Kimmie Rhodes-Walls Fall Down (2008-VBR-Country)

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-=Biography=- by Jason Ankeny



The singing career of Lubbock, TX, native Kimmie Rhodes kicked off at the age of six, when she first performed with her family gospel trio. During her teens she began learning guitar and writing songs, and in 1979 moved to Austin, where she met her future husband and producer Joe Gracey. Two years later, Rhodes released her debut LP, Kimmie Rhodes and the Jackalope Brothers, followed in 1985 by her second effort, Man in the Moon. She recorded her third album, 1989's Angels Get the Blues, at Sun Studios in Memphis. While commercial success continually eluded Rhodes, her music proved popular with other performers; her song "I Just Drove By" was covered by Wynonna on the Tell Me Why album, and the duet pairing of Trisha Yearwood and Willie Nelson recorded "Hard Promises to Keep" for Yearwood's The Song Remembers When. Rhodes herself also cut a pair of duets with Nelson for his Just One Love LP; Nelson returned the favor for Rhodes' 1996 effort West Texas Heaven, on which she also teamed with Waylon Jennings and Townes Van Zandt. Rich From the Journey followed in the spring of 2000.



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a r t i s t : Kimmie Rhodes

t i t l e : Walls Fall Down

d a t e : 2008

l a b e l : Sunbird

g e n r e : Folk

r l s. d a t e : Mar/2008

t r a c k s : 12

b i t r a t e : VBRkbps

s i z e : 51,10 MB



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Kimmie Rhodes delivers a superb set of all new recordings,

with nine self-penned songs never before heard, a Townes Van

Zandt classic and a new tune written by Rodney Crowell.

Recorded in her Austin studio with a stellar cast of friends

including Irish pals Keiran Goss and Ann Kinsella,

multi-instrumentalist and co-producer Gabriel Rhodes,

rock-solid rhythm section stars John Gardner and Glen Fukunaga

(Dixie Chicks, Joe Ely, Don Williams), and cello master Brian

Standefer (Alejandro Escovedo, Patty Griffin), the music

ranges from Americana country to contemporary folk to Texas

rock. Once again we are treated to the brilliant lyrics,

fantastical imagination, positive inspiration, and pointed

irony of Kimmie's writing, which has earned her many

platinum-selling songs and famous admirers over the years.



"As carefree as her artistic front, that's how wonderful

Kimmie Rhodes is. It sounds as though it's so incredibly easy

to be an artist when listening to her stories. As if the songs

were born out of her exhailing, sort of, with her slightly

laid-back and even more slightly raspy voice. Can you talk of

soft, mild country here? If so, the new songs are

representative of such a sound. And when she includes a Townes

Van Zandt tune as well as one by Rodney Crowell, it's not only

for the sake of variation, the unjustly unknown Kimmie Rhodes

take them over too, in that same super carefree way. First and

foremost, it's Texas country, sounding a lot more like here

and now, than once upon a time."



"Kimmie Rhodes recorded output is uneven. Her masterpiece is

still 'West Texas Heaven' from 1994, on which she, among other

things, successfully brought Willie Nelson back from his

desert walk. That particular album even included fine duets

with Townes Van Zandt and Waylon Jennings. The collaboration

with Willie Nelson continued the following year on 'Just One

Love' one of Nelsons greatest records ever. Even their duo

album 'Pictures In A Frame' from 2003 belongs to the ones you

can't miss.

Apart from this, I think Kimmie Rhodes' records so far this

millennium, have appeared quite anonymous. But her comes

'Walls Fall Down' her best album since 'West Texas Heaven'

The approach is just as gentle as on the previous albums, but

the material is stronger and the contributions from the

musicians more distinct.

On a song like 'Make The Morning Shine' Kimmie shows herself

from her most tender side. She sings soft and yearning, with

strong dedication and a totally irresistable pleading in her

voice, to the sparse acompaniment of strings and Annie

Kinsella's slightly old time harsh second harmony.

'There's A Storm Coming' is more dramatic, a populisticly

shine-through contemplation over economical depression and the

most recent times natural disasters. The nearly rolling

country guitar and precisely inserted slide notes of Gabriel

Rhodes underscore the fateful (both existentially and

meteorologically) atmosphere.

Even the title track is a small masterpiece. Kimmie Rhodes

sings, in a harshly focused tone, her lyrics, critical of the

civilisation, and the harmony vocals and the lap steel guitar

of Gabriel Rhodes deepens the musical expression even more.

But it's not only the self-written songs that keep the highest

class. Kimmie Rhodes also does entirely convincing

interpretations of Townes Van Zandt's 'If I Needed You' (oh

yes indeed, you can tweak a new meaning out of it!),

Lennon/McCartney's 'The Fool On The Hill' and Rodney Crowell's

playfully critical song of the human culture, 'Sex and

Gasoline'."



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01-Walls Fall Down [04:20]

02-If I Needed You [04:21]

03-Sex & Gasoline [04:22]

04-Beautiful [04:25]

05-I've Been Loved by You [03:27]

06-All in All [03:31]

07-Make The Morning Shine [03:27]

08-The Fool on The Hill [03:22]

09-Your Majesty [04:12]

10-Shining Like A Sun [02:25]

11-There's A Storm Coming [03:08]

12-Last Seven Second [04:29]

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45:29 min