Monday, 23 November 2009

By J.R. Journey from My Kind Of Country

Following her exit from long-time label home Mercury Records in 2006, Terri Clark inked a deal with BNA Records just a few months later. Under the Sony imprint, she released two singles to radio, but both stalled just inside the Top 40 on the U.S. Country chart. Both were bona fide hits in her native homeland of Canada, however, as ‘Dirty Girl’ rose to a #13 peak and the unreleased album’s title cut, ‘In My Next Life’ went all the way to #1. After delaying the release of the album several times, the label and Clark parted ways, with the singer promising to focus more of her energy on her native country, and possibly form her own label.

She did just that in earlier this year when she created BareTrack Records. As promised to her fans, a live album was soon available. Terri Clark Live: Road Rage was the first release on the new label, sold digitally and exclusively through Terri’s website and at her concerts. When time came to release The Long Way Home, BareTrack struck a distribution deal with Capitol Nashville/EMI Canada to get physical copies of the CD to retailers across North America. Recording the album in a bit of an unconventional way, Terri took to the studio for two days, and recorded the entire album in three takes.

Amid the turmoil within her career and label changes, Terri’s mother Linda Clark, was diagnosed with cancer. The singer’s priority became caring for her mother and she returned to Canada for an extended stay. After a long fight and with her mother in remission, Terri returned to Nashville to record The Long Way Home, armed with an arsenal of stellar songs and a vision of just how she wanted them to sound. Every track on the album was written or co-written by Terri and her age is showing, and the signs of maturity setting in on Terri Clark, the woman, is evident in these songs.
‘Gypsy Boots’ is the album opener and first single, released in the U.S. and Canada, and reached the top 10 in Canada, but failed to chart below the border. Terri wrote the song that tells of a musician and her penchant for the traveling life with Leslie Satcher and Jon Randall. An acoustic version, which showcases the lyric in a much more flattering aesthetic, closes the album.

There are really no throwaway tracks on the set, but plenty of standouts. The second single, released only in Canada, is the melodically-driven ‘If You Want Fire’. Drums and bass kicks help keep the song moving too. It’s thematically similar to Garth Brooks’ ‘Standing Outside the Fire’, and is just a real lyrical treat with a great hook. Spoken like someone who’s been burned a time or two herself, Terri imparts a bit of wisdom she’s picked up, ‘If you gotta have it, all that madness and passion, then you’ll learn/If you want fire, it better be worth the burn.’

The album’s centerpiece arrives by the third track, with the introspective ‘A Million Ways To Run’. At the beginning of the song, we find the protagonist at an AA meeting, listening to the stories of its members. What makes the song so relatable is the universal message of running away from, rather than confronting directly, the demons we all face.

I took shelter hiding from the pain, in any place to make it go away In the arms of a stranger keeping company with danger, Or staring’ down the barrel of a gun At the bottom of a bottle, getting numb with every swallow, It’s easy, when it’s what you’ve always done, With a million ways to run

‘Merry Go Round’ is another song about maturity, this time fully embracing the concept of growing older and wiser. Calling it her ‘coming of age’ song, this one is another melodic trip into the introspective side of Terri Clark, written with Bobby Pinson and Tom Shapiro. She tells of the past, and how she lived way too fast, ‘Livin’ too bright to soak up the sun/Missin’ the miles for the races I’ve run‘ before confiding that she’s ‘slowly slowing herself down‘ and offering that the ‘trick is to know when to let go of the merry go round‘. It’s one of my favorite tracks released this year, if not the favorite. That’s because, having spent several of my younger years spinning my wheels, only slowing down recently, I can relate to these lyrics more than anything else, original or otherwise, that I’ve heard this year. And that’s all I look for in music: something to touch me on a personal level, and state my feelings better than I can do on my own.

‘The One You Love’ features Vince Gill on harmony, and Clark previously recorded it for her Pain To Kill album in 2003. The song takes on a new meaning for the singer after her mother’s prognosis. She talks about her hesitation to re-record an old album cut,”Vince Gill’s voice just brings it to life, and adds to the emotion. It is a lyric that I am singing, and hearing in a whole different light than I did the first time I cut it, which was the whole reason for re visiting the song. It means so much more to me now.”

And then there are the enjoyable, though less memorable tracks, as Terri tackles topics of wishing you could be someone else – ‘If I Could Be You’, the simple things the unwealthy want – ‘Poor Girl’s Dream’, or assuring her man of his place with her – ‘Tough With Me’, Terri delivers all these songs with the passion and conviction of a seasoned pro, that only comes from real-life experience.

Taking time off to gather her thoughts and rethink her strategy has certainly paid off in spades. The Long Way Home is the album Terri Clark fans knew she was capable of making: thoughtful, powerful, contemporary while still paying tribute to the traditions of the genre, and the songwriting is top-notch throughout.

Grade: A-