REVIEW: Sherry Ricj, Sherry Rich & Courtesy Move (Rubber
Records /BMG Australia)
- Daniel Aloi
Country music hasn't had a crossover superstar from Australia since Olivia Newton-John hit more than 25 years ago. When Sherry Rich came from Melbourne to record in Nashville last year, she made a pop-meets-country debut album that blows away, aesthetically at least, the current crop of stars with big hits and big hair.
Rich landed in Music City (and America) for the first time to work on her songs over Christmas and New Year's 1996-97 with Courtesy Move, otherwise known as Wilco members Jay Bennett, John Stirratt and Ken Coomer. Bar-hopping with the band there and in Chicago between rehearsals and recording sessions, she cemented a landmark collaboration on a par with that of Linda Ronstadt and the fledgling Eagles.
Starting with the bare bones of some songs, they ended that fun, alcohol-fueled fortnight with one great record that shows how accessible so-called "alternative country" can be. It all feels loose and lived-in, an almost effortless meeting of a great singer and a great band.
Smart and winsome, Rich is the daughter of a country singer but she grew up in love with rock'n'roll. Most of the proud swagger you hear on the album is balanced by revelation and sensitivity, adding up to a statement of purpose in the same league as Amy Rigby's acclaimed "Diary of a Mod Housewife" two years ago.
Released in Oz last October, Sherry Rich & Courtesy Move is now making its way into the hands, hearts and minds of Americans who've seen Rich play across the country, both with and without her adopted backing band. Rich is in her 20s, and seems to have no stars in her eyes. Her songs are mature and realistic, and she claims ownership -- no team of producers to pick her material, no calculated angling for a hit.
Most of the 13 songs -- some written with Bennett and the other band members, one composed with Paul Kelly -- are pure delights and serious fun, from the opening rocker "Polite Kisses" (think of Lucinda Williams' "Passionate Kisses" with more up-front sexuality) to the gritty and bluesy "Little Miss Cool." She kisses off a succession of men in her lyrics, particularly in "Is That All You Wanted" and "Three Time Loser," and in the see-ya-later sentiments of the fast, open-road song "Two White Dogs." She can be just as adept at a hesitant admission that she's fallen in love ("Who's That Girl"). Rarely do the highs and lows of romance sound so good, in either country or pop songs.
The album's atypical standout is "Beautiful, Talented, Dead," a ballad examining Kurt Cobain's suicide. (It was first recorded well before Michael Hutchence's exit, now something of a national obsession in Rich's homeland - but it could certainly apply.) Rich captures the shock and misunderstanding felt by millions of fans. She's a bit disapproving, but lets the words and music convey respectful mourning as well.
A cover of Badfinger's "I'll Be the One" complements the album's romantic focus. On a hidden track, "Cheese Quiches," Bennett goofs on "Polite Kisses" in a "Weird Al" Yankovic way.
The musicianship is up to the material, as well - Rich's rhythm guitar and Bennett's slide, lead picking and keyboards are aided by Coomer's offbeat menagerie of percussion, Stirratt's rock-steady basslines and relocated Aussie Kerryn Tolhurst on mandolin and lap steel.
Nashville's music establishment should wake up to the talent hitting the bars on its own streets. A deal and airplay for an artist like Sherry Rich could single-handedly up the quality of contemporary rockin' country several notches. The way it works now, though, a song like "Polite Kisses" could be a smash hit for the likes of Pam Tillis or Patty Loveless.
After playing South by Southwest and some limited touring with Courtesy Move, Rich now plans on continuing her stay, to write new songs in Nashville with Jim Lauderdale and others. Something equally wonderful should come of it. (You can contact Rubber Records for more information at rubber@ozonline.com.au)
