Search - Barry Tashian & Holly :: Ready for Love

Anyone who loves Robin & Linda Williams (and who has heard them and not loved them?) will no doubt feel the same about Barry & Holly Tashian, another married pair of singer-guitarists who straddle the country-folk boundary. The Tashians' Ready for Love showcases the kind of Appalachian close-interval harmony singing that links the bluegrass of the Stanley Brothers, the country of the Louvin Brothers, and the rock & roll of the Everly Brothers. The couple wrote 10 of the album's dozen tunes, and the simple but clear sentiments and melodies of the songs are perfect for this kind of singing. Their duet singing is remarkable, so close that it seems like a third voice, similar to Barry's and Holly's individual voices but different from either one. On the love song "Heaven with You," they achieve a hymnlike devotion; on the bluesy "(No One Gets Their Kicks On) Highway 86," Barry's high, lonesome vocal becomes even more lost-sounding when Holly joins in. On the title cut, "Ready for Love," the harmonies seem to buzz with excitement at the imminent arrival of romance. --Geoffrey Himes