Various Artists
Caught in the Webb
Audium Records

by William Michael Smith

I normally shrink from any CD that has the word "tribute" on the cover. It seems lately we have been inundated with tribute albums. Too often the "tribute" is to boost the careers of the artists doing the supposed "tributing." And who knows where the cash goes?

Well, we recently received a tribute album I can wholeheartedly get behind, Caught in the Webb. This 21 track album is not only full of good music that sticks faithfully to Webb Pierce's original versions, the money benefits two great causes, the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Minnie Pearl Cancer Foundation. The timing of the album is perfect since Pierce was finally inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001.

Conceived and produced by Gail Davies, whose first charted single in 1978 was a cover of Pierce's "No Love Have I," the album celebrates Pierce's prolific career and unique talent. Davies has wisely gathered a diverse group of artists from several distinct niches of the industry. She's got stalwart traditionalists like George Jones, Charlie Pride, and the venerable Billy Walker, hitmakers Dwight Yoakam, Pam Tillis, Mandy Barnett, and Allison Moorer, respected mavericks like Willie Nelson, Guy Clark, Emmy Lou Harris, bluegrass giants The Del McCoury Band, and an assortment of alt-country and neo-traditional acts like Dale Watson, Robbie Fulks, BR549, Trent Summar, and Rosie Flores who are popular with audiences that stretch far beyond the boundaries of country music. Couple this array of talent with some of Nashville's best studio players ­ The Jordanaires, guitarists Kenny Vaughn, Pat Bergeson and Chris Scruggs, drummer Bob Mummert, bassist Rob Price, pianist Chris Nole, steel players Stu Basore, Johnny Cox, and Weldon Myrick, and fiddlers Kenny Sears and Hoot Hester ­ and the result is a true tribute to one of the biggest raw talents ever to come up the road from the farm to Nashville.

Without exception the performances are strong and true to Pierce's spirit, undoubtedly due to a combination of talented performers and Ms. Davies' unswerving commitment to her own vision of the project. As Edward Morris said so eloquently in the liner notes, "No one feels Pierce's music more intensely than she, and no one else could array so sensitively all the talents she has here to honor the master."

Dale Watson's raucous, energetic version of Pierce's signature piece, "In the Jailhouse Now" (written by Jimmie Rodgers), creates an auspicious beginning for the album, and Mandy Barnett's rendition of "Slowly" which follows is mesmerizing. By this point, I was wondering how good this album could get. Well, Charley Pride may not get out much anymore and he may have disappeared from the radio waves, but it only takes one listen to "I'm Tired" to understand why Pride is in the Hall of Fame. Anyone who followed Pride's career and his trail of hits knows there was always a lot of Pierce influence in Pride's style and in his choice of material. Judging by the way he nails "I'm Tired," Mr. Pride should record more than he does. He's still got it.

Rockabilly filly Rosie Flores gets sassy on the widely known Pierce hit, "I Ain't Never," a song still regularly covered by any number of country bands. With Basore making his steel cry and Hank Singer's twin fiddle overdub, George Jones sounds in top tearjerker form on the forlorn "Yes I Know Why."

I never made any association between Dwight Yoakam and the Pierce sound, but hearing Yoakam on "If I Were You" makes it obvious that Yoakam has always had more than passing familiarity with Pierce's work. "Wondering," another of Pierce's massive hits, proves how well Ms. Davies associates the right talent with the right song. Emmy Lou Harris makes "Wondering" entirely her own.

"Tupelo County Jail," written by Pierce and Mel Tellis, provides a great vehicle for displaying the pitch-perfect voices of Robbie Fulks and Joy Lynn White. Again, Davies has picked the perfect song for the talents and personalities of the performers.

There are a number of showstoppers on the album, but Allison Moorer's version of "Back Street Affair" reveals her to be a consummate hillbilly torch singer. This track smolders like a bed of coals in a high wind. Nashville songwriter Matt King sounds very Pierce-like for a young modern on "Even Tho'." And Crystal Gayle finds an antique vibe in her rendition of "More and More."

The highlight of the album for me personally is Del McCoury's wry "I'm Walking The Dog." As they do with any piece they record, the McCoury band makes this one another Del McCoury tune. Lionel Cartwright gives "That Heart Belongs to Me" a Ray Price-like interpretation. Guy Clark's version of "Honky Tonk Song" ("the band kept playing and a shakin' my bed") may be the most unlikely track on the album, but it works. Ms. Davies handles "Love, Love, Love" herself, and not only has she not lost any of that beautiful, mellow, throaty quality in her singing since we last heard her, she shows the other artists the kind of authenticity and spirit she was looking for on the project.

"That's Me Without You" is sung by Willie Nelson. I suspect Davies chose this particular tune for Nelson to perform because it represents the kind of psychologically penetrating lyrical realism that Nelson has often styled in his own writing.

Everyone knows "There Stands the Glass" and BR549 drew the unfortunate lot of having to do this classic. Working as a band rather than with the studio musicians, they were up to the task, giving a crisp rendition that features the great harmonies that are their specialty. Old Nashville pro Billy Walker, backed by The Carol Lee Singers, gives a tender and somewhat country-politan rendition of another big Pierce hit, "I Don't Care," written by the prolific Cindy Walker and Pierce. Walker is such a pro he got it in one take.

Another unlikely pairing is the George Jones standard "Why Baby Why" with Kevin Welch but Welch gives a perky performance and, surprisingly, his laconic, cool Oklahoma drawl fits the lyric well. There is no effort to imitate, but Welch's interpretation actually brings a freshness to the widely known and often covered song.

"It's Been So Long" may be the straightest country effort I've ever heard from cowpunker Trent Summar (Hank Flamingo). Summar brings all his honky tonk leanings to bear and this track turns out perfectly.

Even a tribute album needs a strong ending and Pam Tillis and The Jordanaires is a combination of talent I certainly wouldn't want to have to follow. On "No Love Have I" (written by her father), Ms. Tillis wraps her warm, full voice around a rollicking, rhythmic honk tonker. Kenny Vaughn shows why he's one of the top session guitarists in Nashville while Chris Nole fills the sound out with torrents of piano. This track has oomph to spare and makes a perfect final statement.

They don't make tribute records any better than this one. If you're old enough to remember Webb Pierce, listening to this album will give you a great feeling and bring back lots of memories that you don't want to lose. If you aren't old enough to remember Webb Pierce and you are a fan of country music, you need to be exposed to this in the worst way. Webb doesn't get the ink that Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell do, but he was a giant, the real deal in a town that was filled with deals that were anything but real. Edward Morris says it best in his highly literate liner notes. "He was the voice of country boys excited by bright lights but fearful and suspicious as well. He spoke for simple guys whose hearts and loins tugged them toward barely imaginable delights while Mom and Jesus begged them to stand fast. In this territory where grief was bottomless and ecstasy walked on air, Pierce is the truest voice country music has ever had."

Amen.

*Caught in the Webb can be purchased at www.milesofmusic.com and other web retailers. Gail Davies has also devoted part of her site to the project at www.gaildavies.com/caught_in_the_webb.html



Contact William Michael Smith at: wms-at-rockzilla.net

 
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