Big Machine Records/Rockin’; R Records

****1/2

As popular country music keeps moving farther and farther away from its traditional Nashville roots, it’s always great to find that certain artist who brings the nostalgic sound back home. Of course, Reba was ‘country’ way before country was cool, but over the decades she strayed from the fold somewhat as she sought out the kind of riches that only pop-crossover can deliver. With STRONGER THAN THE TRUTH she comes close to recapturing the neo-traditional country styling that she helped pioneer way back in the early 1980s. I say ‘close’ because in amongst the excellent trad-country songs are a couple of tracks with a much more contemporary approach, almost as if she was just a mite bit frightened of going the whole hog of releasing a totally traditional-sounding country album.

The opening Swing All Night With You, a co-write by Jon Randall and the Cox Family’s Sidney Cox, is a cheeky swing tune that allows the Nashville studio players the freedom to play how I guess they’d love to be allowed to play. You can hear the beaming smiles on their collective faces pouring through the speakers as the vibrant tune percolates with the wild abandon of a ‘live’ performance rather than a sterile multi-tracked, over-dubbed studio concoction.

Much credit must be given to co-producer Buddy Cannon for bringing together the most creative and individual players to deliver and support Reba’s unique voice. Wisely he sequences the sad-tinged title-song, the kind of song that Reba has long excelled at, as the second track. Reba’s plaintive, utterly appealing drawl of a voice grounds each word with raw honesty and homespun warmth. My first thought was that one of the best singers in Country music was back with a mind-blowing cool new album.

My lips were salivating as I looked down the list of song titles and saw that Storm In A Shot Glass, was up next. Co-written by Leslie Satcher, this surely must be a classic. Despite the sawing fiddles, the bombastic arrangement just didn’t fit the mood of what I was expecting. Disappointment blazed across my face, to be instantly replaced by relief as the next song, Tammy Wynette Kind Of Pain took me back into trad-country heaven. Co-written by Brandy Clark, this resonates with a veteran sensibility. Reminiscent of a rainy day where the sun might occasionally crack through the clouds, the song seems to hang in mid-air, just waiting for someone to come by and lavish attention on its woven melodies and captivating narrative … pure magic. Even better is Cactus In A Coffee Can. The kind of heart-breaking tale that epitomises all that is so great about country music; the track seems to bleed a cavernous emotionality, like a tidal absolution that doggedly clings to the inside of your heart.

With softly plucked acoustic guitar lines, Your Heart is a heart-felt ballad with beautiful strings and swirling steel behind Reba’s passionate vocals. The Clown is vintage Reba. With expressive piano, pedal steel and fiddle weaving in and out of the melody, she takes a circus ringleader’s approach to the lyrics as she paints in the lines of the unfolding realisation of an impending break-up. She contrasts this neatly with No U In Oklahoma, a more light-hearted acceptance of a break-up that is a clever travelogue across America as she gradually realises that the wild boy her father warned her about wasn’t right for her. It’s all wrapped up in a western swing arrangement that is country with a capital ‘C’ with fiddles,, pedal steel, chicken-pickin’ guitar and barroom piano that is rhythmically meaty and easily embraceable.

When Freedom started with its chunky guitars I was eagerly looking forward to another high-quality country performance but it soon grew into a powerful rock arrangement with screaming electric guitars and strident fiddles. A great song in concert, I’m sure, with everyone on their feet singing along with gusto, but in the midst of this mainly traditional country album, it stands out like a nasty thorn in a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Luckily songs like The Bar’s Getting Lower and In His Mind redress the balance superbly with melodies and lyrics  that just won't leave you alone and a voice that tugs at your heart. With this album Reba McEntire fulfils her challenge to bridge that gap between the performances that created her fan base and the artistic growth that has sustained it with music that is mainly ‘a true to life’ reflection on southern ways that touch on traditional notions of love and heartbreak, good times and family values that sadly seem missing from so much of today’s country music.

www.reba.com

May 2019