Warren Zevon song that follows has a title we can’t print here. It’s about Zevon’s failing health, watching your body start to fall apart. An emotional powerful song. ”Lady Yesterday” is a beautiful Friedman
tune, sung well, played well, with great lyrics. “Freedom to Stay” kind of reminds me of Kristofferson. This is just a good album all the way
around.Kinky’s voice never sounded bet- ter than on “Wind Man from Borneo,” Hag- gard’s “Mama’s Hungry Eyes,” and Dylan’s “Girl from the North Country.” Also great is Kinky’s cover of a lesser known Johnny Cash song called “Pickin’ Time,” and a couple of lovely songs from days gone by; “Wand’rin Star” and the beautiful “A Nighting Sang in Berkeley Square.” The Loneliest Man I Ever Met may have
been a long time coming, but it was worth the wait. I get the same feeling after playing this that I do after listening to a new Kris Kristof- ferson album. A very calm, happy feeling.....
-Michael Buffalo Smith
Donnie Fritts Oh My Goodness (Single Lock Records)
“Funky” Donnie
Fritts, aka: “The Leanin’ Man of Al- abam’,” at the age of 71, is a Muscle Shoals leg- end if ever there was one. The long time key-
board player for the Kris Kristofferson Band, Fritts has penned enough hit songs to last a lifetime, and he is still writing, With his new album, Oh My Goodness, Donnie delivers his most polished album to date, stepping out of his Shoals funk shoes to deliver a record of some of his fa- vorite songs, including some original tunes he had never recorded.
The first song on the album, “Erroll
Flynn,” serves as , a tribute to the charac- ter actors of yesteryear. A Hollywood vet- eran himself, with bit parts in Sam Peckinpah’s early 70’s films Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, Donnie’s friend and actor Billy Bob Thornton is the one who introduced him to Amanda McBroom’s song, written for her father the actor, David Bruce. Accompanied by John Paul White on guitar and St. Paul and the Bro- ken Bones’s Allen Bransetter on trumpet and Ben Griner on trombone, Donnie de- livers this excellent story with honest emotion. What a great way to kick off an album. One of my favorite tracks here is one
that Donnie wrote with John Prine called “Oldest Baby in the World.” Prine sits in, as he has on each of Donnie’s four albums. Just a great song. Matter of fact, it used to be a staple om own acoustic shows. Another great co-write of Donnie’s (writ-
ten with Dan Penn) appears on this album for the first time, having been previously cut my many artists. The funky “Memphis Women and Fried Chicken” is Cadillac man, as my buddy Paul T. Riddle would say. Jason Isbell and wife Amanda Shires
appear on the album, along with Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section bassist David Hood and keyboard man Spooner Old- ham, Nashville guitarist Reggie Young and a slew of The Shoals’ next generation. This one is a must have for any fan of great songwriting and Muscle Shoals magic. Lean into it.
-Michael Buffalo Smith
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