From Birmingham to Bakersfield

A showbiz kid who owed her professional career to the largesse of , sang as if she was born to sing for â?¦which she did at the dawn of her career. emerged on the national stage after took a shine to her in the late '70s, a period when he was still reeling from the tragic early death of his partner . hardly functioned as a replacement for -- she didn't play an instrument, let alone two -- but 's affection for the singer helped give him a project during a tumultuous time. He took her on tour with , got her hired on Hee Haw, then when she became a series regular in 1982, he took her into the studio and produced an album designed to get her on the charts. The record didn't come out in the 1980s though. Both suffering from upheavals in their personal lives, and put the album on the back burner, and then it got lost, eventually resurfacing as an acetate in the late 2010s. A record collector sent that acetate to , leading to the 2023 release of , which pairs the -produced album with three demos cut with an impressive band featuring guitarist and backing vocalist . Despite the nod to Bakersfield country in the album title, there isn't a hint of twanging Telecasters or train-track rhythm here. abandoned his trademarks to give a shiny urban cowboy gloss that's highly commercial -- a sound that suits , who sings with a smile trained on the audience. The combination of shameless razzmatazz and syrupy schmaltz makes feel like a relic of the golden age of television variety programs, a period where all-purpose entertainers pulled out all the stops to put on a show. Singing to the rafters when there's a TV camera two feet in front of her, 's enthusiasm can be a little exhausting, especially when she's delivering such breathy camp as "Sexy Movies." It doesn't help that is firmly and inexplicably determined to make himself anonymous, creating a record that could be mistaken for any old Music City production from 1981 if it weren't for the fact that it features a singer who grabs the listener by the lapels and refuses to let go. That quality is evident on the comparatively stripped-back demos because that's the driving force in 's recorded persona: she's going to give you a good time whether you like it or not. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine