Willie’s woman on the double

APART from having a massive Pop and Country hit with her own song I Hope You Dance Lee Ann Womack is one of the women who has enjoyed the privilege of singing duets with Willie Nelson. Two of them are on her current album The Definitive Collection. Lee Ann Womack possesses a pure, beautiful, aching voice that marks her as one of Countryâ€â„¢s finest singers of the modern era and the two songs she sings with Willie on her double album are Mendocino Country Line and Iâ€â„¢ll Never be Free. The latter was recorded live as part of an all-star Willie Nelson cable television special which was also released by the once red-headed, but now grey-haired, veteran Country star. Lee Ann is Country to the core. Straddling that fine line between Traditional Country music integrity and commercial acceptance is never easy, but she has succeeded in achieving this. Her delicate, vulnerable soprano is one of the most powerful, passionate instruments to permeate any genre of music. While I Hope You Dance was a chart topping song for her in the US and very much her career song in both the Pop and Country charts across the Atlantic, it created ripples in the charts this side of the big pond but not to the same extent as in her homeland. It resulted in a triple platinum album of the same name and also won a Grammy for her as Best Country Song back in the year 2000. She is joined on it on this album by The Sons of the Desert as special guests. She showed just how distinctive she was with this huge hit. Now her double album opens with it and this release is full of drinking, cheating, loser, and broken-hearted songs. With such themes this set plumbs the depths of Country musicâ€â„¢s rich roots. Markedly more Country than what is being heard on Country radio in the USA in recent times, the effort, though Traditional to the core, still earned her six CMA nominations, winning the coveted Album of the Year award a few months ago. Lee Ann Womack has proved herself to be the kind of rangy, edgy, slightly left-of-centre singer who could hit the Country mainstream and attract some Pop fans across the borderline. On this double album she has done this through astute song choices, inventive production touches and her emotional distinctive quavering voice. She is destined to be counted amongst Patsy, Tammy, Dolly, Emmylou and other leading Country ladies who rightly deserve the titles of being the all-time female Country greats who have transcended trends, fads and fancies to become universally accepted as the cream of the crop. â€â€ TG