Justin
Trevino

Press

Keeping Up Appearances

Only a few months after the release of her last solo album, Amber Digby is back with a collection of duets with her longterm producer Justin Trevino, a recording artist in his own right with a vibrato-laden tenor reminiscent of the country music of the 1960s. Their voices blend together very well, bearing comparison with the classic duos of the past, and the result is a delightful record which sounds as though it could have been made 40 years ago yet has a timeless feel. The production (credited jointly to Amber and Justin) is exemplary, with the musicians including Amber’s husband Randy Lindley on various guitars and stepfather Dickie Overbey on steel. As has become customary for an Amber Digby record, everything here is a cover (mostly from the 1960s or early 1970s), but the pair have mixed in some obscure cuts in with the better known songs, and the quality of the 14 songs selected is uniformly high. The subject matter is exclusively relationships: love songs, cheating songs, and tales of marital unhappiness. My favorite track on the album is the pair’s version of ‘Lead Me On’, a smash hit in 1971 for Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn. This has a couple on the verge of an illicit relationship and wanting some encouragement. The vocals are particularly outstanding here from both Justin and Amber. The fiddle-led ‘Which One is To Blame’ is another delightful cheating song mixing regret and desire, with Amber and Justin swapping lines through the song, as they share the anguish of forbidden love: There is less penitence in the defiant passion of ‘After The Fire Is Gone’, where the couple blame their infidelity on a moribund marriage. This is a great song which has been recorded so many times I sighed inwardly when I initially saw it on the track listing, but this is a very fine version which is well worth hearing. Liz Anderson is responsible for writing no less than three cuts, all excellent songs dealing with unhappy marriages. The title track is a great song which was an obscure early single (it reached #49) for her daughter Lynn (duetting with Jerry Lane) in 1967, in which the couple pretend to be “such a happy couple” in public but have nothing to say to each other at home,

“keeping up appearances
when we should say goodbye”.

I think it is just as good as the better known and identically themed ‘Just Between The Two Of Us’ , a top 30 hit for Merle Haggard and his wife Bonnie Owens in 1966. Everyone they know admires the implicit faith they have in one another:

"But the reason if they only knew
Is that we just don’t care
Just between the two of us
Let’s give up this fantasy
For we no longer care enough to even disagree
Everybody envies us and the way we get along
But just between the two of us
We know love is gone"

‘That Makes Two Of Us’, another Liz Anderson song recorded by Merle and Bonnie, has a couple about to give up on each other, which sets the deep irony of the lyric to a bright rhythm:

Amber: I’m all through with trying to make a go of us
And I’ve given up on giving him so much
Justin: As far as I’m concerned it’s over but to pack
I could walk away and never once look back.
Together: Well, that makes two of us
You’re not the only one
Like you I’ve had enough
The end has now begun
I guess I’m just as tired of you
As you say you are of me
And that makes two of us
We both want to be free.

Merle and Bonnie also originally recorded ‘Slowly But Surely’, a cheerful look at falling in love. There are a couple of other positive love songs: Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton’s #14 hit from 1971 ‘Right Combination’ (nice but not one of Porter’s best songs), and the lesser-known but very charming ode to true love ‘High As The Mountains’ (B-side to Buck Owens’s hit ‘Foolin’ Around’ in 1961). The hopeful appeal to stop ‘Kicking Our Hearts Around’ and resolve an estranged (but still loving) couple’s marital difficulties is an obscure Wanda Jackson single from 1965, and works well as a duet. ‘Wish I Didn’t Have To Miss You’, a song about a couple separated by work, written by Hank Cochran and Dave Kirby and originally a big hit (#2) for Jack Greene and Jeannie Seely in 1970, is one of the few tracks to sound dated with an arrangement that doesn’t quite work. Happily this is a rare unsatisfying track on this album. Amber’s aunt Mona McCall provides the harmony on the oldest song here, the sweetly sung ‘How’s The World Treating You?’, written by Chet Atkins and Boudleaux Bryant and originally a 1953 hit for Eddy Arnold, and covered by everyone from Elvis to the Louvin Brothers, most recently being revived by Alison Krauss with James Taylor. It’s a fine song, and although it does sound old fashioned, it is prettily done. I preferred the brilliantly executed story of a woman who leaves her honky tonking husband due to his spending too much time in the ‘Wrong Company’, a Harlan Howard song which was a minor (#26) hit for Harlan’s wife Jan Howard and Bakersfield Sound pioneer Wynn Stewart with this in 1960. Amber warns her man:

"You’re with the wrong company
They’ll drag you down
You’re spending too much time
On the wrong side of town
Now its your life to live
But its my heart to give
And if you still want me
Give up that wrong company"

He doesn’t listen, so she leaves him to regret the choices he’s made. This song has Justin signing in a noticeably higher key than elsewhere. The album closes with the reproachful George Jones cover ‘Flame in My Heart’ (a great song often overlooked because his duet partner was the unknown Virginia Spurlock) with call-and-response vocals as a couple fall out of love:

"Your kisses don’t thrill me
Like they used to do
Your arms only chill me
I’m glad that we’re through
My heart was once yearning
But now I can say
The flame in my heart
Is dying away

Notwithstanding the downbeat lyric, this is yet another joy to listen to. In short: a great record from two fine neo-traditional singers who deserve a wider audience, packed with great material. I think it’s one of the best records so far this year.

