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"Ten Rounds"
East Texas traditionalist Tracy Byrd's
beefy, muscular voice had the goods and could deliver them. Everyone
knew it and that's still true. That said, the faint whiff of
compromise has always dogged his records. The need to satisfy
marketing concerns with generic songs and arrangements consistently
nudges out the edgier fare Byrd is and has always been capable
of. Here, that whiff becomes a full-fledged scent. While "Somebody's
Dream" succeeds as social commentary, "Ten Rounds with
José Cuervo" is yet another predictable Buffettesque
sing-along drinking ditty. Byrd himself chose to revive Michael
Martin Murphy's 1970s whiny hippie wussfest "Wildfire,"
but it doesn't fit his style. He recovers with a strong performance
of "Never Gonna Break Again" and an enjoyable duet
with Mark Chesnutt on "A Good Way to Get on My Bad Side,"
with the piquant line "A little sissy in a cowboy hat ain't
country." True. By the same token, a great country singer
in a cowboy hat ain't well served by so much throwaway material.
--Rich Kienzle |
