Alan Jackson

On this covers album, Jackson flexes his Nashville/Bakersfield sound and honky-tonk muscle with old-school arrangements and a well-chosen set list. They may be committing murder on Music Row, but if Jackson's take on the lost Jim Ed Brown classic "Pop-A-Top" is any evidence, he's not the one putting all the drums and rock 'n' roll guitars on everything.

Until the Gucci arrival of Shania Twain, Dolly Parton was country glamour. Yet Parton
debuted as a mountain singer-songwriter, working with the great and equally rustic Porter
Wagoner. On recent recordings like Trio II, with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt, Parton
has gone home, but not with the curled-tongue abandon she brings to The Grass Is Blue,
where she re-tackles bluegrass, country and traditional songs with brio. First co... More >