Solid country from Big Al
THE CD: “After Hours” (Columbia/Legacy)
PERFORMER: Big Al Anderson
WEBSITE: Click here
“Big Al” Anderson was a longtime guitar player and songwriter in NRBQ. For the past 13 years, he has been a songwriter who divides his time between Nashville and Connecticut. He has placed songs with Carlene Carter, Aaron Tippin, Alabama, Trisha Yearwood, and The Mavericks, to name a few.
This kind of songwriting resume takes versatility and variety. Anderson’s writing partners include R&B veteran Delbert McClinton, and Sharon Vaughn, as on “Do Nothin’ Day,” which features Vaughn’s lead vocal:
.”I hear them singing happy birthday/better think about the wish I made/cause this year gone by ain’t been no piece of cake/just another revolution/pull it together and it comes undone/just one more candle and a trip around the sun/and I’m just hanging while this old world keeps spinning/and its good to know its out of my control/ ’cause if there’s one thing that I’ve learned from all this living/is that it wouldn’t change a thing if I let go.”
This particular cut has a Ronnie Milsap sound, but the CD also touches on honky-tonk, big-band jazz and blues to gospel, country and back again. Along the way, Anderson displays some very impressive guitar chops, as on “Blues About You Baby.” More good country music from a solid artist. Release date is March 7.
