Customer Reviews

Caught In The Webb: Tribute To Webb Pierce

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
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Gail Davies deserves credit and gratitude for this winning effort to revive the memory of a honkytonk pioneer. Webb Pierce's hardnosed business practices, which left him him few friends in Nashville, have had more to do with the neglect he's suffered since his death than the vibrant music he made in his prime. The latter, almost as much as Hank Williams's, helped define country, or at least the aching-heart barstool laments that today have almost vanished from the Nashville mainstream. Nobody here tries very hard to simulate Pierce's intense to over-the-top nasal yowl, and though nodding to Pierce's arrangements, the production never sounds less than modern in the best sense. With every artist clearly committed to the resurrection of Pierce's legacy, everything works, and not a false note sounds anywhere. Thus, each listener will have his or her favorite performance. To me the standouts are Emmylou Harris's "Wondering," Fulks and White's "Tupelo County Jail," and Willie Nelson's "That's Me Without You." Which is not to slight anybody or anything else. You don't have to know Pierce's originals to appreciate this fine recording. It's that rarity, a tribute album good enough to stand on its own.

Today's radio could care less but back in the 50's Webb Pierce
was one of the rulers of country formats. Included here are acts that worked with him (Billy Walker)(George Jones), acts that do his songs in their shows(BR549)(Dale Watson)and acts just getting into the loop (Matt King). The session players and backup singers are no slouches either.
A great primer in honkey tonk

Webb Pierce was perhaps the most successful country singer in the fifties, but history has not been kind to his music. While many Hank Williams songs have been covered frequently, and not just by country singers, it is rare to find Webb's hits (of which there were many) covered. This album contains many of his biggest hits, but In the jailhouse now was itself a cover of a Jimmie Rodgers song, and how many of the others have you heard other than by Webb himself?

Gail Davies wanted this album to redress the balance, so as to give Webb his due recognition, but I'm not sure if it really changes anything, as today's big names are largely missing. Still, there are some brilliant singers here and it will surely turn a few people on to the music of Webb Pierce.

Big stars of yesteryear include Charley Pride (I'm tired), George Jones (Yes I know why), Emmylou Harris (Wondering), Crystal Gayle (More and more) and Willie Nelson (That's me without you). Willie did a duet album with Webb back in the eighties, so this is not his first tribute to the man.

More recent stars include Dwight Yoakam (If you were me and I were you), Allison Moorer (Back street affair) and Pam Tillis (No love have I).

There is plenty of steel guitar and other traditional country instrumentation throughout this album, which is of a consistently high quality and makes a fitting tribute to Webb. If you are already a Webb fan, you will enjoy this. If you are not a Webb fan but you enjoy traditional country, buy this then buy some of Webb's own music when you realise how good he was.

This is one of the best tribute albums I've ever heard. You take all of the memorable songs that Webb Pierce did and then round up a bunch of very talented folks who obviously care about what they're doing and you get excellence. If you're not familiar with Pierce's stuff this is a good place to start. This is one of those rare albums that sets you to hummin'.

If you love real country music this cd is a must.Webb would love this cd for it is hard core country.I could not belive that any new cd out of Nashville would move me like this one does.It is super fine if you long to step back in time to real country.Get this while you can.It will be worth $$$ when there out of production.I am a Webbite who has every thing he ever recorded.This cd does the man justice.Webb was my kind of country.

First, let me say that while I love the concept of tribute albums it's rare that I come across one that can stand on it's own merits as a solid album. This obviously heartfelt tribute to country music legend Webb Pierce is an exception. While many tribute albums feature songs with varying levels of quality or with a variety of musical styles (I personally don't want to hear a reggae or punk cover of a classic country song), this tribute album features 21 cuts of classic country performed by country artists and there isn't one clunker on the whole album. My personal favorites are Dale Watson & the Jordanaires' take on "In the Jailhouse Now" and Charley Pride's "I'm Tired." Quality musicianship and production are found throughout. Fans of Webb Pierce and fans of classic country won't go wrong here. Credit needs to be given to Gail Davies for putting her heart and soul into this project, a fitting tribute to an often overlooked legend. As an added bonus, a portion of the proceeds from the sale of this disc benefit the Minnie Pearl Cancer Foundation & the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

What a disk!! Quite a "Hoot" to hear these songs done by other artists. I listened to this disk, and then Webb himself, don't know which I liked best!!

George Jones performance of "Yes I Know Why" is the highlight of the CD for me. I would've given him "Backstreet Affair" or "It's Been So Long" too! anyway, this CD is a tribute to a man who has been all but forgotten and there's no logical reason as to why. He was the #1 country artist of the 1950s and among the Top-10 artists of the 1960s. In the 1950's he sent 13 singles to the #1 spot. You might ask yourself: that's nothing too spectacular. Well, those 13 #1 hits spent a total of 111 weeks at #1. His biggest #1 was "In The Jailhouse Now", which hit #1 for 21 weeks in 1955. Dale Watson and the Jordanaires kick off this CD with their version. "Slowly" was #1 for Webb for 17 weeks in 1954. That's performed on this CD by Mandy Barnett. George's song on here, "Yes I Know Why", was a 7 week #2 hit for Webb in 1956. Ironically, the previous single for Webb was a song George co-wrote called "Why Baby Why". Actually, Webb sung harmony for Red Sovine on that single but since Webb was the bigger artist he got top billing. Kevin Welch and Deborah Pierce perform "Why Baby Why" on this CD. Charley Pride gives us "I'm Tired". Billy Walker gives us "I Don't Care", which Webb took to #1 for 12 weeks in 1955. I love the CD and the reason i give it 4 stars is because there's no new acts on here that would even remotely prompt young record buyers to buy this. It gets 5 stars for being eclectic and having great artists but we needed some newer acts on it too...just to have in order to sell to new country fans.

I would really have liked to be able to say that this is a good album, but sadly it isn't. It has a lot of good ingredients, but they don't mix very well. The sound is murky, and almost every song sounds like it was recorded in a rush - and that applies to the choice of tempi as well. Allison Moorer's rendering of "Back street affair" is simply awful. Dwight Yoakam sounds like he is doing a parody of.....Dwight Yoakam, and about half of the other singers just try to mimick Webb Pierce's (unimitable) singing style. Most have chosen songs that do not fit their voices, and even George Jones has lost his "soul". There are few instrumental efforts that deserve any notice - even Weldon Myrick's steel playing sounds uninspired. And so on... OK, Mandy Barnett does fine, as does Willie Nelson, and it was nice hearing Crystal Gayle again, but my overall impression is that Webb Pierce's legacy deserves better.

Webb deserved so much more. There are a few OK things here: Lionel Cartwright and Billy Walker. But most of the rest is pedestrian. Emmylou shreds "Wondering" to pieces. Del McCourey does a hateful sounding version of "I'm Walking the Dog." Charley Pride sounds hoarse on his cut. They had the right idea, but didn't spend enough time to get it right. It could have been so much better.