Music review: Vince Gill and Paul Franklin — ‘Bakersfield’
Country music veteran Vince Gill rejoins his former music label, MCA Nashville, to release a stunningly old-school tribute to two music legends that helped create the Bakersfield sound. Gill, along with steel guitar legend Paul Franklin, pay tribute to the workings of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard.
The down-to-earth songs delivered by Owens and Haggard are pristinely covered by two equally talented artists. Gill, a 20-time Grammy Award-winning guitarist and singer, flawlessly captures Owens’ organic and inviting vocal style while Franklin demonstrates why he’s top dog at what he does and why he’s garnered 13 Academy of Country Music Awards for Steel Guitar Player of the Year.
“Foolin’ Around” opens the album with Gill’s smooth and gentle voice echoing the heartache of an unfaithful spouse as the fiddle playing of Kenny Sears tenderly eases the pain. The 1964 Owens’ classic “Together Again” is as good a country arrangement that you’ll ever find with Franklin’s steel guitar serenading the genuine relief revealed through Gill’s heartfelt singing. “The Bottle Let Me Down” is the quintessential cry-in-your-drink song written by Haggard and perfect to be played that any local honky-tonk joint where the memories of a failed relationship are slowly erased round after round. By the end, things get a little rowdy with Haggard’s spirited “The Fightin’ Side of Me.” Gill may not possess the gritty toughness of Haggard’s original version, but the powerful lyrics still evoke plenty of passion, emotion and conviction.
“Bakersfield” was made in only two days at Gill’s home studio with Gill and Franklin both sharing the producing duties. Hearing these classic arrangements again remind me that they simply don’t write touching tunes like this any more. Thankfully, we still have artists like Gill and Franklin around to preserve the past by showing a new audience the genius of the bona fide country sound of Southern California that rivaled the calculated, polish style coming out of Nashville at the time. The marvelously crafted songs of “Bakersfield” sound as good today as they did back in the 1960s, making it easily one of the best country albums of the year.