FILE UNDER: Julie Roberts summons her inner Patsy Cline.
CORPORATE LINE: With her debut CD, Roberts was country music’s Cinderella, a stunning blonde from Lancaster, S.C., who stole everyone’s heart with her honest music, cover-girl looks, exuberant personality and irresistible laughter. And now with her second album, Men & Mascara, Roberts proves she’s in it for the long run.
Men & Mascara, produced by Byron Gallimore (Lee Ann Womack, Faith Hill), is an impressive collection of songs certain to stand the test of time. After touring non-stop for two years, Roberts has honed her signature vocal style and developed a newfound confidence that she unleashes on her sophomore release. That self-assurance allowed her to rise to the level of Gallimore’s musical direction, which included twice the number of musicians as her first album and introduced the fiddle to Roberts’ music, as well as more steel guitar and mandolin.
THE GOOD:
“Paint And Pillows” – Men & Mascara starts off with this gorgeous song that finds pain in every room of a home in which she’s been betrayed.
“Too Damn Young” – A song about being “too damn young to know any better” as if kissing as a teen meant forever—and now reflecting upon how innocent and silly it was.
“Men & Mascara” – This is an interesting song that compares men and mascara because they always run—thus when the man runs the mascara runs. It may not sound profound—however the song will give you little goosebumps because Julie Roberts pulls it off with a sense of soul that not many artists have today.
“First To Never Know” – Steps out of the slower tracks and kicks up some dust and moves along with toe-tapping delight.
THE AVERAGE:
“A Bridge That’s Burning” – This is a pretty song that doesn’t muster the power of the opening tracks.
“Girl Next Door” – This isn’t terrible—but could have been left off. It’s too cutesy and clichéd.
THE BAD:
Nothing.
FRANKLY: Julie Roberts didn’t go the route of Shania Twain with big bombastic country pop songs—instead Roberts takes on topics that aren’t always rosy. By taking the road less traveled Julie Roberts has released one of this year’s best country albums.
+ Charlie Craine
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