Sweet Western Sound＜限定盤＞

グラミー賞を2度受賞した伝説のエンターテイナー、そしてカントリー・ミュージックの殿堂入りを果たしたTanya Tuckerの新アルバム。

前作『While I'm Livin'』(2019)に引き続きブランディ・カーライルとシューター・ジェニングスがプロデューサーを務めている本作。17年振りのリリースとなった前作ではグラミー賞「最優秀カントリーアルバム」を受賞、シングル「Bring My Flowers Now」は「最優秀カントリーソング」賞を獲得した。本作もタッカーの絶妙な温かさと冴えたボーカル、深みのある曲の壮大なコレクションで構成されている。タニヤ・タッカー、ブランディ・カーライル、シューター・ジェニングスの曲に加え、バーニー・トーピン、フィル&ティム・ハンセロート、JTネロ、ビリー・ドン・バーンズ、クレイグ・ディリンガムが参加し、更にタニヤのヒーローで親友である故ビリー・ジョー・シェイバーのボイスメールから生まれた韻が、アルバムのオープニングとクロージングを飾っている。

「アルバム『スウィート・ウエスタン・サウンド』は、新たな発見でした。私たちの新しい試みが皆さんにどう思われるか楽しみです。ブランディとシューターと一緒に仕事をするのは、いつも楽しいことです。前作『While I'm Livin'』の後、また新しいアルバムで一緒に仕事をすることになるとは思っていなかった!でも、実現したの!今回はたくさんの新しい試みをやったし、いくつかの曲は私が共同作曲したんだけど、これは私にとってとても意味のあることだった。ブランディは私たちが一緒にいると魔法にかかったようになると言っていますが、私はそれを信じ始めています!!」と本人はコメントしている。

On April 3, 2023, Tanya Tucker was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame alongside singer Patty Loveless and songwriter Bob McDill. Four years earlier, the outlaw legend ended a 17-year recording hiatus with While Im Livin, co-produced by Brandi Carlile and Shooter Jennings. Despite offering a sound alien to the tech- and pop-obsessed music of 21st century Nashville, from six nominations, it took home Grammys for best country album and best country song. On Sweet Western Sound, Tucker and her production/songwriting team refuse to mess up a good thing: they double down on roots country with a small cast of musicians and writers. While Carlile and twins Phil and Tim Hanseroth wrote the lions share of material for the previous outing, and they return here, Tucker is credited with four co-writes, and songwriter JT Nero of Birds of Chicago and the team of Billy Don Burns and Craig Dillingham penned a song each. "Tanya" opens the album; its a poignant, sung voicemail from the late Billy Joe Shaver, a lifelong friend. With only the sound of a desert wind blowing, it reveals Tuckers openness, vulnerability, and steely candor. Set highlight "Kindness" was written by the Hanseroths and reveals the cost of living so close to the bone of Shavers narrative. Acoustic guitar and rumbling, reverbed tom-toms accompany Tuckers weathered, resonant voice as she delivers a lyric about restlessness and becoming, things she intimately understands. Just as a pedal steel begins whining, she sings, "Ive seen beauty that some might not understand/I found glory in the ruins of the best laid plans," as she petitions her beloved for kindness. Its simple, poetic truth informs the entire album. "Breakfast in Birmingham" was co-composed by Carlile and Elton John lyricist Bernie Taupin. It, too, illustrates the pleasure, pain, and wanderlust of the road as it changes the protagonist. Jennings "Waltz Across a Moment" was written especially for Tucker. Accompanied only by pedal steel and gospel piano, is sees her offer, with resignation, acceptance, and a shred of hope: "Just like the California sun, I think Im going down/Come meet me in the shadows of this drunken broken town/Dont curse your mind with yesterday/Just waltz across the moment to that sweet western sound." Carlile and Tucker co-wrote the gorgeous "Ready as I’ll Never Be." With a gospel choir backing, Tucker sings this prayer/spiritual manifesto with conviction and resolve. JT Neros "City of Gold," weds pastoral country, gospel, and Americana in reflecting the interior treasure of a lovers heart, one that has been scarred and wounded by hurt, loss, and betrayal. Burns and Dillinghams "When the Rodeo Is Over (Where Does the Cowboy Go)" is an old-school hard-country paean to a way of life all but erased by history. Tucker closes Sweet Western Sound with a reprise of Shavers voicemail that underscores all the truth revealed in the preceding songs. This is a major work that stands with the finest in Tuckers long career. ~ Thom Jurek