Sunny Sweeney - Heartbreaker's Hall of Fame
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Free Music Notes for Heartbreaker's Hall of Fame
Free Music Review: honky tonk hall of fame toe tapping winner
Hit: 5 Stars
one of, if not the most unique beautiful voices to come onto the scene in a long time. And the album! every song a toe tapping winner. If y'all havent seen her live do it! Her personality and songs really come to life live.Free Music Review: Traditional "twang" revisited!
Hit: 5 Stars
Fantastic! Some great new music with an unbeatable, old fasioned, female country twang. A must have, try not to wear it out!Free Music Review: ...and 1/2 ... Down-home Texas country heart and soul
Hit: 4 Stars
Playing Time - 39:27 -- Based in Austin, the vivacious Sunny Sweeney sings smart, tuneful songs on this auspicious debut. Her infectious spunk is perfect for the sturdy alt-country and Americana offerings. She has assembled a formidable band, but I noted that vocal harmonies were at ad understated. Sunny's Texas drawl conveys some rather alluring sensuality or honky tonky kick-up-yer-heels fun on both originals and covers. Sweeney's originals include "Ten Years Pass," "Slow Swinging Western Tunes," and "Heartbreaker's Hall of Fame." While she's written many songs, these are her best and the ones she was most comfortable and enthusiastic about presenting to us. They've got some memorable melodies and lyrical sentiments. Writing from personal experience to be honest and convincing seem to drive her songwriting. Jim Lauderdale co-wrote two numbers, "Refresh My Memory" and "Please Be San Antone." Jim also makes a cameo appearance in a duet with Sunny on Keith Sykes' "Lavender Blue." Her optimism and exuberance are exciting. I serious doubt that she'll be the "Next Big Nothing" as she facetiously suggests.
I love to hear singers express emotions about their own regions or homes. Covering another Texas singer's hit, Sunny gives a mighty fine Lone Star treatment to Libbi Bosworth's "East Texas Pines." Sunny was raised in the piney woods of east Texas near Longview, got a degree in public relations at S.W. Texas State Univ., tried her hand at improv theater/comedy, and then decided to form a country band. Produced by Tom Lewis and Tommy Detamore, the album was also designed with an objective of portraying her ebullient personality and capturing the kind of live show she presents. While some more variety in arrangement might've been nice, all of the songs on "Heartbreaker's Hall of Fame" include full ensembles of proficient session players who know their way around their guitars, bass, drums, pedal steel and fiddle. Some occasional harmonica, mandolin, banjo, or Dobro embellish a few pieces with some understated acoustic tints. I could've used more of Ted Roddy's harp and bobby Flores' fiddle and mandolin. In some secluded woods near San Antonio, one goal of the Cherry Ridge Studio in Floresville, Tx. was to facilitate Sunny tapping into the emotional strength and feeling of her repertoire. Special recognition is worth of Lars Albrecht's taste and technique on his Telecaster guitar.
Her debut album has carefully cultivated tunes with some new, fresh outlooks that country music needs so badly. I reckon that's what I really enjoyed about this set. Nothing stale here ..... even when covering Iris DeMent's ballad "Mama's Opry" or Tim Carroll's plain-and-simple raucous tongue-twistin' "If I Could" (also recorded by John Prine) that admits we all have disappointment but to get past them. "Now if I could, then I would, make money doin' something that I love, I'd thank my lucky stars above, If I could just get by, lovin' you dear, Then I would just get by, makin' love to you."
Tom Schuyler's moving "16th Avenue" (a version of which Lacy J. Dalton recorded about 1982) is a sweet nostalgic way to conclude the set. Just like the "boys who make the noise," Sunny's got that same million dollar spirit. She takes the lyrics seriously. Golden words roll off her tongue, and she's seeing her dream come true. She's walked away from everything just to sing for me and you.
This Texas dreamcatcher doesn't want to just be a bystander. She wants to front one of the best country bands in Texas. The honky-tonkin' songbird's vocals can soar like a hawk or swoop like a swallow. With both elegance and country charm, she wraps her lyrics around some stellar accompaniment. For some down-home Texas country heart and soul, Sunny Sweeney's lone star brand of music is definitely worth a listen. (Joe Ross, staff writer, Bluegrass Now)
Free Music Review: Indie honk- tonk album with good selection of covers
Hit: 4 Stars
This is one of my favourite CDs of 2006. Sunny Sweeney has made a really impressive debut album, collecting together 12 great songs, mostly uptempo and honky tonk (9 covers and 3 originals). Her voice reminds me of Dixie Chicks' Natalie Maines, like the previous reviewer, but unlike him I have no reserves about her singing, which I find fresh, energetic and twangy, the right combination for this kind of music.
Sweeney's main musical influences are Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton, Townes Van Zandt, Loretta Lynn, Jim Lauderdale, Dwight Yoakam and Iris DeMent and you can hear every bit of them in the album. Actually, this album can be seen as Sweeney's homage to her favourite artists. Some of them are explicitly present: two covers are taken from Lauderdale's catalogue (they are "Refresh My Memory" and "Please Be San Antone") and one from Iris DeMent's songbook ("Mama's Opry"). Lauderdale also nicely duets with Sweeney in "Lavender Blue". Sidebar: in the original the duet was between Keith Sykes and Iris DeMent: could it be another (indirect) way to pay tribute to one of her favourite singers?
The other covers are equally good, even though I hadn't heard of their authors before. Particularly enjoyable are "East Texas Pines" by Libbi Bosworth and "If I could" by Tim Carroll: their quick-paced rhythm should make them favorites at live shows. I also like the ironic and self-deprecating "Next Big Nothing" by Audrey Auld ("I'm gonna be the next big nothing, you won't see my name on MTV").
In my opinion, the originals are one step below the other songs and Sunny seems aware of that, when she says "I've heard it said before that good cover songs are better than bad originals". Nevertheless, they are worth listening to, from the country-rock of "Ten Years Pass" to the traditional "Slow Swinging Western Tunes" to the ironic honky tonk of "Hearbreaker's Hall Of Fame".
All songs feature heavy doses of pedal steel and fiddle and the occasional harmonica, but it's the band as a whole that does an excellent work. Actually, my only regret is that I can't listen to them live. That should be fantastic, and even more so, if Sunny assures us that "on my CD, I just wanted to have great songs and a cool sound. My main thing was that I didn't want it to be something I couldn't replicate at a live show. [..]. I think we can and do sound like our CD."
My suggestion: if you live in Texas, go see her live and then, if you like the show, buy the CD.
My prediction: her next album will be on a major label, since I'm sure more and more people will get aware of her music.
Free Music Review: +1/2 -- East Texas twang by way of Austin's bars
Hit: 3 Stars
The munchkin-voiced Sweeney sounds a bit like her modern hero, Natalie Maines, but with a more straight-ahead country singer-songwriter vibe. Her East Texas twang meshes well with the steel/guitar/bass/drums of her band, and harmonica adds a touch of a 70s vibe. Sweeney's originals are smart and straightforward, ranging from the unhurried honky-tonk of the title track to the Lucinda Williams-styled "Ten Years Pass." The sassy, caller-styled hoedown "If I Could" features some hot-picking from the band, and her plaintive voice combines wonderfully with Jim Lauderdale on "Lavender Blue." Lauderdale's own "Refresh My Memory" and "Please Be San Antone" (the latter co-written by The Dixie Chicks' Emily Robison) and Iris Dement's "Mama's Opry" are finely selected covers. Sweeney's voice may not be for everyone, but her country heart is in just the right place. 3-1/2 stars, if allowed fractional ratings. [©2006 hyperbolium dot com]