Donnie Fritts – Everybody’s Got A Song

I’ll be surprised if another record comes out this year that features as much quality talent as the new album from Donnie Fritts — who himself is not particularly well-known, though his songs have been covered by everyone from the Rolling Stones to UB40.

Fritts may be most widely recognized as a longtime member of Kris Kristofferson’s band, and as an actor in ten movies with Kristofferson. He first made his mark writing songs at Tom Stafford’s studio during the glory days of the Muscle Shoals studio in Alabama. It’s no surprise, then, that this album — only Fritts’ third in 23 years — has the same easygoing groove that was the hallmark of the Muscle Shoals sound.

The special guests include Waylon Jennings, doing a perfect Jerry Lee Lewis impression on Fritts’ “A Damn Good Country Song”; Willie Nelson, on “The Oldest Baby In The World”; John Prine (no surprise considering the album is on Prine’s label); Kristofferson; Dan Penn; Billy Swan; Stephen Bruton; Tony Joe White; Delbert McClinton; and Lucinda Williams. Williams may still be struggling to get her own record out, but “Breakfast In Bed” here sounds right out of her catalog (though Fritts wrote the song).

On most of the tracks, Fritts turns vocal duties over to his more famous brethren, but he adds harmony vocals throughout. His voice doesn’t have a lot of range, but it’s perfect for the numbers he does sing lead on, particularly the upbeat “If You Say So”.

The only real maudlin turn is “We Had It All”, a song Fritts originally wrote for Ray Charles. Like the rest of Fritts’ work, the song has become a classic because it’s so simple yet eloquent, and it suggests a melancholy that seems all the deeper within the Southern landscape of the song. I don’t know if hearts are bigger in the South, but within Fritts’ music, they seem large indeed.