Strait’s last concert album a gift to fans

George Strait
“The Cowboy Rides Away: Live From AT&T Stadium”
(MCA Nashville)

The 20-song “Cowboy Rides Away: Live From AT&T Stadium” documents what was billed as Country Music Hall of Fame member George Strait’s final concert. Held on June 7 in Arlington, Texas, the event was more celebration than concert -- where the waves of cheers play as big of a role as the voices and musicians.

The guest-heavy lineup leans on modern stars such as Jason Aldean, Eric Church and Miranda Lambert more than Strait’s peers or influences. Several cuts are reduced to karaoke sing-alongs, with the guests providing harmony vocals or taking a single stanza. But memorable cuts surface, such as a powerful version of “A Showman’s Life,’ with Faith Hill on backing vocals.

There are other special moments. Strait reveals a playful side on a spirited duet with the great Martina McBride on the Johnny Cash-June Carter hit “Jackson.” He and Alan Jackson stick up for country traditions on “Murder on Music Row.” And Strait finds new emotion, given the circumstances, in songs like “Give It All You Got Tonight.” The highlight is a spoken recitation in “I’ll Always Remember You,” when Strait thanks his fans for a career that far out-distanced his dreams.

This live record isn’t the place to sample Strait’s long list of hits. It is, however, a gift to those who hate to see this legendary cowboy ride off into the sunset. (AP)


Lee Ann Womack heads off in new direction

Lee Ann Womack
“The Way I’m Livin’”
(Sugar Hill)

For more than a decade, Lee Ann Womack ranked as the most traditional female artist in contemporary country music, holding on to old-school values in themes and arrangements as others in the genre kept incorporating more pop rhythms and rock energy.

With the beautiful and moving “The Way I’m Livin’,” her first album in six years, Womack turns completely against the grain of modern Nashville. Instead, she focuses on stripped-down, emotionally raw songs that bring out the best in her voice, which sounds as tender and expressive as ever.

Her husband Frank Liddell, who also produces Miranda Lambert and David Nail, sets Womack amid a small ensemble of studio experts who play with restraint yet match her emotional tone. The songs range from devastating narratives, such as the title song (written by Adam Wright), to spirituals (Mindy Smith’s “All His Saints”), off-kilter love songs (“Same Kind Of Different”) and well-selected covers of Hayes Carll, Julie Miller, Bruce Robison and Neil Young.

“The Way I’m Livin’” isn’t retro or old-fashioned. It simply presents an alternative direction of where modern country music could go, one that probes the way people live in a more realistic manner than the party-without-consequences themes dominating contemporary country radio. It also serves as a reminder that Womack is one of American music’s most powerful interpreters of good material, whatever the genre. (AP)


Fifth album is ‘eez-eh’ for Kasabian

Kasabian
“48.13”
(Harvest Records)

“48.13” is precisely the amount of time it takes to listen to Kasabian’s fifth studio album.

Storming around the world with gusto after triumphantly closing the Glastonbury festival, “48.13” is hitting the shelves in the United States after entering the U.K. charts at No. 1 in June.

Like previous tracks “Fire,” “Shoot the Runner” and “L.S.F.,” the singles on “48.13” translate to stadiums and fields with fans chanting the lyrics back at the four boys from Northern England. The song “bumblebeee” opens with repeated chanting of “yeah, yeah, yeah” with a smashing drumbeat and screaming chorus that could open one of Kasabian’s sets.

It then morphs into “stevie,” which couples ominous-sounding strings with a similar drumbeat heard in “L.S.F.” However, in this instance, the lyrics seem a tad clumsy, rhyming “stevie” with TV.

The song “doomsday” sounds like it could have dropped from a record by The Specials -- the band uses a ska-esque rhythm -- but with Tom Meighan’s Leicester tones on top, singing, “What you see is what you get.”

The moment of perfection, however, is “eez-eh,” which guitarist Sergio Pizzorno described in an interview at Glastonbury as “cheating,” with its 120 beats per minute, as the audience can’t help but groove along to its insatiable rhythm.

“48.13” doesn’t top their debut, but it does provide some moments of pure joy. (AP)