Mark Chesnutt Album: “Savin' the Honky Tonk”

After being missing for several years in 2004 Mark returned with an album which stripped off the veneer of modern country production and produced an album of authentic country music. This CD features real musicians playing real music, and his distinctive traditional vocals being front and center in the mix. If the black & white album cover looks eerily familiar to you, it should as Mark,a big Waylon Jennings fan, has modelled it after the front cover of Waylon's 1973 classic album HONKY TONK HEROES (if you look closely you can see that Mark is wearing a Waylon tee-shirt). Mostly new (and self-penned) material but a remake of the Vern Gosdin penned Keith Whitley hit "Would These Arms Be In Your Way" with harmonies by Lee Ann Womack is a standout. The title tune and "The Lord Loves A Drinkin' Man" are my favorites among thenew tunes. And yes, the album concludes with a short version of "Honky Tonk Heroes"

There's more than enough Nashville gloss here to smooth off the rough edges of real honky tonk. If you like it that way, you'll get a big kick out of this Mark Chestnutt recording. The long-neck spirit is there in the rowdy opening cut "Somebody Save the Honky Tonks," and Kevin Fowler's Texas-terrific "The Lord Loves a Drinkin' Man" and "Beer, Bait and Ammo." And there's good fun in the misery-loves-company lament, "Don't Ruin It for the Rest of Us."

Half the other songs venture off into various romantic moods, from the slyly seductive "Would These Arms Be in the Way" to the illicit-love song "Hard Secret to Keep" to the all-thumbs "Think Like a Woman" and Roger Miller's lover's complaint, "You Can't Do Me This Way." Mothers also get their due in a sober-sided tribute, "Mama's House" and a rollicking song of self-congratulation, "I'm a Saint."

If you like Mark Chestnutt with a side order of honky-tonk good times, you'll slap this one in your car stereo and feel like heading for the nearest cowboy bar. If down and dirty hardcore is what you're looking for, try Kevin Fowler and Ed Burleson, too. They're the real deal.

This album is a breath of fresh country air in a fog of todays cross over pop that is destroying a great American music called country. Thanks to Honky tonk hero Mark Chesnutt and the outstanding compillation of songs on this latest album we fans of the non Nashville sound can breathe a sigh of releif.

Buy this album today !!! I've been a fan of Marks from day one and I highly recomend it.

As a radio disc jockey, I get the opportunity to hear a LOT of Country music. Over the years, it's been just a little "over-popped", watered down and homogenized. Finally getting himself another decent record deal, Mark Chesnutt deserves to go AT LEAST platinum with this collection of well written and wonderfully played songs. From his cover of the late Keith Whitley's "Would These Arms Be In Your Way", Mark's hit "The Lord Loves The Drinkin' Man" and the Dean Miller (the late Roger Miller's son) penned "What Are We Doing In Love", the entire CD evokes fun, talent and heartfelt, good old-fashioned honky tonk. Every musician on this CD sounds like he/she is having a blast and all reach back for that something extra to leave this entire album a fun filled listen.Mark Chesnutt is back and in a big way.

Mark Chestnutt puts all the "sellouts" on notice with his latest effort! This is real honky-tonk music, not for teenagers and "soccer moms," but for real country fans who haven't heard this kind of music, from Nashville, in a long time. It's long overdue and Mark and his record label both deserve a pat on the back for having the balls to record this album that flies right in the face of all the "cookie cutter" so called country acts out there now. Dierks Bentley, Shania Twain, and others like you watch out because a real honky-tonker is coming to town!!!