| Streets of Heaven - Sherrié Austin | |
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Reviewed by Jennifer Webb
Sherrié Austin is back in the swing of things with her fourth album, Streets of Heaven. Eleven of the thirteen songs were co-written by Sherrié, with one solely written by her ("Remind Me"). Hopefully with this release she will pick up some steam and be as widely heard as she was with her popular songs "Lucky in Love" and "One Solitary Tear."
First on the album is "Singin' to the Scarecrow," which happens to be the only song not written or co-written by Sherrié Austin. A young girl, still with a missing baby tooth, stands in the middle of a big Kentucky field singing songs like "Delta Dawn" and "I Fought The Law," only later on to find her way into a band singing on stage trying to get the audience to as care free as she used to when she is older.
Even without hearing the actual music, once I found out that Sherrié co-wrote "Drivin' Into the Sun" with Georgia Middleman I knew I would like it. When you are in love at the tender age of seventeen you never think that love will not last even after swearing that you would be together forever and it is like being blinded by the sun.
In "Somebody's Somebody" the rockin' side of Sherrié shows as she sings a story about how everyone wants someone to have and hold whether you are a guy in a trailer park or a wife with grown children whose husband left her. I think this would make a great single because people would love to sing along to it.
When Sherrié sings a tender song with hints of vulnerability she sounds spectacular as is the case with "Love Unafraid." A couple bares their souls to each other as "the moonlight chases the shadows away" and night turns into an early morning with the sun shining through the window that is still open. "Make no promises, tell no lies, and don't close your eyes" she sings.
A relationship gone badly is a common subject for a country song, but Sherrié makes it sound so refreshing in "Remind Me." She wants her husband to stop criticizing and remember the good times by showing her how much he really does love her. Instead of bickering, they both need to fight to rekindle the type of relationship they used to have, back when they were smiling in a picture on the wall.
"Streets of Heaven" is the first single from this album of the same name and it is enough to make anyone get teary-eyed with lyrics about a girl who just turned seven and is in a hospital. A mom prays to God begging him not to take her away because she is needed so much more down here. The girl is mommy's angel she says, along with "It must be kinda crowded on the streets of heaven, so tell me what do you need her for?"
Although Sherrié's last album seemed uniquely different from her previous albums, Sherrié takes a big step up in the lyrics that she writes and performs on Streets of Heaven. There is an air of free-spiritedness and spunk which has always been present in her albums but it is incredible to hear on these thirteen tracks - it is like she has been set free.
Song List:
Album cover, used with permission of Broken Bow Records.
Sound clips courtesy of Sherrié Austin's Official Website