Customer Reviews

Scene of the Crying

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This CD is simply amazing. When I buy CDs, usually I do some quick listening in the beginning, just to get a quick impression, this one I put in and listened from the beginning to end. In a time of cheap throwaway music, made for Top 40 stations and supermarkets, Justin Trevino comes along with another record full of classic country shuffles, a sound reminiscent of Ray Price, Mel Tillis and Johnny Bush. The record features lots of great songs, all of them 101% Country. A special word for Steel Guitar enthusiasts (I'm a Steel Player myself!): Listen to Dickie Overby and you'll know how a Steel Guitar can add the frosting to the cake! Dickie Overby is still well remembered from his work with Darrell McCall and Connie Smith in the 1960's.

Get this one as fast as you can!

By his own testimony, Justin Trevino is one of two young artists (the other being Fort Worth's Jake Hooker) keeping the Texas honkytonk-shuffle alive -- the sort of music associated with Ray Price, Charlie Walker, Johnny Bush, and others who once rocked, or at least shuffled, many a jukebox, and not just in the Lonestar state. Trevino's talents are so immense, his immersion in the sound so total, that you can't love this kind of music and not be thrilled at what Trevino does with it. On the other hand, if your idea of country has the adjective "hot" in front of it, this probably is not for you.

Here, on his fourth CD, the 30-year-old Trevino is joined on two cuts by Wanda Jackson (on the fabulous "What Have We Done") and by Opry veteran Jimmy C. Newman (on the joyously swinging "Daydreaming"). Trevino's encyclopedic frame of country-music reference gives him access to lesser known but worthy songs from the catalogs of Bill Anderson, the late Johnny Paycheck, Mel Tillis, Jack Greene, and others. The mood is mostly dark, as is most memorable country music, but Trevino's touch is light and assured, and the songs are moving but not depressing. It's supposed to sound like this, and in Trevino's music it does.

I went to school with Justin Trevino in high school (Lockhart High School in Lockhart, TX) and I will tell you that music was his first love then and his first love now. You could always catch him around campus with his guitar and he knew the music well. He even sold his first album to kids at school, and he would perform at assemblies and talent shows. Every note and every chord seemed embedded into memory. Months after I graduated, I came back into town and right when I came in, his name was posted on a bar marquee. I knew he would go on to big things. Last year, I did an internet search on him and he was everywhere on the internet. I have listened to samples on this album and I can say that Justin has come full circle. His voice has matured well and has got the harmonies down perfect. Even though this is not my type of music, he does a good job. Way to go, Justin.

Justin Trevinio is a bright spot on the country music scene. The songs on this album are a great collection of country ballads and Texas honky-tonk, in the tradition of Ray Price, Johnny Bush, or Darrell McCall. Two of my favorites are new ones. Scene of the Cryin', and The Sound that a Breaking Heart Makes.

Justin Trevino sings hard-core, 100% honkytonk, and this is one of his best CDs. Enough said.

You can count on Justin Trevino to serve up country the way it was meant to be heard. On his new cd, he relies on the same great formula of pedal steel and fiddle and broken relationships. He has the guts to stay true to this tradition. What a breath of fresh air. Oh, yes, Justin's guest vocalist, Wanda Jackson, has a great voice. This is real country.