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"After All"
After two modestly successful singles
in the late 1980s and a barely noticed 1990 album for Capitol,
Joni Harms has consciously ignored nearly everything that's happened
musically during the past decade, including the successes of
Twain and Hill. On After All, her first album since 1998's Cowgirl
Dreams, Harm's taut, springy twang combined with honest, unadorned
Western music makes for an irresistible package. She sings optimistically
amid mariachi horns on "Ay, Yi, Yi, Yi" and swings
deftly through "Every Cowgirl's Dream," "Weakness
for Cowboys," "Cowboy Coffee," and "A Cowboy
Wedding." On the title track she commandeers the shuffle,
often used to propel morose laments, to frame an unabashed declaration
of love and devotion. "Millie," her tribute to waitresses,
possesses a reverence that rarely infuses most waitress tunes
sung by men. While "I Want to Sing for You" overdoses
on earnestness, that's a mere anomaly. Reveling in "the
sound of twin fiddles" and "three-quarter time"
in "West Texas Waltz" and the homeland virtues of "Sunday
Go to Meeting Clothes," Harms reflects a contentment that
transcends Music Row's Survivor-like competitions for fame and
staying power. --Rich Kienzle |
