Who dares trot out the contradictions between Joness dissolute life and the sentiments of these songs when the man has always been such a True Believer of some sort? He calls this his musical response to the infamous 1999 car wreck that caused him to finally give up booze, caffeine, and tobacco. Circuit-preachers son Billy Sherrill, who guided Joness 1970s commercial ascension, came out of retirement to produce these 24 songs (on two discs) and, especially for a guy accused back then of gussying up country too much, he forges an austere sound. Joness voice cant execute the many twists, turns, and tricks it once did, but its still ripe with deep feeling; when he sings "Im so tired and so weary," you dont doubt him. So forgive them both for trying too hard occasionally ("The Old Rugged Cross") and appreciate this for the old-school testimonial, musical and spiritual, that it is. --John Morthland Review by Amazon.com |