1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
great music by a true texas singer, songwriter, February 15, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Welcome to the Wasteland (Audio CD)
Buy this cd it is one of the best country music release's in a long time, I hope people will try find this album it is a little hard to find, amazon has a 4-6 week wait and so do most of the other site's. this album is whorth the work to find though and it has some great song's my favorite's are the title track this house has no door's, a day late and a darlin short. truly one of country music's best. also found his song's on clay walker's if i could make a living, george strait's pure country soundtrack, mark chessnutt's wing's and barbara streisand's a love like our's.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Terrific, melodic country from Texas stallwart, February 17, 2001
This review is from: Welcome to the Wasteland (Audio CD)
I guess that at 50 years of age, it's not too surprising that Nashville isn't knocking down Blaker's door for Country Weekly photo sessions and videos to hawk on cable TV. Which says a lot more about Nashville's concern with surface marketing elements than it does about the deep quality of Blaker's fifth LP (and third for his indie Neobilly label).
Nashville certainly knows his songwriting, with credits from George Strait, Lee Ann Rimes, Johnny Bush. Outside of Nashville, Blaker's songs have been recorded by Austin's Derailers, Doug Sahm and Jim Lauderdale. And outside the country beltway, his songs have been adopted by talents as far-out as Barbra Streisand (whose new husband is apparently a George Strait fan).
Blaker's songwriting is rife with the flavors of his Texas hill country home. There's plenty of twangy telecaster, steel guitar and songs of love lost. But there are also superbly integrated hints of 60s pop - harmonies of the British Invasion, melodic lines haunted by the likes of Marshall Crenshaw. Unlike the overproduced works of Nashville's hit factories, however, Blaker effortlessly seasons his music with these flavors, allowing them to augment rather than overwhelm.
On the one hand, it's a shame that someone of Blaker's talent isn't selling millions of units; on the other, few talents make it through the major-label circus unscathed. So given his ability to write, produce and distribute his records independently, those of us who've found him are that much better off.
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