Radney Foster OOP CDs Del Rio, Texas, 1959 and Labor of Love

I recently purchased tickets to see Radney at the Ramshead in Annapolis. So I checked to see what CDs might be out of print so here's a couple for your listening pleasure. And, they can be had for next to nuthin' at Amazon.

Couldn't have said it better then this review from Amazon...

By Steven Clem Haley "Steve is in Stillwater" (Stillwater, Oklahoma United States) -
I'm not a country aficionado. And the fact that I used the word aficionado proves that I am far too pretentious to be an expert on the Nashvillian ilk.
But dad-gum there are times when you just have to stick the Miles Davis and Alan Hovhaness back in the jewel case and drive the ol' Chrysler with the windows down across the Panhandle. And when those times come, this is the cd you need to be listening to.
Foster is Country and Western's answer to Marshall Crenshaw. He cannot write a bad tune. He cannot write an unclever phrase. But alas, he also cannot get the publicity he so richly deserves.
The pictures he paints in his songs makes you actually concerned about the people who live 6 miles from I-40 on FM1643. They make you hope things turn out for them. They make you want to call your grandfather and talk about the wheat crop. They make you want to go just out of town and hear "the lonesome sound of diesels winding up the grade".
I will probably never become a fan of country music. But if country turns more like Foster's work, I may indeed buy me a hat and some snakeskins.

1. Just Call Me Lonesome
2. Don't Say Goodbye
3. Easier Said Than Done
4. A Fine Line
5. Went For A Ride
6. Nobody Wins
7. Louisiana Blue
8. Closing Time
9. Hammer And Nails
10. Old Silver

As half of the Nashville duo Foster & Lloyd, Radney Foster blended the sounds of the Byrds and the Everly Brothers into lightweight country-pop tunes. On the solo Del Rio, TX 1959, Foster wades out into the deeper currents of country tradition and fishes out a Texas-swing honky-tonk album so good it could have come from George Strait. The title refers to the time and place of Foster's birth; it was a year when Texan George Jones topped the country charts with "White Lightning." When Foster tells a departing lover, "Don't say goodbye, just slam the door," the twangy kiss-off recalls the unvarnished frankness of Jones's heyday. --Geoffrey Himes



Another Amazon review.

By Todd W. Smith "asburypark30" (Midway, KY)
This was Foster's 2nd solo album, released on Arista Records. It's a solid album, though it doesn't capture his full potential. At the time, Radney was coming off the success of "Del Rio,TX 1959", an album that scored him a few top 20 hits. I think he was still striving for radio singles, perhaps a little too much so. This album was about as mainstream as he ever got. However, Radney's received a little too much heat for this one. Mainstream Radney is still better than 98% of what's out there. There are two standout tracks, "Last Chance For Love" and "Making It Up As I Go Along". These songs are more on the cutting edge than the others. They are also the best and WOULD have made the best choices for singles. The songwriting is stellar Foster. The ballad "Never Say Die" ended up on the first Dixie Chicks album. "Jesse's Soul" is an ominous tale about a righteous man's 30 year old appointment with vengeance. "Broke Down" is a catchy Bakersfield-style romp with a metaphor that compares a "broke down" relationship to an auto's breakdown on the highway. "Everybody Gets the Blues (But I Know How To Keep 'Em)" is a great hook as well as a good song. The lyrics of "Making It Up As I Go Along" are extraordinary. The opening lines, "There are nights I've owned this town, most nights it owns me. Play my guitar 'til it draws blood, but it still won't let me be", set the tone for an epic tune. Radney tells how dreams gradually get abandoned over the years. When he says, "I ain't no smarter than the rest of these clowns, I'm just making it up as I go along," Foster is talking about his life as well as his songwriting. The song ends with a killer guitar solo. It isn't quite country, folk, or rock. It just IS, and it's so right. Radney definitely touched on something here that a lot of people have felt about their lives. Anyone who calls themselves a Radney Foster fan should not hesitate to own this one.

1. Willin' To Walk
2. Labor Of Love
3. My Whole Wide World
4. Never Say Die
5. Jesse's Soul
6. Everybody Gets The Blues
7. If It Were Me
8. Broke Down
9. Precious Pearl
10. Last Chance For Love
11. Walkin' Talkin' Woman
12. Making It Up As I Go Along

Ever since the late 1980s, when he was half of the Nashville duo Foster & Lloyd, Radney Foster has been a master at mixing together rock and country influences in a manner sophisticated and timely, yet earthy and soulful.

WMA 9.1 CBR

http://rapidshare.com/files/85259795/Radney_Foster.rar