Good News
Artist: Kathy Mattea
Label: Mercury
Time: 10 tracks / 38:19 minutes
Kathy Mattea has made a career out of her great ear for a fine song, helping bring writers such as Nanci Griffith to a more mainstream country audience. On this 1993 Christmas album, Mattea unearths ten obscure songs, from writers as far afield as Mark Lowry (I kid you not) to Steve Earle. All ten songs deal with the birth of Jesus—sleigh rides and tinsel are not spoken here.
Mattea's husky voice carries these songs with passion and conviction. The instrumentation and production are tastefully underdone. At times there's a thin veneer of slickness, but nothing too syrupy or overblown. The disc's only other downside is its pacing--none of these songs push beyond mid-tempo.
Highlights are Kye Fleming and Janis Ian's "Emmanuel", where Mattea's multi-tracked vocals run rings around herself; the syncopated spiritual "Somebody Talkin' About Jesus"; and Earle's lovely ballad "Nothing But a Child."
Good News is certainly good news for country/folk fans this Christmas.
Dave Draeger (10/28/98)
