Customer Reviews

West of You

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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This album features 14 killer songs. There is not a "B" cut among them, and "The Last Comanche Moom" contains some of the best song lyrics I have ever heard. Only Kristofferson's "Sunday Morning Sidewalk" has ever "pole-axed" me with similarly powerful imagery. It is a complete novel in a song with no wasted words. Hats off to Mike Blakely. I hope that he has more in him, 'cause I'm fast wearing this one out.

From the "River Cities Tribune" (Marble Falls, Texas) February 18, 2000

"Marble Falls novelist Mike Blakely has once again showed his talents don't stop at the book store. Blakely, an accomplished novelist of Western tales, is also a talented singer and songwriter, and his most recent release, "West of You," shows just how talented he is... "Blakely also brings his craftsmanship with description in each song. He doesn't simply recite a few words followed by a catchy chorus, but each word he chooses for the song serves a purpose. They transport the listener into the song. "His newest CD covers a whole gamut of cowboy music. There is more of a country flavor found in "It's About to Get Western" on the first cut. But Blakely includes several cuts that distinguish him from the Nashville sound. "When Blakely sings "The Horses in My String," the listener really gets the notion he knows what he's talking about... "Blakely's smooth vocals match any country singer out there today. His voice compliments the storytelling and vivid pictures his words paint throughout the CD. "Still, it all comes back to Blakely's wordsmithing ability. By the end of the CD the listerner isn't sure if he or she has just listened to a CD or heard Blakely share several stories as if he were telling, or in this case, singing them over a campfire... "But this also comes with a warning: You might want to purchase two CDs because you'll probably wear one out fairly quickly from listening to it over and over again..."

Daniel Clifton, editor, "River Cities Tribune," Marble Falls, Texas. February 18, 2000. Page 32.

Mike Blakely is definitely the best author I've ever heard. I shan't be the first or last to say that. He may be the best-selling author of western novels like The Snowy Range Gang; Spanish Blood; Comanche Dawn; and more. His 'Lone Star Legacy' column may appear in 30+ newspapers. But the music coming out of the speakers will make you forget all other accomplishments. This is not country music. It's western. You'll understand by the dangling of just a few Americana titles: 'Ridin' For Love', 'The Horses In My String', 'The Indian Trail', and 'The Last Comanche Moon'. It is instant and new nostalgia that never, ever compromises the present into the past. Okay, there are modern nostalgia pieces that whisper in cars and late 20th century's contrivances, as in 'Ode to Norma', but what I take away gladly from this 14 track release are the beauties of 'Ridin' For Love' and the nature croon of 'Guadalupe Moon' which you can just Imagine, by the soft beat and harmonies in the back, Roy Rogers would have loved to insert this into his catalog. The greatness of story-oriented 'The Whiskey Trader's Song' is like listening to a Norman A. Fox book narrated with careful construction and powerfully soft ambience. There's something of Waylon Jennings in there as well, with a brief Spanish cry of the Whiskey Trader. It is a pleasure. A sublime walk backwards into the days before too many people, too many cars, too much worry. What a soft voice. Regardless of what you think of country music, remember, these are new songs of a bygone era. Sung by an author who has been earned his living thru singing his brand of horses for the last 20 years, they are performed with honed skill and the Terrible efficiency of a writer who researches every line and fact. The beauty and LOVE of the period are spanked right in to every deep-ridged cut of the cd. Do you prefer yesterday to today? Buy West of You. Forget the cowboy hat. Remember the Alamo. And the sweet smell of '3/4 Moon, 3/4 Time.' Magic stuff.

First heard some of these songs on KFAN. Finally saw him live, and it was a grand show. But this ain't yore daddy's country music, this is Western music; Streets of Laredo, Big Iron music. Last Comanche Moon and Whiskey Traders Song rank with the very best western songs ever sung. It's about to get Western, Horses in My String, Too Long at the Dance, all have the great feel of clean west Texas air, sun on your face, riding on a nice horse. Mike also sings of the natives, The Indian Trail, Whiskey Trader & Comanche Moon are as much, if not more, about the Indians as the Cowboys.

Mike Blakely is outstanding on his CD "West Of You". He really tells a story with all of his songs and I listen to this and his other CD nearly every day. He has such a pleasing voice and good music to back up his songs. You feel as if you are there right with him in the situations he is singing about. I would highly reccomend this CD to anyone who likes Country Music.