Search - Roxie Dean :: Ms America

Wow! What a great record. Funny. Touching. A great listen!

J. Michael | Fresno, CA USA | 05/07/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a wonderful CD! Roxie Dean will have you smiling, laughing and tapping your feet. She'll also touch your heart. With a great, warm voice, she sings with real passion and you'll proabaly feel like she's singing right to you.



From fun-loving romps like "A Man Like Bugs", "Women Know Women" and "Just Like a Man" to touching ballads like "Why They Call It Falling", "Sandcastles" and "A Soldier's Wife" you'll find you have more than one favorite song on this album. When it's over, you'll want to play it again right away!



Every since we heard Lee Ann Womack's version of "Why They Call It Falling" (on her album "I Hope You Dance"), my family's been singing along. We've been waiting to hear Roxy sing her own song and it was sure worth the wait! We'll be singing along in the car and, with all the great songs on this record, I'm sure you'll find yourself singing along, too! Roxie's the real deal!"

Dean Offers A Stunning and Hearfelt "Ms. America"

T. Yap | Sydney, NSW, Australia | 01/20/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Prime Cuts: Why They Call It Falling, Sand Castles, Remind Me



Roxie Dean opens her debut asserting that "I talk loud, I stay our late/I drink bud light instead of champagne/Smoke Marlboros with the home girls." Indeed Dean is not a Barbie-doll faux of a singer, and "Ms. America" is not a manicured non-descript collection of songs that came right out of Nashville's conveyor belt. Rather, like Gretchen Wilson and Tanya Tucker, Dean exudes her 3-D personality throughout these 11 cuts. Unabashedly combining her tuff girl attitude with her heartfelt romanticism, Dean is not afraid to speak her mind and rend her heart. In fact, though these cuts deal primarily with relationships, they express a diary-like frankness filled with memorable lines executed through Dean's mellifluous vocals. Such a view is obviously shared by many of Dean's peers, this is why many have recorded tunes penned by Dean herself, and these include Reba McEntire ("My Sister"), Lorrie Morgan ("Do You Wanna Buy Me a Drink (Frank)?"), Jamie O'Neal ("When I Think About Angels"), Cheryl Wright ("Wouldn't It Be Cool"), Lee Ann Womack ("Why They Call It Falling") among others.



Primed with a razor-edged sharpness, the revved up title cut and current single, finds Dean jettisoning the typical bikini-wearing super slim image for the loud, diet-free, bacon cheese burger fun-loving gal as the icon of Ms. America. And she continues to speak her mind about the kind of man she desires with the rowdy "A Man like Bugs," that is Bugs Bunny, rather than those crawling pest: "I want a man like Bugs Bunny/A cute tail and a whole lot of money." In lesser hands, this may come across as caricature, but Dean with her engaging vocals pulls this off with honors adding levity to the set. And when it comes to giving her man the heads-up into a woman's thoughts, she's not afraid to let him know on the relentless rocker "Women Know Women."



But the apogee of the album resides in the ballads: best of which is "Sand Castles," a tune Dean co-writes with Bonnie Baker. Refusing to be shelved emotionally, "Sand Castles" is about taking risks in romance despite the waves of disappointment. But what really makes this an import from heaven is Dean's nuanced approach to the lyric's ache, giving this a jaw-dropping performance. This is career defining track. Pining down the often elusive and inexpressible pain of heartbreak on "Remind Me," Dean's restraint but emotive delivery makes sorrow palpable. Also, quite stirring is the first single "A Soldier's Wife," a war-related song told from the perspectives of the wives of these armed men. Eschewing the politics and religious aspects of war, Dean goes straight to the heart giving voice to the feelings of lost, loneliness, pain and uncertainties.



The only more familiar song here is "Why They Call It Falling," a track Dean and Don Schlitz co-wrote for Lee Ann Womack. Dean offers her take of it which is less polished, but more engaging than the superstar's version, giving us a more intimate feel to this gorgeous ballad about the complexities of being in a relationship. If there's any shortcoming with this CD, it's that it only has 10 cuts with a repeat of "A Soldier's Wife" this time injected with comments from the wives of these serviced men detailing their struggles and pain. As far as debut CDs go, Dean's "Ms. America" shows promise. Refusing to be domesticated, Dean shows character and personality that shines as bright as her talents."