Billy Boy & Mary Lou

Album review

The rating for this album averages out lows and highs. Vocalist Mary Lou Turner comes up with a convincing performance on every track, sticking to a somewhat superficial, commercial sound that is more fitting to the material than Bill Anderson's attempts at naturalism, which are at times unintentionally funny and, at other times, just plain out of tune. Oh, there are good moments on a typically slick, beautifully recorded, Nashville outing, the rhythm section kicking off the first track with a loping, two-beat shuffle that seems to present the essence of country & western. Unfortunately, any discussion of the essence of this genre would touch on the type of songwriting here, much of which suffers from a variety of illnesses.
"Country Lay on My Mind" is not just an example of a substandard theme in country songwriting (i.e., songs about just how darn country the artist is). It drags in sexual metaphors and it is hard to believe these performers weren't aware of what they would wind up with -- take another look at the title to get the point. This number would actually fit in on the Ween country satire; perhaps the brothers should take a look at it. "I'm Way Ahead of You" is a rare example of a romantic cheating song, but despite another strong Turner vocal, doesn't go anywhere that the listener won't be way ahead of by the time it comes up. The team of Curly Putman and Sonny Throckmorton, no slouches when it comes to churning out ditties, toss in a couple of numbers, with Anderson himself writing and co-writing contributions. The former team's "I've Been Loving You Too Long," despite an already-used song title, has a wonderful Cajun-influenced beat, the vocal team sounding better here than on any other part of the offering. Their sound here is more folkie than anything else, suggesting that the Anderson and Turner combination could have been better with more material of that nature, perhaps even some folk-rock. The final half of the program gets even duller, a kind of flat high-point being a conversational "Where Are You Going, Billy Boy?," the sort of song even the worst possible vocal duo could get a rise with.

© Eugene Chadbourne /TiVo