Search - Randy Travis :: High Lonesome

This is a good record for a good price

ty7777 | USA | 06/08/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If you are only a little bit into country, I think you might still enjoy this record. Travis is always in fine voice even though he is more of the traditional country singer. Some of the folks he reminds me of most had a little pop culture success themselves without losing the roots-Lefty Frizell and George Jones. Randy does a song called Oh, What a time to be me, and it almost has a Jimmie Rodgers sound with the horns added. There really are a lot of honky-tonk qualities in here with Better Class of losers and Allergic to the blues which are favorites of mine. High Lonesome is just a great example of a perfect country song it's simple and it shows how beautiful country can be, the mandolins and all. It has some ballads and it shows off what Travis can do and every aspect of his sound too I think. The songs go from lots of instrumentation to minimal instrumentation, and in all between. And there is back up singing here and I personally don't care for back up singing in general and think it ruins alot of country recordings, though this is not quite intrusive like with other records. The singing done in the background, does harmonize well and is not intruding on Randy's distinct vocals nor does it ruin his performance; for me anyway. If you know what I'm talking about, some country songs have become ridiculous and hokey with back-up singers. Who in Nashville or Mars or wherever ever decided that we all like that? That we don't think it is incredibly stupid, annoying and not really suited to guys like Johnny Cash and Hank Williams Jr., etc?
I think more traditional fans and more pop oriented fans can appreciate this record as it is often as catchy as it is traditional. The players on the record are also great. The Slide guitar is fantastic and having Marty Stuart play on it sure didn't hurt and Alan Jackson's writing was a help too. I recommend it to anybody who has heard Travis' voice and liked it. He is a fine example of a real country artist, no offense to the pop country people intended."

Great traditional country album

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 05/16/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Together with George Strait, Reba McEntire, Ricky Skaggs and others, Randy Travis helped to revive traditional country music in the eighties. He burst on the scene in 1986 with a phenomenal debut album, Storms of life, and continued to impress country fans for a number of years. He was still very popular when this album was released in 1991, as proved by the three top three country hits here. Randy co-wrote two of them (Forever together, Better class of losers) and another song here (I'd surrender all) with Alan Jackson. Alan does not appear on the album but he also provided another song here - Allergic to the blues, which Alan co-wrote with Jim McBride. It is worth noting that Randy and Alan co-wrote a number of songs, some of which Alan recorded including She's got the rhythm I've got the blues (a number country hit).



Both of those hits are brilliant but my favorite track here is the third hit - the one that Alan and Randy didn't write. Point of light (co-written by two established songwriters, Don Schlitz and Thom Schuyler) contains plenty of wisdom in its lyrics. All the songs here are wonderful including Let me try, Oh what a time to be me, Heart of hearts, High lonesome and I'm gonna have a little talk.



The three country hits from this album all charted in 1991. Randy had a couple of number one country hits in 1992, recorded for greatest hits compilations. He recorded an album of western songs in 1993 then had another major country release (This is me) in 1994. That yielded three more major country hits but subsequent appearances on the charts became less frequent although he continued to have occasional hits into the new millennium.



This is one of Randy's finest albums - five of its tracks made in to the double-CD Anthology. If you wish to collect some of Randy's original albums, you should definitely include this one."

Sweet melodies, catchy lyrics, resonant vocals.

Peter Durward Harris | 09/10/1998

(4 out of 5 stars)

""High Lonesome" is some of Randy Travis' best work. Smooth, melodic title track is pure sonic bliss. "Allergic to the Blues" and "Better Class of Losers" are instantly likable honkey-tonkers. Good stuff through and through."