Music Reviews

Album Review: LeAnn Rimes – ‘Family’

By Jeff Swindoll Oct 12, 2007, 13:13 GMT

This sounds like a pivotal release for Rimes, who made her breakthrough as a childhood prodigy with an uncanny vocal resemblance to Patsy Cline, and then evolved into an eclectic diva who couldn\'t quite decide what she wanted to be when she grew up. She\'s all grown up now, as both the sensual "Upper Hand" and the spiritual "What I Cannot Change" attest. Rimes had a hand in writing all ...more

You’ve come a long way baby.  LeAnn Rimes first came onto the music scene at the tender age of thirteen and by the age of 24 she had sold nearly 40 million albums.  She goes down in the history books as being the youngest female country artist to win a Grammy. 

She bases her latest album on life and co-writes the first thirteen tracks.  The bonus tracks are a duet with Bon Jovi (“Till We Ain’t Strangers Anymore” – which is also on Bon Jovi’s ‘Lost Highway’) and Reba McEntire (“When You Love Someone Like That” – which is also on Reba’s Duets album).  She also duets with Marc Broussard on “Nothing Wrong.”

Rimes has developed quite the powerful voice and uses it to great effect on this album.  The album has both a vocal power as well as a personal edge since the songs seem to reflect a portion of Rime’s life. 

It’s obviously been a life of ups and downs as some of the lyrics of the songs demonstrate (as all our lives are).  The songs have a country edge but some of them border on rock songs and I think that Rimes does a fine job of straddling both genres. 

The album is fantastic and definitely worth the money. 

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