Headed for the Hills - Jim Lauderdale

Pure, honest, beautiful and eloquent back to basics country music that should be heard on country radio. The paring of Jim Lauderdale’s melodies with Robert Hunter’s lyrics is pure genius.

Jim Lauderdale has been releasing quality albums for about 12 years now. The problem he’s run into is that, despite enviable success as an in-demand songwriter and Grammy winner (for a bluegrass CD with Ralph Stanley), radio’s never really took him too seriously. They’d rather have someone like George Strait sing a Jim Lauderdale song than Jim himself. This may be a shame to some but it allows Jim to experiment and try different things, like he does on “Headed For The Hills.”

On his fifth CD for Dualtone, Jim invited some fine pickers and singers (Including Emmylou Harris, Darrell Scott and Allison Moorer) to join him on a truly unique record full of songs collaborated with poetic lyricist Robert Hunter (of the Grateful Dead). While a great lyricist in his own right, Jim gladly deferred the lyrics to his hero while he wrote the beautiful bluegrass/traditional melodies. Standout tracks on the CD include the title track, “Paint And Glass,” “I’ll Sing Again,” the fun “Crazy Peg and Darby Doyle” and the beautiful ballads “Tales From The Sad Hotel” and “Joanne.”

The presence of Robert Hunter is only in lyrical form but as one of music’s most gifted lyricists, Hunter has the ability to write literary tales that engulf the listener into Lauderdale’s melodies and vocals. “Headed For The Hills” is one fine album that deserves to be heard by people who like real, classic sounding music.