CD reviews: Jim Lauderdale – Honey Songs – Review – Issue 69

Honey Songs

FROM: Yep Roc/US
GENRE: Country
MUSIC: 4/5
SOUND: 4/5

The new disc from Jim Lauderdale must be the best-played country album I’ve heard in years. Lauderdale calls his band The Dream Players and he’s not joking. Any group that includes the likes of Elvis alumni James Burton, Glen D Hardin and Ron Tutt, as well as Al Perkins (Flying Burrito Brothers, Dylan, Stones) and Gary Tallent (E Street Band) has earned the right to call itself whatever it wants. Guest appearances by Emmylou Harris, Patty Loveless and Buddy Miller add even more class. Lauderdale’s songs don’t always match the band’s star quality (whose could?), but even so, there are some absolute gems within, including the loping waltz of ‘Hittin’ it Hard’ and the beautiful, ruminative ‘Borrow Some Summertime’. Good recording as well.

RICHARD BETTS