Sorry You Couldn't Make It

It's a little secret neither side will often acknowledge, but the dividing line between vintage Southern country music and vintage Southern soul and R&B is extremely narrow, and the two sides have more similarities than differences. In both genres, love, infidelity, the nuts and bolts of survival, and having a well-deserved good time on a Saturday night are among the most common and important themes, and both rely on emotional honesty above all else. knows a lot about all this -- he wrote and produced soul hits for , , and , but in 1972 he was nominated for a Country Music Association award, along with , for writing the smash "Don't Take Her (She's All I Got)." While is a respected professional in the music business, is his considerably more eccentric alter ego, allowing his more outre ideas to run free, and the loves country music as much as does. In the early '80s, cut a country album for that the label opted not to release, but he had better luck with in 2020, which brought out , an effort steeped in country influences. There are more than a few R&B touches here, too, especially on "Good Better Best" and "Family Pain" (the latter a bitter screed against drug addiction), and there are some curious production choices that suggest he's still exploring the possibilities of 2018's , especially on "I'd Rather Be Your Used to Be" and "Memories," the latter one of two tracks where duets with . (Significantly, , aka , was a major collaborator on and is part of the studio crew on this project as well.) If this is a bit of a weird country album, well, it wouldn't be if weird wasn't a significant ingredient. As a songwriter, he's still a great talent who always finds some home truth in his lyrics, and if his voice at 77 years old is fraying just a bit at the edges, he hasn't forgotten how to make the emotions of his songs clear and thoroughly heartfelt (and he sounds a whole lot better than , who is four years younger). It's hard to imagine country radio, then or now, embracing "Sleeping Without You Is a Dragg," but as far as dealing with heartache among adults, it's a number in the great Nashville tradition. declares there should be a place for in the country pantheon alongside , and the other brave artists who've confronted the color line in Nashville. ~ Mark Deming