
Anderson, a
Floridian, has been a pivotal pioneer of country, having had chart
success with songs like Billy Joe Shaver’s ‘I’m Just An Old
Chunk Of Coal”, his signature cut, “Swingin,’” and the
identifiable ladies lament, “Straight Tequila Night”. Other
notables include “When It Comes To You” and “Money In The
Bank” – prophetic as it landed at number one on the country
charts.
Anderson in recent
years has been almost absent from the charts. This album should
change that.
Simply, it’s
compelling. In a distinctive voice, one made for heartache and
misery, Anderson knows how to draw the emotional cords tight,
wrapping you in a shared journey of pain, passion and fun, and all
delivered as uncompromised country. He does it sooo-oo well.
With six co-writes
on the 11-tracker, two with ex Lonestar and album producer John
Rich, Anderson mines the landscape of music reality with the title
cut, only to find richer gems on a deeper dig into the album. With
a track like “A Woman Knows,” the hatted singer, who once
helped with the building of the Grand Ole Opry, gets to the
emotional gristle of female intuition. Moody, revealing and clear,
the tune is sensitive and honest. Other shades of similar come
with “Something To Drink About”, and the truth men in a hurry
should learn from, “I Can’t Make Her Cry Anymore”. Telling
of marital neglect, from late flowers to mobile phones on
vacations, it’s a prod to men to realize their immediate
priority shouldn’t, as the song tells,” wander on the
beach…just out of reach”, but rather should be at arms length.
“Brown Liquor”
is t-t-t-t tongued-tied revelry, a party-charged energizer that
kicks things in a different direction, not unlike the charged
‘Funky Country”. “Willie’s Guitar” is a somber tune that
compares the guitar’s hole to the gap in our lover’s heart; it
rounds out the album; cameo vocals come from Willie and Haggard
– and Willie gets to play his old and familiar guitar in the
break.
If you have lazy
dollars, get Easy Money. This one is a keeper. You can bank
on it.
Click on the CD cover to order yours!
|
Related
Links:
Official Website
MySpace
Did
you like this album? did you hate it? Submit
a "Real People Review"
RPR
Rules
Real
People Reviews
|
