Touch My Heart: A Tribute to Johnny Paycheck

Various Artists (Artist)

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 10, 2004)
• Original Release Date: August 10, 2004
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sugarhill
• ASIN: B0002J4YLA
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #186,387 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Even diehard fans of the late Johnny Paycheck are likely to find revelation in these tracks. Casual listeners know the country maverick best for "Take This Job and Shove It," given a rousing cross-generational sendoff here by Radney Foster, Bobby Bare, Buck Owens, and Wilco's Jeff Tweedy. Yet this tribute, produced by Robbie Fulks, celebrates a range and depth beyond that anthem of defiance. Among the eclectic highlights: gospel singer Mavis Staples transforms the title track into pure church, Johnny Bush ("the country Caruso") applies his operatic pipes to "Apartment #9," Dave Alvin brings a bluesy swagger to the jailhouse in "11 Months and 29 Days," and Neko Case turns desperation into triumph on "If I'm Gonna Sink, I Might as Well Go to the Bottom." Only popster Marshall Crenshaw seems miscast, sounding a little too bright to reflect the darker recesses of Paycheck's soul. While Paycheck has been embraced as a kindred spirit by younger renegades, contributions by his former employer George Jones and legendary steel guitarist Lloyd Green show the respect that his legacy earns from his peers. --Don McLeese

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Touching Tribute, September 29, 2004

By	Drunk & Crazy - See all my reviews

You know Johhny Paycheck, he's the guy that did "Take This Job And Shove It". Now forget everything you know. Paycheck was more than the voice behind that somewhat unfortunate (critically speaking) 70's radio staple, he was a genuine country music outlaw who recorded some of the finest pure-country music that the genre has ever seen. His older material has all the bumps, warts and (true) tales of jail/heartbreak/redemption that are woefully missing from modern Nashville's airbrushed "product".

Thankfully, this tribute record captures the essence of the man's material as well the sound of that bygone era. It's so beautifully produced that you'd swear it was recorded on analogue equipment.

Standouts (and there are too many to mention) include Big Al Anderson's "Someone To Give My Love To", which sounds like some lost country hit you might have heard on the family station wagon's AM radio. Dallas Wayne's poignant and powerful tearjerker "I Did The Right Thing". Über-legend George Jones wrapping his vocal cords around "She's All I Got" like a rubber snake. The spooky séance that is Hank III's version of "I'm The Only Hell My Mamma Ever Raised". Bobby Bare Jr.'s vocal performance on "Motel Time Again", which leaves you asking why this guy isn't a bigger star (does he look like his Dad or something?) and the list goes on and on...

Big kudos to Robbie Fulks for knowing what other truly dedicated country music fans and archivalists already knew; that Johnny Paycheck meant so much more than "Take This Job And Shove It".

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If this doesn't touch your heart - you're probably dead., September 21, 2004

By	N. Barber "Elvis Fontenot" (Stoke-on-Trent England) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Often with tribute CDs, there are a couple of tracks and too much filler - with this Robbie Fulks-produced tribute to the late, great Johnny Paycheck, the opposite is true. From the opening blast of honky tonk - Neko Case's searing "If I'm gonna sink (I might as well go to the bottom)" through the twilight tones of Dallas Wayne, the sweetly guttural growl of Bobby Bare Jnr, all the way to Larry Cordle's beautifully melancholic "Old Violin" this CD packs a punch all the way. Want to turn someone onto Johnny Paycheck? - buy them this CD. Want to turn someone onto country music? - buy them this CD.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Paycheck would be proud..., September 20, 2004

By	N. Schanen - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

With "Touch My Heart", the collaborating musicians and producer Robbie Fulks have created an inspired and heart-warming tribute to the late Johnny Paycheck.

Including stellar performances by the likes of Neko Case, Al Anderson (one of my absolute favorite tracks), George Jones, Mavis Staples, and a haunting rendition of "I'm the Only Hell My Mama Ever Raised" by Hank Williams III (and that's only naming a few!), it really doesn't get much better than this.

Whether you're a long-time Paycheck fan, or a country music newby, "Touch My Heart" is a definite must-have.