Country/Acoustic
Randy Sharp, Jack Wesley Routh, Sharon Bays, Maia Sharp: Dreams Of The San Joaquin
Produced by: Randy, Maia, Jack
Released: 2012
www.blixstreet.com
This group of musicians and singers does not have a group name but is instead a collection of performers who have gotten together and recorded an album featuring all of them with all original songs. The performers are Randy Sharp on guitar, bass, mandolin, keyboards, programmed drums, and other instruments, Jack Wesley Routh on guitar, Sharon Bays on vocals, and Maia Sharp on vocals, along with a few other musicians adding instruments and background vocals. All of them sing and take turns on lead vocals.
Their voices harmonize beautifully and all are very good singers for their lead vocals. The style is an acoustic style with a country flavor to the music and is very well produced and arranged and performed. The songs have a romantic old fashioned feel to them. Some of them could have been performed by country western singers back in the fifties and sixties. There are also many songs and arrangements that fit in with today’s music. They all go well together make for a good cohesive collection.
In fact, the first song, Burn Day, sets the tone with a vocal performance that makes the song very pleasant to listen to. The rest of the album is the same way.
I was wide awake and waiting long before first light of morning
As the radio announcer promised – an almost perfect day
The skies are clear, the winds are down, no local weather warnings
As a song began he said the words I was hoping he would say
It’s a burn day. It’s a burn day
The subject throughout is about lost romances and lost dreams, but mostly lost romances, which is a common theme in most country music and probably in most music in general.
This is evident for example in Shores Of White Sand:
Here I go again
Back to that feelin’
Of no worthy cause
To carry me on
My heart’s been skippin’
Like a flat rock on water
And with each ripple
The further I’m gone
Some say I’m sinkin’
To the muddy bottom
Somehow I’m sailin’
To the shores of white sand
The Jack Wesley Routh/Randy Sharp composition Ridin’ On The Night Train is a song about a flight from justice that could be from long ago:
Well I lay my head on a southbound rail
Need a train comin’ down the track
I’m a wanted man since I jumped my bail
Ain’t no turnin’ back
Now is that the howl of the lawman’s hound
Or the moan of the midnight train
Will I fly away, or will my wings be bound
By a ball and chain
A tribute to their songwriting skills is the fact that three of them, Randy Sharp, his daughter Maia Sharp, and Jack Wesley Routh, have all written or co-written songs that have been recorded by such artists as Emmylou Harris, Reba McEntire, Marty Robbins, Bonnie Raitt, Cher, Trisha Yearwood, and Art Garfunkel and others. In fact, seven of Randy’s songs have been number one singles on the country charts. They have all been in the business for some years and it shows in the music they make together.
[Greg Bennett]
Randy Sharp, Jack Wesley Routh, Sharon Bays, Maia Sharp: Dreams Of The San Joaquin
Produced by: Randy, Maia, Jack
Released: 2012
www.blixstreet.com
This group of musicians and singers does not have a group name but is instead a collection of performers who have gotten together and recorded an album featuring all of them with all original songs. The performers are Randy Sharp on guitar, bass, mandolin, keyboards, programmed drums, and other instruments, Jack Wesley Routh on guitar, Sharon Bays on vocals, and Maia Sharp on vocals, along with a few other musicians adding instruments and background vocals. All of them sing and take turns on lead vocals.
Their voices harmonize beautifully and all are very good singers for their lead vocals. The style is an acoustic style with a country flavor to the music and is very well produced and arranged and performed. The songs have a romantic old fashioned feel to them. Some of them could have been performed by country western singers back in the fifties and sixties. There are also many songs and arrangements that fit in with today’s music. They all go well together make for a good cohesive collection.
In fact, the first song, Burn Day, sets the tone with a vocal performance that makes the song very pleasant to listen to. The rest of the album is the same way.
I was wide awake and waiting long before first light of morning
As the radio announcer promised – an almost perfect day
The skies are clear, the winds are down, no local weather warnings
As a song began he said the words I was hoping he would say
It’s a burn day. It’s a burn day
The subject throughout is about lost romances and lost dreams, but mostly lost romances, which is a common theme in most country music and probably in most music in general.
This is evident for example in Shores Of White Sand:
Here I go again
Back to that feelin’
Of no worthy cause
To carry me on
My heart’s been skippin’
Like a flat rock on water
And with each ripple
The further I’m gone
Some say I’m sinkin’
To the muddy bottom
Somehow I’m sailin’
To the shores of white sand
The Jack Wesley Routh/Randy Sharp composition Ridin’ On The Night Train is a song about a flight from justice that could be from long ago:
Well I lay my head on a southbound rail
Need a train comin’ down the track
I’m a wanted man since I jumped my bail
Ain’t no turnin’ back
Now is that the howl of the lawman’s hound
Or the moan of the midnight train
Will I fly away, or will my wings be bound
By a ball and chain
A tribute to their songwriting skills is the fact that three of them, Randy Sharp, his daughter Maia Sharp, and Jack Wesley Routh, have all written or co-written songs that have been recorded by such artists as Emmylou Harris, Reba McEntire, Marty Robbins, Bonnie Raitt, Cher, Trisha Yearwood, and Art Garfunkel and others. In fact, seven of Randy’s songs have been number one singles on the country charts. They have all been in the business for some years and it shows in the music they make together.
[Greg Bennett]
RSS Feed