Peter Cooper – The Lloyd Green Album – Red Beet Records RBRCD012, 47:02 *****:
There’s a literary quality to Peter Cooper’s songs and I mean that in a good way. The finely drawn details. The exquisite sense of irony with the sly humor simmering just beneath the surface. His tendency to write story songs about the people and events in his life. His fascination with the human condition. Cooper writes authentic songs with real heart and soul, and he has a blast telling his stories to us. I really don’t know of anyone that does a better job of writing these types of songs.
“The Lloyd Green Album” pairs Cooper with one of his most important musical heroes, Lloyd Green, the pedal steel guitar player who was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame and has played on more than 100 No. 1 country songs going back 50 years. Green has played with everyone from George Jones to Paul McCartney, but he’s never had the showcase for his talents that Cooper has given him in this album.
The selection of songs—more than half are written by Cooper—ranges from the bittersweet and heartbreaking “Mama, Bake a Pie” by Tom T. Hall to Cooper’s own “What Dub Does,” a clever and funny look at a real and slightly mysterious Nashville fixture. Cooper’s voice is softly creaky and inviting, and lightly treads the boundary between singing and talking. Even when he is serious, you can feel a wink is never far away. With the addition of Green’s pedal steel, this CD sounds more like classic country than Cooper’s material usually does, but this is an excellent direction for Cooper and his music. If you like intelligent songwriting and sensitive, nuanced performances, Cooper’s “The Lloyd Green Album” is strongly recommended.
TrackList: Dumb Luck; The Last Laugh; Elmer the Dancer; Gospel Song; Bells of Odilia; Mama, Bake a Pie; Champion of the World; Tulsa Queen; That Poor Guy; What Dub Does; Here Comes That Rainbow Again; Train to Birmingham
– Hermon Joyner
