Benefit collections such as this are almost never going to get bad press because, well, who wants to put down a record made for a noble purpose? (In this case, the cause is talk-radio jock Don Imus and his wife Dierdre’s ranch in New Mexico which hosts children afflicted with cancer or serious blood disorders.) So it seems necessary to qualify something up-front here: The Imus Ranch Record deserves attention not for its good cause, but because it actually is a really good record.
The premise here is pretty simple: Imus corraled a bunch of his favorite musicians, and asked them to record a bunch of his favorite songs. It works primarily because Imus has pretty good taste in both artists and material.
Country sensibilities are at the album’s core witness Randy Travis’ sparkling rendition of the 1970s Charlie Rich hit “I Don’t See Me In Your Eyes Anymore”, and Vince Gill’s touching take on the late Porter Wagoner’s signature “Satisfied Mind”. But there’s also a lot of cross-pollinization going on, in a variety of directions. Country goes rock with Patty Loveless’ beautiful down-home spin on the Fleetwood Mac gem “Silver Springs”, and rock goes country via Little Richard’s boisterous reading of the old Webb Pierce/Mel Tillis favorite “I Ain’t Never”. (The album’s one misstep is its furthest stretch: Big & Rich’s stab at the Beastie Boys’ “Fight For Your Right To Party” provides comic relief, but not much else.)
The most rewarding moments come with revelatory pairings of artist and material. Dwight Yoakam’s twang-toned remake of “Give Back The Key To My Heart” no doubt would have put a big smile on the late Doug Sahm’s face, and John Hiatt’s performance of the Bottle Rockets’ “Welfare Music” helps rescue a terrific song from relative obscurity (and with fitting timeliness). Imus claims in the liner notes that Raul Malo’s version of “Life Has Its Little Ups And Downs” is even better than Charlie Rich’s definitive version, and while there are those who might rightly regard that comment as sacrilege, Malo does indeed give a sterling performance. Best of all is Delbert McClinton’s “Lay Down Sally”, which McClinton taps into so naturally that it ends up sounding like it must in fact be a McClinton original that Eric Clapton covered 30 years ago.
