When
Jim Lauderdale issued his 1991 masterpiece
Planet of Love, the critics were falling all over themselves proclaiming him the king of progressive country who was ushering in the era of Americana. He wrote songs for everyone from
Kathy Mattea to the glorious
Patty Loveless to the two "Georges":
Jones and
Strait. Ten years later,
Lauderdale's made almost as many records of all kinds of music, from rootsy rock to slick, funked-up country to a bluegrass album with Ralph Stanley. All of them had their moments, and most of them were good, but until now he's never issued a record as pure and solid as
The Other Sessions. It's a 12-pack of hardcore, honky tonk country songs written in the tradition of
Merle Haggard,
Hank Thompson,
Bobby Bare, and
Del Reeves. And it should, since 11 of the 12 tunes were co-written with country stalwarts like
Reeves,
Harlan Howard,
Melba Montgomery,
Kostas, and
Clay Blaker. But it doesn't end with the songs. The musicians on this set read like a who's who of contemporary music -- country and otherwise. There's
Billy Bremner from
Rockpile, pedal steel god
Bucky Baxter,
Stan Lynch from
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers,
Reese Wynans, Tammy Rodgers,
Roy Huskey, Jr.,
Pat Buchanan -- and that's not even half of the musicians involved. The quality lies in
Lauderdale's delivery as both a singer and a visionary. He takes hard country songs, plays them the hard country way, and makes them sound as contemporary as the latest
Nelly record. There isn't a fusion or crossover bone in the guy's body, but he can make any rock & roll fan fall head over heels for these tracks. The best stuff here -- the truck rock anthem "Diesel, Diesel, Diesel," the wine-swilling "Honky Tonk Haze," and the deep, down-in-the-flesh love song "Just to Get to You," co-written with
Montgomery -- will be covered by others but never with as much raw gumption and swagger. This is the country record
Elvis Presley could never have made though he wanted to, and it's the rock record
Haggard's been trying make since the '80s. None of the alt-country, "americorna" kids can touch this because it's not about riffs and postures, it's about craft and vision.
The Other Sessions is one of the finest hard country records to be issued since the 1960s. Period. It's also the new watermark by which
Lauderdale has to judge himself. Forget Americana -- this is country music. ~ Thom Jurek