Customer Reviews

Life of the Party

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

He's a rocker, he's a honky-tonker, he makes you laugh, he makes you think. He's Charlie Robison. The Hank Williams of the new millenium? Perhaps. He's 1 part Steve Earle, 1 part John Prine, 3 parts Texas. If there is justice in this world, Charlie Robison will be a huge star. I've seen him 3 times now. At Floore's Country Store in Helotes Tx., Cibolo Creek Country Club (near Bracken Tx.), and most recently (Sat. 8/7/99) at the Caberet in his home town of Bandera Tx. As usual, he blew the roof off the place. He is very nice and down to Earth. I have met him twice and I can attest to this first hand. He is the classic tall Texan (He's 6'3" at least) honky-tonk, rock & roll country renegade, and his brand of unbridled country filled with humor, killin', cheatin', and pure Texas attitude must surely put Nashville to shame!!

I had the good fortune to meet Mr. Robison at the Sons of Hermann Hall in Dallas as "Life of the Party" was being released, and in the flurry of chicas fawning over him after the rockin' show [obviously oblivious to his recent engagement to bride [oh yeah, and Dixie Chick] Emily nee' Erwin], he was as open and warm as he was onstage, and yes, as devilishly handsome besides. And generous with his Marlboro stash, too.

Charlie's one of the great things about Texas music - he's a good ol' boy [and not in the golf-course variety] who tells a good story through some great music and makes the crowd feel like they're having a party with friends.

"Barlight" begs for beer and friends, and justly so, "I Don't Feel That Way" is the perfect get-over-your-ex song, "You're Not the Best" continues in a similar vein, "Poor Man's Son" jams with a Texas Tornadoes / border feel, and "Sunset Boulevard" jabs the rock-n-roll lifestyle. A great album from a talented artist from a family full of them, and a hell of a nice guy.

I discovered Charlie after I started listening to Dallas' great Americana station (KHYI which can be listened to on the web at www.khyi.com between 6 am and 10 pm). I love his songs, he's a great storyteller and witty as hell. This cd gets a lot of play in my car.....even my 15 yr old teen princess who normally listens to Britney, Christina, N'Sync and all that other teen garbage likes Charlie...she especially likes what she calls "The Ugly Girl Song" ("You're Not the Best"). Her favorite line "an ugly girl will leave you too but then again who really cares." There is some hope for the youth of America I guess when it comes to music. I've promised to take her to see him if he ever comes to the Sons of Hermann.

You will love this. This CD pretty much stays in my player. Great music - Charlie comes through. If you ever get a chance, see him live.

"Life Of The Party" is one of the best CDs I've picked up in recent years. Charlie may very well be the Ronnie Van Zant (Lynyrd Skynyrd singer-songwriter) of the 21st Century. Highlights of the CD include "Barlight", "You're Not The Best", "Sunset Boulevard", & "My Hometown". I'm willing bet that "My Hometown" & "You're Not The Best" will be referred to as classics a few years from now. I'll admit, I got into Charlie's music because I'm a Dixie Chicks fan & I wanted to see if "their banjo player's husband" was any good. Well, he is! I'm sure I would've eventually picked up (& enjoyed) his CDs even if I hadn't been a Dixie Chicks fan. His music has a politically incorrect, no BS attitude that is otherwise sorely missed in Country music today - if not music in general. GO GET THIS ONE!

What you see is what you get with this Bandera, Texas native. A straight-shooting, hard-working, singing/songwriting country boy with wisdom beyond his years and a Dylanesque edge to his whiskey-soaked voice. His writing soars at times: "Loving County," "Sunset Boulevard," and "Indianola" are stellar first person tales of unrequited love and war. "My Hometown" is the gem, a hilarious tale of a young man's ambition and having to come to terms with his own reality of buried dreams. Robison uses uncontrived blue collar commonality with the ease of someone who's convinced it's time to enjoy the fruits of his labors, and it's hard to argue with good old-fashioned hard work.

I am a city girl, all the way. However, a friend turned me onto Charlie Robison with the song "Lights of Lovin' County", and I had to hear more. This cd is solid all the way through, with songs of several different moods and tempos, and a dash of humor thrown in. Charlie tells amusing tales with his songs, and focuses on this aspect of his music. No carried-away guitar solos here, or high-falutin' vocal gymnastics. Just good-natured Texas music (I hesitate to call it country which brings up images of Garth Brooks and Reba McIntire in my head, yuck) which is perfect for a backyard BBQ or a road trip or just drinkin' a beer. Give this one a listen.

This is some real good country music out of Texas. This is close to mainstream country, but luckily there is enough of an edge to his music to keep him off of the pop country stations still for the most part. This album has most of my favorite Charlie Robison songs on it - "Sunset Boulevard", "Barlight", "My Hometown", and "You're Not The Best" alone make this a must have album. The rest of songs on the album are above average as well. I would recommend getting his other albums as well.

well, any country singer who bases his lead single on a nursery rhyme ("barlight") and closes his record with a fantasy about burning down nashville ("molly's blues") either has some seriously large huevos as we say in tejas, or a professional death wish. i hope its the former for all of our sakes.

my criterion for 5 stars is whether every track is memorable -- this disk meets that test. sufficed to say that robison is a strong writer, and lloyd maines' production is stellar. this one has been in my personal heavy rotation for months.

Charlie Robison is one of the few real country artists left. This is a great album from start to finish. Robison is a great songwriter and he can write some pretty funny lyrics. for example I thought the lyrics for sunset boulevard and barlight were very humorous. He probably won't get too much airplay because of his sound and some of the lyrics which is a damn shame. He has stuck to his guns and not afraid to make real country music unlike Garth, Shania, etc who are afraid they're not going to fit in or afraid they'll XXXX somebody off. If you like real country music and not that bullXXXX they play today then buy this record.