Customer Reviews

Fireball

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Playing Time - 42:40 -- Shawn Camp has exceptional talent as musician, singer and songwriter. He's been chasing after widespread mainstream success for quite some time, although he has been able to build a legion of dedicated fans in both the country and bluegrass communities. His songs have been covered by many luminaries from both genres -- Ralph Stanley, Del McCoury, Ricky Skaggs, Garth Brooks, Brooks & Dunn. Camp's solo debut on the Reprise label occurred in 1993, but creative differences brought work on his second album to an abrupt halt. So he focused on songwriting and penned hits for Garth Brooks in 1997 ("Two Pina Coladas") and Brooks & Dunn in 1998 ("How Long Gone"). He's also co-penned numbers with Guy Clark, as well as with Jim Lauderdale (like "Forever Ain't No Trouble Now" that was on the 2002 Grammy award-winning Jim Lauderdale-Ralph Stanley album, "Lost In The Lonesome Pines.") Shawn Camp's own 2001 "Lucky Silver Dollar" album (on his own Skeeterbit Records) was a strong project but suffered from lack of exposure. Then, some bluegrass shows were recorded and released as "Live At The Station Inn," in 2002 on John Prine's Oh Boy Records.

On "Fireball," Camp's songs were written with some of his best friends - Mark D. Sanders, John Scott Sherrill, Billy Burnette, Phillip White, Pat McLaughlin, Earl Bud Lee, Paul Kennerly. Camp, the first class multi-instrumentalist, has a preference for guitars, but he also offers up some tasty fiddle and mandolin. On the album closer, "Drank," Camp is credited from guitars, bass, fiddle, dobro, horn sounds and whistlin'. Camp's broad musical interests have him equally comfortable singing a tender ballad ("Love Ain't Leavin'") as he is pickin' the bluegrassy "Would You Go With Me" or rockin' "Fireball." It's an impressive statement that Camp can do it all, and there are some real keepers from the song collection on this high voltage CD. The indefatigable Shawn Camp's musical demeanor is one full of wry-witted attitude. "Fireball" shows that he continues to grow, to create, and to entertain. (Joe Ross, staff writer, Bluegrass Now)

Fame may have eluded Shawn Camp as a performer, but he's been quite successful as a Top 40 songwriter and Back Forty twangster... (His debut album from the early 1990s sank like a stone, but it's also pretty good & well worth searching for...) This is his third album in the last few years and like the others, it's a canny mix of unapologetic Nashville formula and true-blue twang. Whether you're coming at this from the hit-oriented mainstream or the alt-Americana side of the street, this disc is sure to set your toes tapping... Recommended! [©2006 joesixpack at slipcue dot com]

Like John Fogarty's "Blue Moon Swamp" six or seven years ago and Los Lonely Boys' eponymous first CD of a few years back, Shawn Camp's "Fireball" simply dominated my summer of "06. This is music you just can't get tired of. I know this review is a bit late, but "Fireball" was in my changer rotation on a recent roadtrip and I was reminded that I owed Mr. Camp a tip of my hat. Country music doesn't get any better.