| Outside The Lines - Cory Morrow | |
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Reviewed by Jennifer Webb
It seems like once an artist has been writing songs and singing for a few years like Cory has, that they get a little dried out and experience some writer's block, but this is not the case with the man from near Houston, Texas.
If you are in Texas, you might already be familiar with some of Cory Morrow's songs: "Nashville Blues," "Texas Time Travelin' Machine," and "Texas Bound Train."
In the upbeat, "Outside The Lines," Cory sings about how the woman in his life likes to do things that are not so plain and boring and how that characteristic rubbed off onto him. He used to be straight-laced but now he knows how to get out and have some fun, all thanks to having the chance to hang out around her.
Just when you thought it was time for a slow song, "Friend of the Devil" morphs its way into a mid tempo paced tune about running into the Devil in many of the man's daily situations. One situation is breaking out of jail and running around thinking about the woman in Chesapeake who says she had his child, though he thinks it does not even look like him. "I set out runnin' but I'll take my time, a friend of the Devil is a friend of mine, If I get home before daylight, I might just get some sleep tonight," he says throughout as if to justify all of the bad things he has done.
"She's just a lady, you know she makes me smile. She's just a woman, for her I'd walk a thousand miles" is how the sincere "Take Me Away" begins before becoming a song about wanting someone to take him away from her before he starts falling deeply for her charms and becomes another victim for her spider web that she is weaving. In the end, we hear a beautiful guitar solo as he sings the exact same verse he began the song with and calls her the apple of his eye.
I absolutely love "Dance By The Rio Grande," with its whole Tex-Mex/Tejano sound and a female backup singer singing along with Cory on some parts of the melody and chorus. The man wants to take his love interest across the border and dance on the sands of Mexico and once the music is gone and the sun comes up the woman says "show me again" because they both enjoyed the experience so much. With the way the song ends playing some Tejano music you can really imagine them holding eachother close and having a good time.
"Better Than Being In Love With You" has that great "driving down the road" feel to it, which is, no doubt, caused by the combination of drums, guitar and slide guitar. That combination also takes you back to the earlier days of country music with an old-time and down-home sound as Cory sings about how being on the road is better than feeling depressed about not being able to be with his girl.
What better way to close the album than with the semi-relaxing, "Sunday Drivin'," an almost three minute long song that proves you do not have to have lyrics to have a hit song on your hands.
For someone that is sure to be experiencing some pressure to follow in the footsteps of Charlie Robison and best friend Pat Green and become "Nasville's Next Big Thing," Cory Morrow has stayed deeply grounded to his home state roots and you can tell he would feel happy staying in the same place he is right now - making good music that a bunch of people love and like to hear via album or live in concert.
Song List:
Album cover, used with permission of Write On Records.
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