Small Town Saturday Night - Hal Ketchum, Alger, Pat
I Know Where Love Lives - Hal Ketchum, Ketchum, Hal
Old Soldiers - Hal Ketchum, Ketchum, Hal
Somebody's Love - Hal Ketchum, Alger, Pat
Past the Point of Rescue - Hal Ketchum, Hanly, Mick
Five O'Clock World - Hal Ketchum, Reynolds
I Miss My Mary - Hal Ketchum, Ketchum, Hal
Don't Strike a Match (To the Book of Love) - Hal Ketchum, Alger, Pat
Long Day Comin' - Hal Ketchum, Burr, Gary
She Found the Place - Hal Ketchum, Ketchum, Hal
With this 1991 album's opener, "Small Town Saturday Night," Hal Ketchum served as perceptive a slice of Americana as country radio had tasted in years. While he didn't pen this hit, its accompanying album (his second and b... more »est) shows he could write songs with salt-of-the-earth perspective and easy-going charm, whether dealing with the melancholia of love or the simple pleasures of relationships. He's not an especially original songwriter, nor does he cultivate a rooted country sound, but he has the common touch and a just-shy-of-smooth delivery that's effective on "I Know Where Love Lives" (another hit) and "Old Soldiers." --Roy Francis Kasten« less
With this 1991 album's opener, "Small Town Saturday Night," Hal Ketchum served as perceptive a slice of Americana as country radio had tasted in years. While he didn't pen this hit, its accompanying album (his second and best) shows he could write songs with salt-of-the-earth perspective and easy-going charm, whether dealing with the melancholia of love or the simple pleasures of relationships. He's not an especially original songwriter, nor does he cultivate a rooted country sound, but he has the common touch and a just-shy-of-smooth delivery that's effective on "I Know Where Love Lives" (another hit) and "Old Soldiers." --Roy Francis Kasten
Lorelie L. from CLINTON, MA Reviewed on 10/18/2006...
Great artist. Great album.
CD Reviews
Classic Album by a classic songwriter!
Robert Vallecillo | Metairie, LA United States | 10/11/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Hal Ketchum's debut on Curb records offers up quite a succulent dish of Texas country at it's finest. Ketchum can write, and there's nothing better than a writer who performs his own material. You are guaranteed to get the best interpretation in this collection of ten songs, seven of which are written by Ketchum. The artist's talents are evident in the songs "Somebody's Love," "Long Day Comin'," and "She Found The Place," which was recorded previously as "Bobbie's Song" on Ketchum's independent album release, THREADBARE ALIBIS, on Watermelon records in 1986. "Old Soldiers" features Kathy Mattea singing background; "I Miss My Mary" is the reflection of a bar fly as he sees his true love fade away; and "Don't Strike A Match (To The Book Of Love)" tells of haunting dreams caused by a lover's leaving. "Past The Point Of Rescue" and "Small Town Saturday Night" are the hot tickets on the CD. I guess that's why Curb was smart enough to release them as singles and push the CD to the sales it achieved. This is by far my favorite Hal Ketchum CD."
Evading the "Hat Act" trend
Kevin L. Nenstiel | Kearney, Nebraska | 02/25/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Too much country in the last ten years or so sounds exactly alike. Hal Ketchum has been unjustly neglected in the press of identical "hat acts" whose sound derives primarily from rock rather than true country. Ketchum harkens back to greats like Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard and also echoes contemporaries like Jimmy Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock (q.v.) while maintaining his own strong sound. His social awareness is in evidence, too: Ketchum isn't just a singer, he believes in issues, and is willing to tell us what he believes. To hear Hal Ketchum is to hear one of the unfairly overlooked voices out of Nashville today."
Hal- Nothing Better
Georgiann Kite | Napa, Ca | 11/05/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I have every album Hal Ketchum has ever done. To me there is no one better. His voice has a richness and range that cannot be surpassed. He is a master writer, guitar player and singer that transcends any certain category to attach him to. One minute its country, the next a little soul, the next pop etc. A master story teller and usually there is a spiritual side to his music. He can tell a story like no other and you know that he has lived them as well. Well done, Hal!"
Good thing I bought the CD!
C. L. Rapp | Raleigh, NC USA | 06/22/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I have a feeling I would have worn out a tape or album.Ketchum has a smooth, sincere delivery on songs that, for whatever reason, touch my heart. He has taken "Five O'Clock World", normally a perky up-tempo song, and twisted it just enough in his delivery to give a sense of the yearning and anxiousness to get home to the life he really lives.Pick up this album if you're looking for a nice, mellow, non-hat act, country pop album."
Great!
J. McAndrew | USA | 07/09/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
""Five Oclock World" and many other great songs on this one. This CD is a hidden treasure and I'm suprised it didn't get more airplay!!"