You see once in a while, normally when I'm in HMV or some other such establishment that actually sells Country records other than Johnny Cash or the Dixie Chicks, I get an urge...an urge to buy a Country album. In the mid to late 90's I did it quite a lot (man, I wish they still had CMT on in the UK) but that's tailed off over the years, mainly because I can buy enough crap I wouldn't normally do off Amazon and the such like.
But this week, the urge got me again. And for little other reason than the fact I saw her on the front of a Country magazine and she shares my last name, I found myself purchasing the latest album by Julie Roberts, the cringeworthily titled Men & Mascara. In fact, and I kid you not, I knew before I'd even played the CD that "men and mascara always run" would be a lyric. And I wasn't disappointed.
So really you could say that you know what you are getting before you even stick this CD in the player. But then something strange happens; you stick it in and its not the usual knee slapping Nashville hoe-down that you would expect from a pretty face. In fact if this album has a theme it's heartbreak. And it's heartbreak so lyrically nailed on that you can't help but get sucked into the record. Even the upbeat songs, such as the rather catchy First To Never Know, hide yet more heartbreak.
Men are bastards who only want sex, but women can't help themselves from falling in love seems to be the underlying message. And whilst it may not be the message you would want to teach the children of the world, the effect is producing a record that is far removed from the cliched Nashville world we have come to expect. Yes, sonically the album could be by any one of the identikit beauties trying to make their way in Country music (and in a way that will surely help the record to gain favour with the Country radio stations), but this is a record that forges an identity of it's own.
Country enough to appeal to that market, but sassy and vibrant enough to deserve to find a wider market, this turns out to be quite the delight.
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