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Connie Smith - Long Line of Heartaches

A Classic Country Record
Connie Smith
Long Line of Heartaches
Sugarhill Records (SUG-CD-4072)

****1/2  ( 4-1/2 Stars)


Connie Smith - Long Line of Heartaches

It has been fifteen years since Connie Smith recorded an album, and prior to that she hadn't released a record since 1978. She didn't feel she had enough songs to record the album she wanted to record. Over the last several years, she wrote five tracks, along with her husband Marty Stuart, and collected seven songs from other songwriters that became "Long Line of Heartaches." The twelve track set will transport you back to the days that traditional country music was the only country music on the radio.

Connie Smith's pure heartfelt delivery of every song she has ever recorded is what makes her revered by fellow artists of all genres. For "Long Line of Heartaches," Smith delivers songs with a variety of tempos all about a single topic - the heart.  Lamenting lost loves and languishing in the pain of heartbreak is part of country music's legacy.

The highlights of this album include "That Makes Two of Us," "Blue Heartaches," "I'm Not Blue," and "Ain't You Even Gonna Cry."  The steel guitar is Smith's favorite instrument and it is featured on each track of the CD. It is part of the sound that is traditional country music and adds the musical emotion of heartache. Also on this record, for the first time, Connie Smith's daughters perform with their mother on the hymn "Take My Hand."

This is an album that will preserve the traditions of country music as they were, songs that weren't over-produced and where the singer and the songs were the star. This is one of those albums that traditionalists will love and an album that young country fans should have as required listening of what real singers sound like.

~ October 2, 2011, Christine Ellis