Edge of Forever

Album review

At 80 years old the queen of outlaw country—a woman who held her own on records and on stage with Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, the love of her life—sounds sweet and strong. Her twelfth solo album is cleanly produced by Margo Price and mixed by Shooter Jennings, Colter and Jennings' son who has been behind the boards for everyone from Brandi Carlile and Tanya Tucker to Marilyn Manson and Duff McKagan. You can hear Price's influence—or is it that Colter's influence on Price is revealed?—on groovy "Standing on the Edge of Forever"; with Stax soulful organ and blistering Southern rock guitar, the song sounds like it could have been on Price's own early 2023 album, Strays. The younger singer joins Colter on "I Wanna Be With You," a sort of countrified Dusty Springfield number written in the '70s and shelved until now, as well as outlaw honky-tonk "Lost Love Song," with its jangle-click drums and woozy keys. About those drums: They sound incredibly crisp throughout (hat tip to Shooter), including on "Secret Place"—which finds Colter duetting with Jenni Eddy Jennings, her daughter with legendary guitarist Duane Eddy ("Peter Gunn"). Eddy Jennings has a lovely warmth that embraces her mother's voice, while Price's silver songbird tone highlights the lived-in experience of Colter's on the twangy, Waylon-esque "Maybe You Should." Written for Colter's friend Lisa Kristofferson (wife of outlaw Kris), "Angel in the Fire" possesses some of the breathy bittersweetness and vulnerability of her classic "I'm Not Lisa" from 1975 and incorporates ranchera guitar that nods to Colter's Arizona childhood. There's a classic country ballad ("Hard on Easy Street") and a reworked old spiritual, "Can't Nobody Do Me Like Jesus," that positively springs to life—Colter and Price manage to turn gospel soul, tinged with blues harmonica, into badass honky-tonk. And Colter sounds like a steel magnolia on "Fine Wine," seemingly a heart-rending tribute to Waylon, who passed away in 2002: "Never thought I'd be here without you/ Big shoes to fill, you hung the moon ... But you've been gone so long/ I have to pick up and move." © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz