The end results, however, are hit or miss, as Barry Gibb (the only surviving brother) teams up with a slew of country artists on the group's biggest songs. Highlights include Too Much Heaven, which pushes the right buttons from those first bars of easy listening perfection. With Alison Krauss taking Barry's higher melody part, there's a balance and easy trade-off that brings to mind Barry's best duets with Barbra Streisand.
Barry Gibb - Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers' Songbook (Vol. 1 / Album Trailer)
BarryGibbVEVOKeith Urban, smooth and sweet, sounds like the lost Gibb brother on one of the Bee Gees' earliest hits, I've Gotta Get a Message to You.And Rival Sons' frontman Jay Buchanan brings a true-blue soulfulness to To Love Somebody— but ends up overshadowing Barry. Age wears well on some voices. But when the voice was heaven-sent falsetto perfection to begin with, time is a heartbreaker. Which makes Words, Barry's duet with Dolly Parton—herself a high-in-the-clouds songbird in her younger years, including when she and Kenny Rogers had a hit with the Barry-penned Islands in the Stream—a humbling, bittersweet listen.
Barry Gibb - Words (Greenfields Studio Sessions) ft. Dolly Parton
BarryGibbVEVOThe same goes for Rest Your Love On Me, with Olivia Newton-John. But there are bright spots where Barry fits in comfortably, including a twangy take on Words of a Fool with Jason Isbell and How Deep Is Your Love, which finds him hitting the high notes and embraced by Little Big Town's butter-rich harmonies. The majestic Run to Me starts with Barry sounding as top-notch as Brandi Carlile—her honeyed croon as excellent as ever—joins in for Robin Gibb's gilded part on the chorus. When she jumps up a register or two on lines like "And when you've got nothing to lose," it's chill-inducing and Bee Gees-worthy.
