Album Review: Deana Carter – ‘The Chain’

By Jeff Swindoll Oct 5, 2007, 17:11 GMT

Deana Carter is a country music singer.  She comes from musical royalty in that she’s the daughter of legendary guitarist Fred Carter, Jr.  She came to prominence on her own with her 1996 album ‘Did I Shave My Legs for This?’ which produced several number one hits. 

This time Carter does a series of duets and collects songs together that have been an influence on her musical tastes and gathers some music royalty that are associated with the songs to sing them with her. 

She’s joined by Kris Kristofferson (“Help Me Make It Through the Night”), Dolly Parton (“Love is Like a Butterfly”), Willie Nelson (“On the Road Again”), George Jones (“He Thinks I Still Care”), Jessi Colter (“I’m Not Lisa”), and John Anderson (“Swingin”).  She also performs some of the songs that her father contributed to, “Lay Lady Lay” and “The Boxer.” 

Paul Simon returns the favor and plays guitar on “The Boxer” and his son Harper contributes the duet.  Shooter Jennings, Waylon Jennings’ son, joins her on “Good Hearted Woman” and sounds eerily like his father.  The songs are all good but some of them are very different than their original counterparts. 

I liked “On the Road Again,” but she and Nelson now sing it as a ballad and not the upbeat number that my mind wanted it to be.  I thought that “Crying” was very good. 

Be warned that Carter has a pronounced twang so even the pop songs have a country feel to them.  It didn’t bother me too much, but crossover audiences who don’t care for country have been warned.  The album was good and I thought that Carter did a great job with her special guests. 

‘The Chain’ is now available at Amazon. Visit the music database for more information.