While
Cory Morrow
's last outing was a pleasant but not particularly compelling all-covers record (
Songs We Wish We'd Written
) done with fellow Lone Star troubadour
Pat Green
, he focuses here on his own tunes and the results are far more impressive. Initially he comes off as a good old boy on the
honky tonkin'
title track, but
Morrow
's songwriting reveals some rather emotionally complex lyrics. Tunes like
"In Spite of Spite"
and
"Drinkin' Alone"
find him wrestling between the wild life and a more responsible one. He also displays a nice musical range, pulling off muscular
country-rockers
like
"Misty Shade of Blue"
as well as quieter, more introspective numbers like
"All Over Again."
and his co-producer,
Lloyd Maines
, enhance the heartfelt love song
"Take Me Away"
by weaving in a jazzy organ line and some interesting percussion work. Although
comes into his own on this disc, that's not to say that hints of other Texas troubadours don't appear here. The terrific troubled youth tale
"Straight to Hell"
suggests the story-songs of
Robert Earl Keen
, a musician who
perhaps most closely recalls. The
Tex-Mex
-flavored
"Dance by the Rio Grande"
would easily fit in on a
Joe Ely
record. You can even hear a little of Australian
singer/songwriter
Paul Kelly
in the
Celtic
"More Than Perfect."
But the influences never become too distracting. He even takes the overly familiar
Grateful Dead
tune
"Friend of the Devil"
and enlivens it with a frisky fiddle and mandolin arrangement. After kicking around the Texas music scene for a while,
proves ready for bigger and better things with
Outside the Lines
. ~ Michael Berick