Irene Kelley came to Nashville more than a decade ago; since then, she’s had (and lost) an MCA deal and written some great songs, recorded by country and bluegrass artists old and new — from Loretta Lynn to Trisha Yearwood, Dale Ann Bradley to the Osborne Brothers. The list of contributors to this album, too, has a lot of familiar names, and mighty good ones to boot; among her co-writers are Claire Lynch, Kim Richey, Darrell Scott, and Billy & Terry Smith, while the singers and pickers — think “acoustic country” and you’ll have a good sense of the album’s sound — include Lynch, Viktor Krauss, Aubrey Haynie and Brent Truitt.
Not everyone can keep up with their guests on an album like this, but Kelley is more than up to the task. Her singing is disarmingly straightforward and winning, and the songs are models of contemporary country music — simply and tightly constructed, with down-to-earth yet vivid lyrics, and imagery and melodies that you’ll have down cold by the end of your first listen. In fact, it is (or ought to be) a mystery as to why more of them haven’t been recorded; it’s hard to believe that a song such as the album’s opener, “A Little Bluer Than That”, wouldn’t make a respectable showing even on today’s debased country radio landscape.
Not that that matters especially; if the big label suits don’t get it, that’s their loss. Irene Kelley has produced a gentle yet powerful album that makes an impressive case for her talent and deserves a wide hearing.
