REVIEW: Jon Randall

JON RANDALL
Walking Among the Living (Sony)

Jon Randall seems to be both an insider and outsider to the Nashville machine. As a guitarist and songwriter, he's definitely been one of the better cogs in that machine for some time -- he wrote a little ditty you might have heard of by the name of "Whiskey Lullaby," for example. You can see his name on scads of CDs by big-name country artists, whether as songwriter, guitarist, or harmony vocalist. In 1995 he recorded "By Your Side" with Lorrie Morgan, to whom he was briefly married.

But this is not to say he hasn't paid his dues and earned a little cred. He played in Emmylou Harris' Nash Ramblers, toured with Earl Scruggs and recorded and toured as acoustic guitarist and harmony vocalist with my man Lyle Lovett, which means I've probably seen him in concert several times, but danged if I can remember.

So you could cast him as an outsider, too. He's certainly had enough botched record deals and almost-successes to shake any label of "Nashville darling," and after trying a couple of albums with little or none of his own writing on it, his new one, "Walking Among the Living," is nearly all songs he wrote or co-wrote (only one song is a cover). That's not very Nashville, now is it?

After hearing the buzz of this being "the album he was born to make," I thought I'd check out what the "real" Jon Randall sounds like. My opinion? He sounds like ... pop country. But not in the worst sense of that phrase. "Baby Won't You Come Home," the CD's opening song, is a promising mid-tempo number about letting yourself go because you miss someone. It, like many other of the CD's songs, is produced 'til it's slicker than snot, but still a decent listen. But then the second track, "In the Country," yeech. Sounds tailored for the Clear Channel country radio stations. Probably my favorite track on the CD is "North Carolina Moon" -- such a good song about being homesick that it made me homesick, and I'm not even from North Carolina! Interestingly, this song's co-writing credits go to Ron Stewart -- Jon Randall's father, who wrote the song while Jon was in high school in a notebook that Jon rediscovered recently. "Whiskey Lullaby" also is on this CD. It's always interesting to hear the writer's take on a song made famous by someone else. Usually I like the original better, but not this time. The song isn't quite as electrifying when it's not a duet, and on "Walking Among the Living" there's a cheesy orchestral bit that just pushes a good, sad song into seriously sappy territory.

The album seems a little inconsistent, thematically. There are some dark, slow hurtin' songs, but then that vibe will be interrupted by some upbeat ditty that is kind of jarring by juxtaposition. But one thing that is consistent is Jon Randall's voice. He sings real purty, sometimes reminiscent of Vince Gill but a touch lower, maybe Vince Gill if he smoked a lot. Also, the man can play the guitar. So why he feels the need to add to that wonderful playing layer upon layer of electric guitar, drums and blah female harmonies (even the assists from Alison Krauss and Patty Loveless left me pretty cold), I cannot fathom.

So the average Hickory Wind reader, someone perhaps who likes your songs a little edgy and your production pretty simple, could give this album a skip. But if you hear Jon Randall on the radio any time soon (and I think you just might), don't lunge for that dial. Give him a listen ... and then be ready to lunge when he's followed up by the latest crapfest by "She-whose-name-shall-not-be-spoken" Twain.