Del Rio, Texas, 1959

Radney Foster

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 29, 1992)
• Original Release Date: 1992
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Arista
• ASIN: B000002VMT
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #52,541 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
As half of the Nashville duo Foster & Lloyd, Radney Foster blended the sounds of the Byrds and the Everly Brothers into lightweight country-pop tunes. On the solo Del Rio, TX 1959, Foster wades out into the deeper currents of country tradition and fishes out a Texas-swing honky-tonk album so good it could have come from George Strait. The title refers to the time and place of Foster's birth; it was a year when Texan George Jones topped the country charts with "White Lightning." When Foster tells a departing lover, "Don't say goodbye, just slam the door," the twangy kiss-off recalls the unvarnished frankness of Jones's heyday. --Geoffrey Himes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All that and a bag of pork rinds, July 28, 2003

By	Steven Clem Haley "Steve is in Stillwater" (Stillwater, Oklahoma United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm not a country aficionado. And the fact that I used the word aficionado proves that I am far too pretentious to be an expert on the Nashvillian ilk.

But dad-gum there are times when you just have to stick the Miles Davis and Alan Hovhaness back in the jewel case and drive the ol' Chrysler with the windows down across the Panhandle. And when those times come, this is the cd you need to be listening to.

Foster is Country and Western's answer to Marshall Crenshaw. He cannot write a bad tune. He cannot write an unclever phrase. But alas, he also cannot get the publicity he so richly deserves.

The pictures he paints in his songs makes you actually concerned about the people who live 6 miles from I-40 on FM1643. They make you hope things turn out for them. They make you want to call your grandfather and talk about the wheat crop. They make you want to go just out of town and hear "the lonesome sound of diesels winding up the grade".

I will probably never become a fan of country music. But if country turns more like Foster's work, I may indeed buy me a hat and some snakeskins.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Essential Album For Any Real Country Fan, September 16, 2005

By	K. Fontenot "Prairie Cajun" (The Bayou State) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Ask any kid these days who claims to be a Country fan if they know who Radney Foster is and they'll probably give you a silly answer like, "Isn't that Tim McGraw's bassplayer?" or "He related to Kenny Chesney?" Yes, unfortunately, one of the greatest songwriters and singers of our time will probably fall to the wayside of artless, manufactured performers such as McGraw and Chesney. It's just the sad state of country music these days.

Radney Foster is heads and tails over ninety-five percent of today's country stars. This album, "Del Rio, TX 1959," released in the early 90's, is proof enough of that. Lest we forget Foster's contributions to "Foster & Lloyd" and all of his other albums, old and new. Songs like "Just Call Me Lonesome," "Louisiana Blue," and "Hammer and Nails" scream true country. The slower tracks here, especially "Easier Said Than Done" remind folks of what makes a real country song. Also, unlike many of the plastic stars of today, Foster either wrote or had a hand in writing every song on this disc. And with contributions from solid artists like Kim Richey and George Ducas, Foster lays down a set of tracks that'll make any Texas country fan proud.

Foster belongs in the same group of respected Texas and Tex-influenced songwriters and performers such as Rodney Crowell, Jerry Jeff Walker and Robert Earl Keen. He's pure and intelligent country. That's a rare thing these days, and we need more artists like him.

Higlhly recommended.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If I could only own one CD . . ., December 31, 2003

By	Valerie (Columbus, OH USA) - See all my reviews

Hard to believe it's been more than 10 years since this record was released - it sounds better and fresher than 99% of what's currently on the radio. Despite a lot of excellent work recently by Jack Ingram, Pat Green, Chris Knight, and oh, yeah, Radney Foster - this is still the all time best of the best. There is not one bit of filler on this one - every song, every phrase, every word is perfect! I would strongly recommend this disc to anyone, and have given it as a gift to several very different family and friends, and they all love it too!