Good to see Charles Taylor back for a bow at Salon - he's always been worth paying attention to.

It's interesting to me that he calls out Dolly Parton and George Jones for looking backward for material, as well as Martina McBride in this review. Dolly was on The Daily Show only a few weeks ago, and while she was too nice to say so, you got the feeling that looking backward was, for her, where the good stuff resided right now.

I don't think this impulse has anything to do with nostalgia - more from constriction, and for an active artist that's got to be nearly killing. Therefore, you go back to roots, to the solid, to the best of the good - it's a lifeline.

And, for me, a little work on Limewire.

Thanks for the CT showcase!

That "Independence Day" may be considered one of the great singles of the 90s is understandable. That country radio will take information like this and (continue to) play an eleven year old song once every four hours is embarrassing for everyone involved. Country radio is notorious for overplaying the classic music we enjoy, while also force-feeding us the latest top 40 songs and, when their chart run has ended, unceremoniously dumping them (unless they continue to test alongside the classics, and they rarely do).

The bigger question regarding Martina's latest album is: why? If these songs and -- as is well-documented in this article -- their classic arrangements are so "timeless," why re-record them? Country music fans have been trained over the past few decades to love and adore the performer (and his catalog) over any individual song, so it was an economic no-brainer that the reigning queen of contemporary country would, note-for-note, re-record music -- by much-beloved artists -- that we recognize.

There is no breath of new life here; I can only assume this was as well-coordinated as the latest Garth Brooks release (or any Garth Brooks release, for that matter) and as artistically refreshing as all these girls we've seen, these past few months, trying to out-Gretchen Gretchen Wilson.

Martina McBride is very talented but is still, despite this writer's protestations, in my mind extremely "mainstream." I did really like her song, "My Daughter's Eyes" and of course "Independence Day" was a a plain old good tune. But how can you by any stretch compare her with, much less put her or anyone above Lucinda Williams, very arguably one of the greatest WRITERS -- not just songwriters -- in America today, one of the most brilliant literary minds of all time, as well as a stunning, tasteful, cool, groovy musician and bandleader. Williams is not a country artist anyway, and doesn't pretend to be -- she's as steeped in Delta blues (if not more so) and roots rock, politically-tinged folk and the singer-songwriter "ethos" as she is the down-home echoes of earlier ("real") country. But for your one "tailor-mades" line in "Satin Sheets" I'll raise you any one of Williams' myriad brilliant (AND innocent) turns of phrase - from "June bug versus hurricane" in "Too Cool 2 B 4Forgotten," musing about cruising "in a yellow Barracuda, listenin'to Howlin' Wolf" in "Lake Charles," not to mention the explosive (!) "Metal Firecracker" on her album "Car Wheels" ... all the way back to her first widely-received album, wherein "The Night's Too Long" is okay, maybe sad, but brilliantly brave; not to mention the triumph of Lucinda's multi-platinum-penned tune, "Passionate Kisses," arguably one of the most exuberant, self-affirming anthems ever written (and a giant hit for Mary-Chapin Carpenter, no slouch herself as a singer-songwriter though she "broke" in "country"). Someone (Steve Earle?) said, "All American music (I think he added or included, "rock & roll") is folk music." Let's skip the labels and the moralizing and get down to great singing and great writing. McBride is an excellent singer. Williams is brilliant at both.

To call Lucinda Williams' music "wallflower moping" is puzzling given the

vast range of her work; it also does a disservice to readers who might not

be familiar with her. Certainly you can pick a few songs where the label

could apply: "Right in Time", "Still I Long For Your Kiss" from "Car Whells On A Gravel Road". But what about the three-lead-guitar jam of "Joy" or the amazing roots vocal performance on "Can't Let Go" from the same CD? I wonder if the reviewer formed his opinion based on the first track.

Or consider her latest studio CD, "World Without Tears", that I've been listening to over and over again. The emotional range is huge; this is not a mopy woman.

I don't care if "Independence Day" is the second greatest single of the '90s, the fourth, the 10th, the 17th, or the first. That kind of quantification is basically pointless anyway. But Taylor is right that it's a pretty freaking great record. More passion, better singing, and better lyrics than the vast majority of singles (rock, country, hiphop, R&B, or whatever) from that decade, that's for damn sure.

I do like Martina McBride, but this statement....

"She's never equaled her first big hit, "Independence Day" -- the witness of a true believer delivered as a scorched-earth sermon -- which, after Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," is the greatest single of the '90s."

.. is the most ludicrous over-reaching statement I've read on Salon in, oh, three or four hours.

I'm happy to see Charles Taylor is back writing for Salon. His reviews have always been my favorite to read because I consistenly disagree with almost everything he has to say. However, his perspective is always refreshingly unique. His weird observations and absurds ideas always give me something to chew on after the fact, which is more than can be said for most arts/entertainment reviews.

I enjoyed the article and look forward to hearing the new McBride cd--but was surprised by the stridency with which Charles Taylor indicts most alt. country--'flies on a window' or something. That's kind of funny, but i don't share the author's opinion. Lucinda Williams might be uneven in performance but she's released some killer cd's and has an amazing, emotive, seductive, yearning voice. Even her softer romantic songs like ('gonna have to) steal your love' off 'Essence' pack aching, lust and longing into every syllable. Alejandro Escovedo, the Ligon brothers Scott and Chris, the wonderful Waco's, the Twangbangers, Sally Timms, Dave Alvin, Neko Case--the list goes on and on and on. This is wonderful stuff, and I don't think you even need to go as far as Martina McBride to find true countrypolitan 70's genius. Have you heard "Georgia Hard" by Robbie Fulks? The songs are just plain gorgeous, and he wrote them all himself.