Life Is A Story

Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver

2017 - Mountain Home Music.  The one thing that I don’t like about Doyle Lawson is his covert way of finding a great, previously recorded song and changing it just enough to claim it as his own.  So when it comes to reviewing his albums, they tend to take a considerable length of time.  This is due to researching each song to see who originally recorded it.  This album is no different as many of these songs were written by some of country music’s most notorious songwriters including Harley Allen, Jerry Salley, Donna Ulisse, George Richey, and Kieran Kane.  The first we come upon is “Little Girl,” written by Harley Allen.  Once you hear this song you will certainly remember it.  To help hide the fact that this song was once recorded by another artist, Doyle does his cloak and dagger routine by renaming this song.  Therefore, we can not find who originally recorded it.  Let me ask you this—is this creativity at its best or is this just another shim sham?  Other songs that fall under this mentality include “Life To My Days,” “Bluegrass Blues,” “Drivin’ It Home,” and “Love Lives Again.”  “Guitar Case” is another song that was originally written by Donna Ulisse and recorded by Nu Blu.  There are two songs on here that I believe have not been previously recorded as I do know the songwriters on these songs.  These songs include “Derailed,” and “Cry Across Kansas.”  There are two original songs  on this album including “Life of A Hard Workin’ Man” and “I See A Heartbreak Comin’.”  Written by Doyle, “I See A Heartbreak Comin’,” is an upbeat song about exactly what the title states.  Where as “Life of A Hard Workin’ Man,” is co-written by three members of Quicksilver including Joe Dean, Eli Johnston and Dustin Pyrtle.  It is this song that stands out the most of the twelve songs for it’s authenticity and creativity.  This song is sure to hit our list of Top Songs of 2017 while earning a nomination for The Spirit Award’s Song of The Year Award.  It is also this song that makes this reviewer wonder why Lawson seeks other songs and not within his own band for writing talents.  Granted Doyle and company are multi talented as each of these songs are beautifully recorded.  I just question each of the songs that he records—are they his or is he trying to pull the wool over our ears?  $$

(This review was printed in the November / December 2017 issue of Strictly Country Magazine.)

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