Elizabeth Cook – Balls
Balls is the boldly titled release by Wildwood, FL. native Elizabeth Cook and with singer, songwriter and ex-guitarist for Emmylou Harris’ Hot Band Rodney Crowell sitting in the producer seat it has one boot in contemporary swagger and one firmly planted in tradition.
I’m new to Ms. Cook, but apparently she’s been around a spell and is the hottest thing I never heard of. She made her Grand Ole Opry debut on March 17, 2000, and appeared repeatedly thereafter, which is a remarkable achievement considering that, at the time, she was an indie artist with zero radio airplay.
The album kicks it off right with “Times Are Tough In Rock ‘n’ Roll” – A celebration of country music bounces along with a jaw harp boinging throughout. The song softly disses on rock music, thought with the singling out of Britney Spears I wonder if it’s really pop music that is being tarheted with this fun tune.
“Don’t Go Borrowin’ Trouble” follows with a slow-burning lament that looking for bad times leads to you just might finding some.
The song that begets the title, “Sometimes it takes Balls to be a Woman” is next – Like many great country songs recorded by woman it’s both boldly declarative and coyly playful. A nice shuffle and some mean guitar work by the Nashville master Kenny Vaughn drives this baby all the way home. Cook does a shout out to Loretta and Dolly just to let folks know she knows who paved the path she’s now gracefully walking.
A duet with alt.country rocker Bobby Bare Jr. on the “Amazing Grace” reminiscent “Rest Your Weary Mind” sets Bare’s woozy rasp against Cook’s pitch perfect voice blended to fine effect with acoustic guitar, mandolin and soulful fiddle.
“He Got No Heart” is a slight boom-chucka tune about some no good dude that’s done this girl no good (he got no heart/his mama forgot that part) and makes feeling bad a lot of fun.
“Mama’s Prayers” is a pious tear-jerker about mama loving her while she’s out in this mean ‘ol world that wins because of it’s sincerity.
“What Do I Do” is a great song in the vein of classic Tammy Wynette of love on the skids.” Gonna Be” is a toe-tapping song of gumption and wherewithal.
An independent sprit shines throughout this fine album. Cook has a voice that is as clear as a crystal pond and strong enough to belt out a song that leaves the Underwoods and Wreckers in the dust.
It’s easy to draw a line in the country lineage from Lorreta and Dolly to Elizabeth Cook.
April 19th, 2007 at 6:41 am
[...] It seems like the quality of music releases are starting to pick up for the year and I’m excited about a number of them, one being Elizabeth Cook’s new album, Balls, with a street date of May 1st. Twang Nation teases us with his early review. The song that begets the title, “Sometimes it takes Balls to be a Woman” is next – Like many great country songs recorded by woman it’s both boldly declarative and coyly playful. A nice shuffle and some mean guitar work by the Nashville master Kenny Vaughn drives this baby all the way home. Cook does a shout out to Loretta and Dolly just to let folks know she knows who paved the path she’s now gracefully walking. [...]
April 23rd, 2007 at 5:57 pm
[...] While you’re checking out the archives of that awesome blog, take note of his recent review of the new Elizabeth Cook album, Balls – as in, “Sometimes it takes balls to be a woman” - and his opinion of Shut Up and Sing, a documentary about three Texas women with some pretty big balls of their own. [...]
May 3rd, 2007 at 9:09 am
This is a great review.
I must add that Elizabeth’s cover of Sunday Morning is also worth checking out.
Another ballsy move on her part that will hopefully pay off.
May 3rd, 2007 at 5:07 pm
I think the Britney Spears reference … um … refers to Rolling Stone putting her on the cover.
May 3rd, 2007 at 7:33 pm
Nash-t : Yeah, I was ignorant that Sunday Morning was a Velvet U.nderground song when I wrote the revie. It adds a great demension to Cook for me though.
Roger: Maybe. Though I don’t hold Rolling Stone as being the weathervane for rock anymore.
May 7th, 2007 at 9:17 am
Well, yeah. But the lyrics refer explicitly to Rolling Stone.
“Reason is to feel this way, Rolling Stone has seen its day
All my worries, all my fears were confirmed by Britney Spears”
Or something like that.
May 7th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Ah, gotcha Roger. When I heard the song I didn’t connect the two, I heard them as seperate comments, but on reading it I think you might be right.
May 15th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
I love this girl; she is country’s best kept secret — and she shouldn’t be!