CD Reviews for 02/15/11 – Tennis, Rodriguez&Kyle
Compact Capsules
by Dan Ferguson
Carrie Rodriguez & Ben Kyle
We Still Love Our Country
Ninth Street Opus Records
As duet albums go, the EP We Still Love Our Country from Carrie Rodriguez and Ben Kyle (of Romantica fame) is pretty darn sweet. Opting mostly for covers from such venerable tunesmiths as John Prine (“Unwed Fathers”), Townes Van Zandt (“If I Needed You”), Boudleaux Bryant (“Love Hurts”), and Hazel Houser (The Louvin Brothers’ classic “My Baby’s Gone”), the approach offers a nice litmus test of this duo’s potential and they get high marks for their performance. Visit www.carrierodriguez.com.
Tennis
Cape Dory
Fat Possum Records
Tennis, anyone? Throwback tunes with Spector-esque flourishes and filled with nostalgic girl singer histrionics is the quick and dirty on Cape Dory from husband-wife duo Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore, a.k.a. Tennis. The impetus for the record? Living aboard a small sailboat for a year in search of a life away from the daily hub-bub. The result? First off, they got married and now two years after completing the journey comes Cape Dory on which the duo boil that experience together into a collection of buoyantly addictive and fast moving summery pop tunes. Visit www.fatpossum.com.
(Dan Ferguson is a free-lance music writer and host of The Boudin Barndance, broadcast Thursday nights from 6 – 9 pm on WRIU-FM 90.3. He lives in Peace Dale and can be reached at [email protected].)
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