Prime Cuts: You Don't Count the Cost, 18 Wheels and a Dozen Roses, Huggin' the Blacktop
With saccharine sentiments nested in hits such as "Somewhere in My Broken Heart," "Only the Wind" and "Let Them Be Little," Billy Dean has carved for himself the reputation as one of country music's achingly sensitive gentleman. And to have Dean cut an album of songs revolving around the theme of fast cars and eighteen wheelers immediately sounds incongruous especially to Dean's grease-free image. Naturally, though some of them do not sit well with Dean's image, the majority of them do. This is because instead of just trying to cover those hard rocking road songs to exhibit his machismo, Dean has also carefully chosen songs that are more sensitive in nature that befit his image. Kudos is in order to Dean for trawling into country music's catalogue to find some of the more obscure and interesting covers. However, this is not completely a covers CD, Dean has also invested a few of his originals and an interesting re-cut of his own hit "You Don't Count the Cost."
As for the covers, Dean is to be congratulated for resurrecting Kathy Mattea's award winning magnum opus "18 Wheels and A Dozen Roses." While Mattea's version was pretty laidback and acoustic-sounding, Dean updates it with a punch and more slick production; thus giving this Gene and Paul Nelson composition a 21st Century commercial sheen. Eddie Rabbitt's number 1 hit "Driving My Life Away" is an obvious cover for a gas guzzler tribute effort. For any touring artist, Sawyer Brown's "Six Days" ought to strike a chord as the song tells of the mediocrity and loneliness of spending life on the road. The song requires weathered-worn grit to pull off as believable something that Dean's smooth velvety tenor lacks. Much better is Dean's take of the more recent "Huggin' the Blacktop"--a track that was found in Cole Deggs and the Lonesome 2007 release. This mid-tempo finds Dean more at home especially with its morose lyrics that Dean brings out with so much verve.
However, not all the songs are covers. With its skittering drum loops and anthemic-rock guitar licks, "This is the Day" finds Billy Dean in Rascal Flatts singing an inspirational tune of picking life up and starting again. Also, quite satisfying is "Family Man," a new composition about a man who can't wait to get home after a time of absence. Dean revisits his own catalogue by offering a more intimate version of his own hit "You Don't Count the Cost." A top 5 hit from way back in 1991, this is such a gorgeous evergreen that still speaks to today volumes as it did way back then. A piano-led ballad that revolves around different stories of self-sacrifice from a soldier to a mother, this is such an intricately written heartfelt paean.
Unlike most of Dean's CDs, this one does have a smaller share of ballads which can come as a disappointment for Dean's more amorous-loving fans. Nevertheless, on an album dedicated to the wheels, this is turbo-charged with tunes that drive the pulse as well as the heart. Dean's choice of covers dwelling on the more obscure numbers is a plus. Even his compositions in general are a tad above average. With an album this good, you've got to love the man behind the wheels.