Before You Say Amen

Lots of bluegrass artists have excelled at singing gospel, but the coup­ling of country singers and gospel has produced a more inconsistent output. A successful example is Justin Trevino, who wraps his velvety vocal chords around songs of faith on his fifth album. Trevino tackles a cross-section of well-known old gospel songs such as “How Great Thou Art”, “The Old Rugged Cross” and “Where The Roses Never Fade”, as well as less familiar material. Aside from Trevino’s tenor, which has often been compared to Ray Price’s, the album’s strong suit is the stellar support of such musicians as Bobby Flores (fiddle, lead guitar), Dicky Overby (steel guitar) and Amber Digby (harmony vocals). As with all good gospel, one doesn’t even need to be especially religious to appreciate Before You Say Amen. The fervent vocals and the effective and understated arrangements are convincing enough on their own. --Paul E. Comeau

Justin Trevino has become of one the brightest traditional Country Music artists in the last decade. He has gained a very large following throughout the Southwest while touring other countries including Sweden and Australia. "Before You Say Amen" is the first Country Gospel album from Trevino. It is a project that he had wanted to do for a very long time. "I have always loved Country Gospel music," Trevino said from his Texas home. "I wanted to record a Country Gospel album, but my former record label didn't want to have have anything to do with it. After signing with Heart of Texas Records, I asked Tracy Pitcox about doing one featuring the same type of music that I am known for. This is that project. It may be the very best album that I have ever produced." Trevino found a couple of new gospel songs that immediately caught his attention. "Before You Say Amen, the title track, was written by Ron Williams (Leona Williams's son) and Mark Mash. It is a great testimate to prayer in today's modern age. Trevino also recorded another new song that is destined to become a classic in "Heart That Will Never Break Again." "I wanted to include some of the great standards and highlight the fiddle and steel guitar on those songs like "The Old Rugged Cross" "Life's Railway To Heaven" "How Great Thou Art" and "Where We Will Never Grow Old." Trevino even "shuffled" the great classic "Where The Roses Never Fade." Mona McCall joins Trevino on the Dottie Rambo song "Remind Me Dear Lord." Trevino heard McCall perform the song at a live show in Brady, Texas, and decided that the song and the singer should be featured on his gospel project. Trevino had put together another stellar group of Texas musicians to back "Before You Say Amen" including Bobby Flores on fiddle, Jake Hooker on Upright Bass, Dicky Overbey on steel guitar, Ron Huckabee on piano, Jim Lossberg on piano, Justin Trevino on Rhythm Guitar and Bobby Flores on Lead Guitar. Harmony Vocals are provided by Heart of Texas Recording Artist Amber Digby, Guyanne McCall (Darrell & Mona's daughter) and Trevino. "Heart of Texas Records is so pleased with Justin's latest album," Heart of Texas Records President Tracy Pitcox said. "I believe it is simply one of the finest Country Gospel albums ever recorded. I think Justin's fans will agree."

Too Many Heartaches

The Scene of the Crying

"Justin Trevino, a retro-honkytonker from Austin, Texas, is the country equivalent of an M.F.A. He's been mentored by fellow Texans Johnny Bush and the nonpareil yodeler Don Walser, both of whom have hired him as a sideman, and done pickup gigs with such old-school country legends as Kitty Wells, Hank Thompson and Floyd Tillman...Purist country fans will treasure the record, if only for Trevino's covers of What Have We Done and Daydreaming...Trevino himself sounds as much like Price as anybody: a powerful, high-pitched voice, deceptively smooth but with a piercing edge." --Bill Gates, MSNBC.COM

Travelin' Singing' Man - Country Standard Time

"Those in need of a quick fix of Texas honky tonk music a la Johnny Bush and Ray Price out to run for the third album from Justin Trevino. Once again, Trevino hits the mark song after song. He does it right whether on ballads or honky tonkers." --Jeffrey Remz

"Justin Trevino's new record, Travelin' Singin' Man, is his best, most compelling collection of traditional honky-tonk yet. And that's saying a lot--his second record, 2000's Loud Music and Strong Wine, was one of that year's finest, and the honky-tonk record of the year in the opinion of many." --Bill Silvers

" Justin Trevino, who released his debut LP in 1998, is a fan of the kind of country music that ruled Nashville from the late '50s through the early '70s -- and it shows. He's a darn fine practitioner of that classic brand of music..." --Erik Hage, All Music Guide

Loud Music and Strong Wine

"He has a classic country heart and a young singer's pipes, and on Loud Music & Strong Wine, you can sense that '50s and '60s country (particularly of the Ray Price variety, though Trevino clearly has a reverence for Ernest Tubb as well) is embedded in his DNA. "One More Drink and Then I'll Go" finds the golden-throated Trevino squeezing every ounce of pathos out of the track, as does "I Only Make You Happy When I Cry," a Trevino original. Country music, with its rugged principles, has made plenty of room for raw vocalists, but Trevino is a singer's singer." --Erik Hage, All Music Guide

"Johnny Bush is "The Country Caruso," Don Walser "The Pavarotti of the Plains." Remaining Italian tenors continue to lobby for the honor of providing the nickname to Justin Trevino, the young heir apparent to the country crooning crown." --Joel Bernstein, Country Standard Time

Texas Honkytonk

"...lives up to its name, with the Maxwell singer's clear, clean tenor throbbing and straining for one more spin around the dance floor. There are instant-classic originals like the title song as well as some sweet, Spanish-tinted Marty Robbins in Tonight Carmen...in the tradition of Ray Price and Johnny Bush, he handles a shuffle better than Amarillo Slim." --John Morthland, Texas Monthly

"This album is pure, old-fashioned, Texas country music...the unquestioned star of this show is Trevino's voice. It's a glorious instrument that can soar like Marty Robbins' at one instant, and remind one of the great Wynn Stewart in another." --Joel Bernstein, Country Standard Time

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©2004 Justin Trevino. All Rights Reserved.