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Terri Hendrix: The Ring |
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Track List 1. Goodbye Charlie Brown |
(Wilory Records) Terri Hendrix has carved
out for herself one of the most successful independent careers going.
She's gained critical acclaim for her well crafted, intelligent
songwriting, and her honest and down to earth vocals. She's well
respected by her peers, and has been invited to contribute her talents
on a countless number of their albums. Since her start in 1996, she's
formed a strong professional bond with musician/producer Lloyd Maines,
who not only produces her albums, but also contributes his musical
talents on her work, moreso than with other artists he works with, he
frequently performs live with her, and has co-written several songs with
her.
However, pop in a Terri Hendrix album, and
you won't hear the kind of music typically associated with a Lloyd
Maines project. Terri is a fiercely independent artist who makes music
her way, on her own terms. She marches to her own drummer. She manages
her own career and is firmly in control. She's resisted the lure of the
major labels, and instead puts out her albums on her own label, to
insure she remained in control and was free to put out the kind of music
she wanted to.
Terri Hendrix's music can't be pigeonholed
into any one neat little slot. Her's isn't the usual Texas
singer/songwriter fare. Rather, she combines her Texas roots with a
mixture country, bluegrass, Tex-Mex, folk, rock, blues and jazz. On The
Ring, Terri stays true to course, and even pushes herself a little
further. Perhaps the strongest testament as to who Terri Hendrix is, can
be found in the somewhat defiant, but very self-confident, country-folk
track "The Fact Is," where she proclaims "I've been who I am, I've been
who I'm not. Both have led me to find my own point of view."
The Ring's most fearless
and ambitious song is "From Another Planet," a straight up, but
humorously witty, jazz number, which may have been inspired by Terri's
favorite artist, Ella Fitzgerald. It's an unexpected curveball,
but Terri handles it with delightful ease. The poignant title track,
"The Ring" is an outstanding country folk ballad, telling the story of
her father, a quiet man, and the struggles that married couples often
face. She tells of how this man of few words may not have verbally
conveyed his feelings, but his greatest gift was in his actions,
showing his wife how much he loved her.
There are two covers on The Ring,
the Martie Seidel Maquire/Marcus Hummons penned ballad, "Long Time
Coming," and Terri gives an old time, bluegrass treatment to "Prayer For
My Friends," written by Jeff Barbra & Sarah Pirkle. The rest
of originals range from the country- folk of "Good-Bye Charlie Brown"
and "Spinning Off," smokier/blusier fare such as "I Found The Lions" and
"Nightwolves," the swampy roots rock of "Truth Is Strange," to the
infectiously catchy mix of Tex-Mex, folk and roots rock in "Consider
Me."
The theme that runs throughout Terri's songs
on The Ring is that life leads us through places both familiar
and unfamiliar, sometimes changing us in unexpected ways, and forces us
to evaluated and re-evaluate ourselves over time. Throughout it all
though, things will ultimately lead us back to where we started, perhaps
with a different perspective, and we'll discover who we are within
ourselves. Terri Hendrix provides a strong, intelligent, though
often eclectic, set of songs on The Ring, and her strong sense
of "self" and independence jumps out and grabs the listener's attention
from first note to last
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AnnMarie
Harrington
Take Country Back December 2002