Digital Rodeo

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Randy Travis has recorded the perfect country album.

There is not one out-of-place note nor one false emotion on his superb new Around the Bend collection. His vocals have never sounded more expressive, better phrased or more soulfully shaded. The CD’s production is a model of crisp clarity. Each instrumental texture is placed just right.

And then there are the songs. Each seems tailored to suit one mood or another of his sublimely burnished baritone. The bopping “Every Head Bowed,” for instance, is one chuckle after another. While “From Your Knees” is a midtempo pounder full of drama and despair. The rocking “Til I’m Dead and Gone” is a working man’s lament with a red-hot guitar groove. Around one corner, you’ll find “Dig Two Graves” as a ballad of deepening love. Around another, there’s the wryly amusing toe-tapper “Everything I Own (Has Got a Dent).”

Travis gives the lilting melody of “Love Is a Gamble” a soft and beautifully subtle delivery while the track sparkles with sighing steel guitar and lovely piano flourishes. Backed by cool fiddle work, his voice eases into slippery highs and lows while toying with the bluesy tune of “Around the Bend.” Few artists could be more convincing singing the stunning, cautionary lyric of the ballad “You Didn’t Have a Good Time.” He rides the punchy rhythm track and moody melody of “Turn it Around” like a master, and even adds a slightly jazzy tone to the Bob Dylan classic “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.” “Faith in You,” the album’s debut single, is an extraordinarily emotive performance that alternates moments of meditation with flashes of passion. ...for more visit RandyTravis.com