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Letters from Home

John Michael Montgomery - Letters from Home Audio CD

A fair review of the John Michael Montgomery "Letters from Home" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all John Michael Montgomery reviews here, or go back to the John Michael Montgomery tabs.

Band: John Michael Montgomery
Title: Letters from Home
Rating:

Release Date: 2004-04-20
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Good Ground 2: Letters from Home 3: That's What I'm Talking About 4: Look at Me Now 5: Goes Good with Beer 6: Cool 7: It Rocked 8: That Changes Everything 9: Break This Chain 10: Little Devil

Best CD
If you like John Michael montgomery this is by far his best CD and "letters from home" is by far my faviorate track on the CD.

LOVE IT!!!!!!!!
We all listened to "Letters from Home" (the title track, LOL) and there wasn't a dry eye in the room. Letters from home is an awesome CD! We had two soldiers visit us who just got home from Iraq ~ I bought one of these CDs for each of them.

I'd buy the CD for that one song alone ~ EXCEPT that ALL the songs are great!!!! Soooo. . . buy it! :).

Montgomery Delivers Heartfelt "Letters"
While Eddie Montgomery is a heel kicking honky tonk troubadour, John Michael is the personification of gentility. Prime Cuts: Cool, Letters from Home, That Changes Everything

Musically, the family resemblance between John Michael and brother Eddie of Montgomery Gentry fame runs thin. While Montgomery Gentry has blasted the speakers of country radio with defiant anthems like "She Couldn't Change Me" and "Hell Yeah," big brother Montgomery sings about roping the moon and covering his significant other with kisses.

Not surprisingly, nostalgia, sentimentality and introspection earmarked John Michael's latest album "Letters from Home. " In fact, other than a few rollicking honky tonk numbers, most of "Letters from Home" deal with the affairs of the heart. Best of which is the excellent title cut as well as lead off single, "Letters from Home. " Riding along some gentle guitar picking and plaintive sounding dobro, Montgomery sings about a G. I. savoring correspondence from his parents and loved ones while being far away from home. An engaging number that has done its share of currying favor with country radio, "Letters from Home" finds Montgomery back into the top 10 terrain after a 4 year hiatus. Less poignant, but equally sentimental is the amicable "Look at Me Now. "

Ultra cool is Harley Allen and Brice Long's ballad "Cool"--- a cautionary tale of a father warning his rebellious teenager to take stock of his rowdy ways for what goes around comes around. Replete with some fine fiddling, Montgomery's performance on "Cool" is nothing less than stellar--sincere, reflective and entrancing. Though "Cool" first appeared on Montgomery's previous greatest hits collection, it's such a standout that I was glad it got revived. Paternal fidelity is also the theme of the album's opener "Good Ground. " Though set at a faster tempo with some big booming drums, it's one of the most country efforts Montgomery has tackled in a while.

Billy Yates and Jim Collins' "Break This Chain" is another superb country offering. Almost delivered as a prayer, "Break This Chain" expresses the desperate plea of an alcoholic for deliverance for the sake of his family. To my ears, this is one of the most moving tear jerker I have had heard in a while. Nevertheless, not all is sad. The hopeless romantic can put their fainting heart to ease: "That Changes Everything," penned by David Lee and Tony Lane (who were also responsible for crafting the title cut) is a gentle yet beautiful ballad extolling love's power to "change everything. "

However, not everything works here. Montgomery's sensitivity can work against him when the material is not right. I find Paul Overstreet and Marty Dodson's "It Rocked" excruciatingly sappy. "It Rocked" celebrates the milestones of life: first love, first car, first job. . . . Come on, I think this is a little too maudlin! I am already starting to get a tooth ache, it's just too sugary. I am sure Montgomery or/and producer Bryon Gallimore must have felt that way too. So, to boost Montgomery's machismo, we have the propulsive honky tonk number "Goes Good With Beer. " With Montgomery's crisp free suit and his family man image portrayed in the other songs, I find it hard to believe when Montgomery sings about hanging with his crazy buddies and those "pretty girls" in a smoke filled tavern as he professes in "Goes Good With Beer. " A tad more believable is the funky yet somehow raunchy "Little Devil"-though "Little Devil" sounds like a recycle of Montgomery's number 1 hit, "Be My Baby Tonight. "

Aside from these few detours, "Letters from Home," as the title suggests, appeals to the heart. With country radio's incessant appetite for heart tugging tunes, "Letters from Home" could easily be one of Montgomery's most radio friendly albums. In fact, I believe this album is hued with chart hits. This is a much welcomed return to form for Montgomery.

MORE THAN LETTERS...
After all, had that been the only good track on this CD I still would have felt that it was worth my money. I admit that I bought this album for the title track alone.

But the title track is just the beginning for this fine country offering by John Michael Montgomery. I found myself listening to and enjoying every track on LETTERS FROM HOME. Montgomery's smoother-than-silk voice is one of the finest in country music today and his straight-forward approach to his music comes through in every note. You won't want to miss this one.

THE HORSEMAN.

A good, solid country music album!
Though he got little airplay since then--"The Little Girl" is the only hit I can think of--this album promises to deliver him back into the spotlight. John Michael Montgomery has asserted himself as a radio mainstay in the nineties. He has left behind the twang of his previous efforts, and has chosen a good selection of substantial, well-written and BELIEVEABLE material.

LETTERS begins with "Good Ground," an uptempo number about family and love that continues on most of the other songs. The title track is a gut-wrenching number (admit it, you had a tear in your eye when you first heard it) that indeed stands out, but is not the only good tune on here. "Look At Me Now" is a confessional number about growing older, while "Cool" deals with the consequences faced in life.

"That's What I'm Talkin About" is a romp that manages to skewer gossipers AND contain suggestive lyrics (a similar vein is followed on "Little Devil"). "Goes Good With Beer" is destined to become a honky-tonk classic, while "Break This Chain" is pretty much it's opposite--the story of a man from a long line of alcoholics praying for the strenght to defeat his curse. "That Changes Everything" shows us the surprise directions life can take, while "It Rocked" lets us know that life's greatest moments and sensations come from the simple things.

LETTERS FROM HOME is easily John Michael Montgomery's best album. While Montgomery has situated himself as frontman for radio-friendly music (ironically, big-brother Eddie is doing the same thing for outlaw country), he shows us that he does indeed know what a good country song is about. . . His voice is neither world-class nor run-of-the-mill, but he uses it for all it's worth, and it's worth a pretty penny. LETTERS FROM HOME will make you cry, make you laugh, make you sing, and even--if you're really in the mood--make you dance. A great album by one of today's best performers.

You can see a complete list of all John Michael Montgomery discography, or go back to the John Michael Montgomery tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.