Real: The Tom T. Hall Project

by

Various Artists

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"Real: The Tom T. Hall Project" brings together some of the finest country and popular music artists in the industry today, and provides an excellent cross-section of the songwriter's best work. Unfortunately, some of the performances fail to do justice to the quality of the material at hand. Highlights include Johnny Cash on "I Washed My Face in the Morning Dew," Kelly Willis covering "That's How I Got to Memphis," Calexico's version of "Tulsa Telephone Book," Syd Straw's biting rendition of "Harper Valley PTA," and the haunting, almost otherworldly sound of Mark Olson and Victoria Williams singing "It Sure Can Get Cold in Des Moines." Hall's classic "I Hope it Rains at My Funeral" also stands out as a winner. However, Iris DeMent, Joe Henry and Freedy Johnston seemed to have more difficulty in mastering the intimacy of the stories that these songs tell. The rockabilly bounce of "Don't Forget the Coffee, Billy Joe" falls flat, and "When Love Is Gone" just comes across as maudlin. Perhaps the most accurate way to describe this album is that it serves as an interesting, often brilliant, but erratic introduction to Tom T. Hall's impressive skills as a composer, which are worth hearing more extensively on his own recordings.