Review: Womack’s ‘Call Me Crazy’ Due Out this Month

By R. Keith Rugg, 10-13-08

	Caption: Lee Ann Womack's 'Call Me Crazy' is scheduled for release on October 21.

Later this month, Lee Ann Womack’s latest album— Call Me Crazy— hits the stores.  It’s her seventh studio album, and her first since 2005’s There’s More Where That Came From.

This is an exceptional album.  That in itself shouldn’t be a big surprise; Womack has a pair of Grammy awards to her credit, as well as several other accolades, and is well-respected in the industry as a performer of good, solid country music.

But even so, this album stands out as a really great collection of Womack at her best.

The first track on the disc— Last Call— is also the first single to be released for airplay, back in the summer.  And it is just killer.  It’s the closest thing that this album has to a title track, with “Call me crazy,” being a line from the song.  It’s beautiful, it’s haunting, it’s… great.

I don’t know why, but my local country stations didn’t give this song the time of day.  I’ve heard it only once on the air, and that was in the middle of the night.  And hearing it on the radio didn’t begin to do justice to this song.  It’s worth buying the album if only to be able to hear Last Call on a decent sound system.

Solitary Thinkin’ looks to be the next single that will come off this album.  It’s a good, rock-solid drinkin’-in-a-bar country song, and it’s kind of funny, because in a way, it’s the other side of the coin to Last Call.

Four other songs I want to make a special note of before we jump into the track-by-track grading of Call Me Crazy:

The Bees:  An acquaintance of mine in at MCA/Mercury says she really likes this song.  On the other hand, I find it very disturbing.  It’s not a bad song, I just don’t care for the imagery I get when I listen to it.  (If anyone else out there finds a mental connection between it and Stephen King’s Misery, shoot me an e-mail.  I’d like to think that it’s not just me.) Keith Urban is on some vocals for this one.  And Womack says about it, “The Bees is a great song that’s not a conventional ‘hit,’ which is why I think if it were a hit, it would be huge.” She might be right, and I’ll be very interested to see how it does if it’s released as a single.

I Think I Know:  The first time I heard the first line of this song, I literally jerked my head up and turned to give the song my full attention.  I’m not going to say more, because I think it would ruin the effect.  Producer Tony Brown said she’d earned the right to do this one, and he’s probably correct.

Everything But Quits:  Womack actually co-wrote this song, and it’s performed as a duet with George Strait.  Aside from the fact that Everything But Quits doesn’t have anything in it about “Mama, or trains, or trucks, or prison, or gettin’ drunk,” (and please, please tell me you recognize this reference) it comes very close to being the perfect country and Western song.  Part of this comes from the performers- wow, do these two sound good together.  The other part comes from the pure honesty of the lyrics, lyrics that ring so, so true to life.  You heard it here first- I’m predicting Everything But Quits as the CMA Musical Event of 2009 award-winner.  (If the industry has any integrity at all, anyway, and that might be the sticking point…)

The Story of My Life:  If lightning strikes twice, and Womack has another crossover hit that comes anywhere near to the phenomenal success of I Hope You Dance, this one will probably be it.  And she knows it, too.  She says, “This song was played for me when we were getting ready to make the follow up to I Hope You Dance. I didn’t want to be accused of trying to repeat that, so as much as I loved the song, I let it go. I’ve kept the demo around all this time, hoping I’d get another chance to cut it after enough time had passed.”

And now, to the grades.

1. Last Call:  He’s alone and in a bar.  Grade- 99.
2. Either Way:  A marriage where the love is gone.  Grade- 95.
3. Solitary Thinkin’:  She’s alone and in a bar.  Grade- 90.
4. New Again:  Second chances in life and love.  Grade- 80.
5. I Found It In You:  I love you and my world revolves around you.  Grade- 88.
6. Have You Seen That Girl:  My dreams and potential are slipping away.  Grade- 92.
7. The Bees:  Finally finding peace in a troubled life.  Grade- I’m abstaining on this one, you’ll have to take a listen for yourself…
8. I Think I Know:  Success isn’t everything.  Grade- 92.
9. If These Walls Could Talk:  Trouble in the home and family life.  Grade- 80.
10. Everything But Quits:  We’re not perfect, but we’re still together and in love.  Grade- 99.
11. The King of Broken Hearts: Big talker in a bar and his tales of woe.  Grade- 80.
12. The Story of My Life:  Aspiring to make life better.  Grade- 90.

Total:  985.  Average:  89.5.

We’ll round it to an nice even grade of 90.

I had the chance to see Lee Ann Womack in concert this past summer, when she opened for Alan Jackson.  (And a few years before that, when she opened for Toby Keith.  He said she added class to the tour.) I still think Alan Jackson is one of the greatest things going, don’t get me wrong. 

But based on what I’m hearing on Jackson’s Good Time and then on Womack’s Call Me Crazy, maybe next time, he ought to be opening for her.