Friday Five: Dwight Duets

…terrific!

Very much agree with the Top 2 on the list. Streets Of Bakersfield is a classic and deserves to be at the top. Buck and Dwight definitely own this. Shame that Dwight’s duet with Patty Loveless didn’t do well on the charts as I thought it was a classic song too as it sounds like something that Porter and Dolly would have recorded but I don’t why that it didn’t do well.

Can’t believe I forgot “Little Chapel,” a fab duet he did with Heather Myles on Sweet Talk & Good Lies. Definitely worth checking out if you haven’t heard it already.

http://www.amazon.com/Little-Chapel/dp/B0011CZRAE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1287755134&sr=8-1

Why the hell did Kelly Willis never go anywhere?
I got her first CD “Bang Bang” around 1991. She seemed to have a modern, radio-friendly sound. Oh, and she was good-looking. And the disc was on MCA, which seemed to make a lot of stars at the time.

Kelly Willis has stopped touring regularly because she (and Bruce Robison) have four young children but she still records and performs live from time to time– I saw her do a terrific set earlier this month at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco.

“Bang Bang” was Kelly Willis’ second record. The first on MCA was “Well Traveled Love,” and I like it even more than the second one. MCA released a compilation of her albums that might still be found in some places, but every one is worth tracking down.

Dwight’s pretty lucky to be 54 and still be able to fit into the same size pants he wore in grade school.

Kelly Willis has had a lasting career within the Americana realm, alt.country rock end; her most recent CD was pretty far removed from mainstream country, ion the Rykodisc label. It’s indy rock oriented, and involved co-writes with and production by Chuck Prophet. Not such a stretch, or a surprise–from someone who started out basically as a rockabilly in the first place.

Rick’s musical calls are very often very smart, for a troublemaker, but I’d just have to say he’s off the mark in this case of Ms. Willis’s voice.. I’ve known plenty of solid working artists she’s inspired.

We sometimes get to see her and Bruce R doing a Christmas show in Nashville; it’s true that she’s more the stay-at-home mother these days.

Somehow Dwight was (is) able to make traditional country a cool thing. This is due partly to his persona. His ability to bring a rock-star status to a crowd by singing through his nose is a pretty neat accomplishment.

Lucky,

I beleive you are corect; however he has sold in excess of 20 million albums which is pretty incredible for being denied the chart success he deserved. And he did it much without the help of Nashville which I love.

I’d forgotten that Kelly Willis is married to Bruce Robison, but I don’t know who listens to him. I bought one of his CDs years ago after it got a good write-up somewhere and I threw it out after one listen.
Then, after I heard Gary Allen’s “What Would Willie Do?” I wanted to hear what the writer’s version sounded like, so I bought Bruce’s “Country Sunshine” CD, where it first appeared. Sounded to me like they just grabbed someone off the street and asked him to sing.

“Everybody in Texas.”

There are a lot of Texas-associated singers I listen to and enjoy: Off the top of my head, and restricting it to those still active, I’ll name Dale Watson, Billy Joe Shaver, Guy Clark, Robert Earl Keen, Jimmy Dale Gilmore, Mark Chesnutt, Rodney Crowell, Cory Morrow, Rosie Flores and of course Jones, Willie and Kris. (And I wish Doug Supernaw was still recording.) In fact, over the years I’ve gone to see all but three of those in concert and I easily have over 200 CD’s from that group of artists.
But sorry, I have no idea why anyone would record Bruce Robison. That “Country Sunshine” CD was one of the blandest pieces of dreck I’ve ever heard.

Personally, I prefer Willis’s version of “Wrapped” (the first recorded) to either Robison’s or Strait’s. She does more with the rhythm, and with modulations in the arrangement that crank the idea and energy up a notch along the way. I’ve always felt that if Strait had heard her version he would have seen the swing possibilities in the song–which are not there in his, uh, straightahead version.

I agree that Bruce Robison was a guy who’s performances once sounded like bland demos, but, I have to say, if you see him live these days, he’s improved tremendously, and can hold audiences in his palm. And he does have audiences–just not in pop country. And in club rooms–not arenas.

I really like Dwight’s duet with Ashley Monroe from her Satisfied album. It’s silly, but fun, not to mention that their voices are pretty perfect together.

I’m a pretty big fan of Bruce Robbison, but I agree that his voice isn’t technically perfect. I like Kelly Willis’ version of “wrapped” the best too, though I like both Straight’s and Robbison’s as well.

LuckyOldSun:

Dwight had one other #1 hit on Billboard: “I Sang Dixie” in 1989 which also is his only solo #1. Probably “Ain’t That Lonely Yet” and “Fast As You” went to #1 on Radio & Records’ old chart but not on Billboard’s country chart.