Search - Jill King :: Jillbilly

Solid debut of honky-tonk, two-steps and ballads

hyperbolium | Earth, USA | 04/16/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Newcomer Jill King's debut is one of the year's first real surprises. King's been a Monday night regular at Tootsie's for over a year, and the demands of weekly live performance has schooled her in the inner-strength of Dolly Parton and Reba Mcintyre, and the sassy delivery of Wynonna Judd. King also takes in the sophisticated retro sounds of Dwight Yoakam and The Mavericks, but, much like Patty Loveless, combines these influences into a sound that is modern but without the usual Nashville pop homogenization.The opener, "98.6," surely would have been a king-sized hit back when country radio actually played country music. The close-harmony acapella intro and steel-and-fiddle driven twang reach right down through the listener's ears to set one's feet tapping out a honky-tonk beat. It's a sweet coda to the career of the song's co-writer, Harlan Howard. Other delights include the two-stepping bluesy rock 'n' roll of the first single, "One Mississippi," the boogie-woogie fueled "After All," and the reverb-guitar croon "Three Months, Two Weeks, One Day."The ballad selections, "Not Knowing Anymore" and "The Part I Don't Understand," provide King a chance to show off her vocal talents, but the productions sound pedestrian next to the up-tempo tracks. A minor point, really, given the riches of well-selected honky-tonk, country-blues and rock-tinged tunes packed onto this impressive debut."

Damn Good Country

hyperbolium | 01/03/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After hearing "One Missippi", I was hooked. Buy this cd if you want to hear Real country music and not that crap on mainstream stations."

And I don't even like country!!

millie95 | Atlanta, GA USA | 04/07/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Jill King has a strong country voice - she sounds a lot like Reba! This album is so good that almost all of the songs get stuck in your head! Down N Out and 98.6 degrees are very catchy and danceable. We saw Jill in concert in Atlanta and she sounded EXACTLY like she does on the album! Most stars sound completely different live (because they do so much overdubbing or whatever for the CD) -not Jill; her voice is so pure! And my teeny-bopper daughter, who is 9, also loves this album. It's great - get it, you'll love it!"