Everything You Are

This is Lolene's sophomore CD. This is usually a make or break in an artist's career. For Lolene, it was simple, change direction and use some top songwriter's material. Her first effort " Lonely Dealins' " was an excellent traditional country to Nashville country debut that did well in the European market.

EYA is a much more eclectic affair and Lolene knew what she wanted. She wanted to tap into a more modern and rock flavored recording. Her vocal style is much more that of a pop rock singer, losing a lot of her Kentucky accent from her first recording. The vocals are more disciplined and just as emotive as ever. The songs range from new country, southern rock, pop to one just plain rock tune. She has a collection of very good material I must emphasize.

Danny Parks, mostly known around Nashville for his guitar playing as a veteran sessions player is the Producer. This is his first time in the producer's chair for a full recording, recorded at his home studio near Nashville . Not only that, he is the engineer and mixing engineer.

Assembling a crack sessions band; primarily Owen Hale on drums (previous drummer for Lynryd Skynryd), David Hungate on bass (very sought after Nashville sessions player whose roots are in jazz and is a very innovative bass player), Mike Johnson on steel and Kim Parent, one of many background vocalists. Put Park 's guitar and dobro playing on top of this heavy weight rhythm section and you have the canvas for Lolene's vocals. There are several other musicians and singers in the mix, but this is the backbone.

So what comes out. Well, you have two excellent southern rockers in "Concrete Ribbon" and "Cleanup.” The title track "Everything You Are" is a very nice pop sounding number with the band blending a sound reminiscent of "Steely Dan.”

This reviewer's favorite tracks are "Life Less Ordinary", a beauty of a country rocker with some great lyrics full of imagery. Danny plays some incredible guitar parts on this song. I also love "Let Me Love You", a slow modern country ballad which Lolene sings with her own personal bent of taking the angle of the lyrics as coming from the Lord to the listener, which really works. The backup vocals are incredible, especially as the song fades out with the vocals going almost to a whisper. Hungate's bass interacts well with Parks and there is some great steel from Mike Johnson.

A great acoustic country song with some neat syncopated rhythms and some great acoustic guitar parts is "We Can Find Our Way". Very nice dobro on this song.

The CD closes out with two great tunes, a country rocker "You Rock" which cooks and has some awesome lyrics. The sound quality of this disc is very good, rich sounding, no distortion, mastered well by Marty Shrabel of AHA Productions, who also plays bass on a couple of tracks.

The final song "Relentless" is a flat out rocker. Park's and Johnson interact well on this hard driving rocker. Lolene's vocals are strong.

In closing, I can't leave out the beautiful artwork on the cover of the CD. It is a painting of Lolene with a guitar in a farm setting, very tasteful. This is a strong effort overall which I can't really attach to any genre', but definitely has country flavor with a lot of attitude.