| Kevin Denney - Kevin Denney | |
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Reviewed by Matt Bjorke
In the early weeks of 2002, there was a new single that the radio station kept playing that I really liked. That single was "That's Just Jesse." I thought the song was a new single for Daryle Singletary or a just discovered archive song from the late Keith Whitley. To find out that this remarkable single was not by neither Daryle nor Keith and that it actually was the debut single from a guy named Kevin Denney. Impressed, I couldn't wait to hear the rest of the CD.
When the CD arrived to review, I was instantly smitten with the thing. While some of his contemporaries are content to record and release a mediocre debut CD, Kevin has crafted along with his producer, Leigh Reynolds, a masterful country CD. Stressing the Country, Kevin Denney is instantly positioned to the front of the pack as a traditionalist singer/songwriter not unlike Alan Jackson was when he arrived in 1989.
While a mid-tempo track is not that unusual as an opening track, a ballad is. "It Don't Matter" is a wonderful ballad about the heartache of a lost relationship and how he tries gets over it. This track should be a hugely successful single.
By now, almost every country music fan has heard "That's Just Jesse." With its story about a guy who sees everything relating back to his beloved girlfriend, this ballad is sure to resonate with you and help you realize that you've felt the same way about someone at one time or another.
"Cadillac Tears," with its fun Honky Tonk shuffle, is about how a wealthy corporate guy drops his wife for his blonde secretary. But rather than sit on her laurels the jilted wife takes the man for everything he's got and spends all of his cash. This track was written by Leslie Satcher ("When God Fearin' Women Get the Blues").
Probably the best ballad on the whole CD, "It'll Go Away" may very well become the second or third single, from this CD. The story of this song is about covering up your problems instead of confronting them as they happen. This track quickly became my favorite.
"My Kind Of Song" is similar thematically to Blake Shelton's "Same Old Song." What I find strange is that both artists profess a love for the traditional style lyrics and sound. I find Kevin Denney's song sounding better and more heartfelt. It may seem more heartfelt to me because Kevin helped co-write this track.
With its uptempo sound and fun factor, "Ain't Skeered" is one of those fun summertime songs that you can't help but sing and dance along with. Written by Mercury Nashville's newcomer Anthony Smith, this track sounds like it is straight off of the best CDs from the past.
With these six tracks and five others that are just as impressive, Kevin Denney's self-titled debut is sure to become an instant classic that will surely find Kevin up for some awards at the CMA and ACM awards.
Song List:
Album cover, used with permission of Lyric Street Records.
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