Chris Vaughn
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9/18/2007 1:07:17 AM
Review Jennifer Layton - Indie.com (Jan 7, 2007)
Chris Vaughn knows how to write a song. As a pure country artist with authentic twang and drawl, of course he covers songs about love and trucks and living on a farm. But I’ve never heard it put quite the way he puts it in “Material Cowgirl”:
It all started when we bought this farm
Then she had to have a new horse barn
Bridles and saddles that cost more than my truck.
She got the very best western wear
uses mane and tail in her hair
And now my bank account has run amok ...
Sounds like the poor guy married the Bama version of Paris Hilton. And that’s what impresses me about Vaughn’s music – he’s 100% devoted to good old-fashioned, old-school country music, but he’s not afraid to rise above the cliches and put his own clever spin on things. We get the full smokin’ band, angelic harmonies, and wailing pedal steel (nice work, Steve “Rabbit” Easter), but what stands out are great lyrics like the ones in “Backward”:
I sat down to write a song about me and you
Always on the last line, we wind up sad and blue.
I don’t like the outcome, so this is what I’ll do
I’ll write this song backwards, then I won’t have to lose ...
This is the real deal. Fun and foot-stomping tracks mixed with sweet, heartbreaking ballads, and a well-done cover of Johnny Paycheck’s “In Memory of a Memory,” which contains one of the best song openers in country music: “I guess I owe all the neighbors an explanation about the noise that’s coming from this old house and me.” I guess being a sharp songwriter himself, Vaughn knows a winner when he hears it.
http://www.chrisvaughnmusic.com
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