As I drove along the road to the supermarket, I pushed button after button on my car radio looking for some song, any song that sounded pleasing. One button caught a song at midpoint but hearing that old familiar tune, I just had to stop with the button-pushing and listen.
Ah! That good old, mellow voice of Pasty Cline! Uh-oh, wait a minute, that’s NOT Patsy! But it almost sounds like Patsy! But that voice! Smooth, mellow, pitch-perfect!
The DJ came on when the song was over and announced that we’d just heard a new release by LeAnn Rimes. LeAnn WHO???
What I just heard was Patsy Cline’s BLUE recorded by LeAnn Rimes. The DJ claimed she was only 13 years old! Actually, I found out later that while she recorded Blue at age 13, her BLUE CD wasn’t completed until 2 years later. But – what a CD!
When I first heard Patsy Cline sing BLUE, my impression was that she half sang and half yodeled the song. The notes, although made the song more interesting, also made the song more difficult to sing. Yet, LeAnn Rimes sang it with no problems at all. She definitely did not have the voice of a 13-year old.
On track 2, Rimes lets loose with a torchy song called HURT ME. This song seems to be on the cutting edge between Blues and Jazz and would make you envision Rimes lying atop a piano crooning softly while looking into the player’s eyes.
Another of my favorites on this CD is on track 3: ONE WAY TICKET (BECAUSE I CAN). This up-beat song seems to give Rimes her own independent style of country-pop, something many artists look for but can’t seem to find. Rimes does this with ease.
For those of you who remember that good ol’ boy, Eddy Arnold, BLUE is great way to catch up on a great song. LeAnn teams with Arnold to sing his classic hit, CATTLE CALL. Their voices blend effortlessly and their yodeling is extremely harmonious. You can’t hear one ounce of a strained vocal chord in this difficult song.
My final favorite is another Patsy Cline remake: FADE TO BLUE. This slow, sentimental song is the perfect way to end this perfect CD.
While I’ve only mentioned five of the eleven songs on this CD, I chose my five favorites. Yes, I do like the others, but instead of listing all the songs and telling you a little about each one, I’ll use that space to tell you what an incredible CD this is and what an awesome talent Rimes displays with her singing.
Although some of her songs might seem a bit on the sexy or sassy side for a 13-year old, as you listen to BLUE, you seem to forget the age of the singer and find yourself just enjoying the melody of every song that is so soothing to your ears.
Rimes is a simple country girl who sings her heart out with every note and every note spell excellence. She makes that obvious with her first CD called BLUE! A CD you won’t want to be without!