Don Williams - One Good Well/True Love/Currents

BGO Records
BGOCD1152





I’ve been a fan of Don Williams since I first heard the Pozo Seco Singers way back in 1966. For many years way back then, I felt as though I was the only person in the UK who appreciated his rich vocal tones. Then came Easter 1975 and suddenly 10,000 music lovers at Wembley discovered country music’s ‘Gentle Giant’ leading to unprecedented British chart success for the Texas balladeer, not to mention sold-out tours and acclaim right across the musical spectrum. By the time the three albums that comprise this 2-CD compilation were originally released between 1989-92, Don was reaching the end of his commercial run on the American country charts that had seen him notch up an incredible 17 number one hits and a further 28 top ten entries. Diminishing chart success doesn’t necessarily mean a lack of quality, and that’s certainly true of Don Williams. It’s been 23 years since he last bothered the country top 10, but the quality of his recordings has been maintained, with RELECTIONS, his latest album released this spring to coincide with his final UK tour, being one of his best ever.

Following a successful solo career recording for JMI, ABC/Dot, MCA and Capitol, Don joined RCA in 1989 and stayed long enough to release the three albums that we have here. The first two were co-produced by Garth Fundis and Williams himself, the same partnership that had worked together for the previous dozen years or so, so the label change brought little or no change to the Williams’ sound or style. He utilised the same pool of songwriters and more-or-less the same studio players, though he did add in newcomers (for Don that is) Mac McAnally, Mark O’Connor, Russ Pahl and Stuart Duncan. Those first two album provided Don with seven country hits, though Beth Nielsen Chapman’s Maybe That’s All It Takes, probably the best of them, was the only one not to make the top 10. Then again, American country radio programmers have always had dubious tastes. Of the remaining album tracks, I always loved Craig Bickhardt’s compelling tale of Donald And June and also the devastating Broken Heartland, one of the most powerful songs that Don’s ever recorded.
CURRENTS, Don’s final album for RCA, saw him reunited with Allen Reynolds, who had produced his first solo albums for JMI 20 years previously. It also saw a slight deviation from the usual Williams’ sound, a change that was bold and didn’t always quite work. Don had become friendly with Dobie Gray, and the Drift Away singer’s influence can be felt on several of the tracks, most notably So Far, So Good and In The Family, a pair of songs that Gray had previously recorded. The arrangements follow the originals a little closely, and for me, Don’s vocal pales when held up against Dobie’s, who does add background vocals here. Don is also joined by Kathy Mattea on The Old Trail, The Bhundu Boys and Kieran Kane. The weakest track, though, has to be Lone Star State Of Mind, which is taken at a gallop, when a gentle canter would’ve given the reflective lyrics more relevance. This album is saved though by the excellent revival of Alex Harvey’s Catfish Bates and the lyrical That Song About The River

Don’s RCA recordings have unfairly been overlooked in favour of his 1970s classics so it’s good to see all of them collected in one package like this. A minor criticism of the liner notes which describe Don as a ‘leading proponent of the countrypolitan sound of the early 1970s.’ When Don emerged on JMI Records in 1972-73 his stripped-back sound was the antithesis of the then-current lush orchestrated countrypolitan sounds of Ray Price, Sonny James and Eddy Arnold. Don’s success led to other leading country acts like Waylon, Willie and Tompall to strip back their sounds to the basics and so give rise to the birth of the outlaw movement. 

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