An exacting and natural songwriter, a fine singer who mixes
pop, rock, and
country into a natural, seamless blend, and a bit of a maverick on the
country scene (he hardly ever wears a hat, for instance),
Rodney Crowell has long deserved to be wider known to audiences than he is. This brief, ten-song set samples some of the marvelous songs in his Sony catalog, including the wonderfully melodic "Above and Beyond (The Call of Love)," the
pop-ish "Soul Searchin'," the
rockabilly "Crazy Baby," and his wry cover of
John Hiatt's "She Loves the Jerk," making this an OK primer for
Crowell's work, although there's a whole lot more to this fine musician than this, of course. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide
