CD Review

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Lynn Morris Band Shape of a Tear
Review by Brenda Hough  

Song list:
Good Love, Gonna Have Love, Shape of a Tear, Goodbye to the Blues, I Wish It Would Rain, Road Rage, I'll Take Them With Me, Lonesome Highway Blues, Shoulder to Shoulder, Move It On Over, Don't Neglect The Rose, I Know What You're Talking About.

Rounder Records
Rounder 116 610 509-2
One Camp Street
Cambridge, MA 02140
www.rounder.com
©2003


In the bluegrass world, woman bandleaders are few and far between, but Lynn Morris has guided her namesake band for the last 15 years and has won many awards including the IBMA album of the year and Female Vocalist of the Year three times. Her soft-spoken vocal style rings true with emotion and sincerity. The cover picture features Lynn giving a devoted look at Marshall, and as Lynn recovers from her recent stroke, this image of love is one to treasure. The songs in the album are also treasures of love and the title cut in particular has wonderful imagery. "Shape of a Tear" is a vignette of a special birthday celebration - "He waltzed her around the kitchen/Hummed a melody in her ear/and the love she always felt for him/appeared in the shape of a tear." Junior Brown adds pedal steel and harmony vocals to an upbeat version of Buck Owens' "Gonna Have Love." Nanci Griffith's "I Wish It Would Rain" gets a lonesome duet with Marshall Wilborn with some rhythmic drive from band stalwarts Ron Stewart on banjo and Jesse Brock on mandolin. Ron's fine banjo work are showcased in his "Road Rage" instrumental. Marshall wrote two of the songs and he also solos on a Hank Williams classic, "Move It On Over." Lynn is featured in another traveling song, "Lonesome Highway Blues" with "this old road won't turn me loose." This is a true bluegrass album with hard-driving rhythms, inspired harmonies and wonderful song selections and the singular voice of Lynn Morris.

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