South Carolina resident Kathryn Caine shows off her origins on the back cover of Whiteville, where she’s pictured in front of “Pedro,” the giant monument to bad taste that looks out over South Of The Border, a popular tourist trap on the NC/SC border of I-95. Thankfully, Caine herself is far from tacky, coming up with this pleasant surprise of an album that features country music reminiscent of Emmylou Harris’ Hot Band.
Playing country rock rife with the Southern soul of Muscle Shoals, Caine at times resembles Loretta Lynn with the Stax Records house band backing her up. “Tramp” is the most immediately memorable song here, with a swinging groove that supports the classic self-deprecating kiss-off refrain, “You can say I’m no good, lowdown, evil and bad, but don’t you never never never, never never call me a tramp.” On “Way,” Caine channels Booker T through a bubbling organ riff, while “Pictures”, written by producer Doug Ibbeken, is an appropriately scenic ballad. The other two covers here, “Ooh Las Vegas” (Gram Parsons) and “Cash On The Barrelhead” (Louvin Brothers), prominently feature Caine’s husband Chuck Humphreys on vocals, and they’re good enough to withstand the inevitable Gram/Emmylou comparisons.
Recorded entirely on an eight-track DAT in Caine’s hometown of Whiteville (hence the disc’s title), this sounds exactly like what it is: a group of good friends playing some good music together. Although Caine now calls Columbia home, it’s appropriate that an album of rootsy country music should be produced from the countryside where the artist has her roots.