Neil Diamond - Tennessee Moon (1996/2016) [Official Digital Download 24/192]

„Tennessee Moon“ finds Neil Diamond duetting with Waylon Jennings, co-writing with Harlan Howard, and backed by the cream of modern country session musicians. It's his Nashville move, and it's bookended by two wonderful paeans to the country life. The album-opening title cut is a country-rocker that features some jangly electric guitar, pedal steel and fiddle, and a lyric about a songwriter leaving Hollywood behind and moving to Nashville in search of Hank Williams' spirit. "Blue Highway" is even better. Co-written by Diamond and Howard (author of "I Fall To Pieces," "Heartaches By The Number" and many other country standards), it rejects big-city life with the quiet authority of a cowboyish acoustic-guitar strum and a pledge to leave town via the side roads (because the interstate "represents all the things I hate").

As it happens, the sixteen cuts in between, written with various Nashville pros, leave Hollywood only half-behind. Diamond still possesses the cornball pop craft that's always served him well; love ballads like "Marry Me" or "Everybody" would work equally well in any city, in any genre, for better or worse. The best songs really do take Tennessee to heart. "Reminisce," co-written and sung with Raul Malo of The Mavericks, has the dramatic flair of a Roy Orbison rock ballad, and "No Limit" has the juiced-up, acoustic country-rock flavor of the early Everly Brothers. Both songs raise the memory of Diamond the cool young rock craftsman.

Tracklist:

01. Tennessee Moon
02. One Good Love [feat. Waylon Jennings]
03. Shame [feat. Hal Ketchum]
04. A Matter Of Love
05. Marry Me [feat. Buffy Lawson]
06. Deep Inside Of You [feat. Beth Nielsen Chapman]
07. Gold Don't Rust
08. Like You Do [feat. Rosemary Butler]
09. Can Anybody Hear Me
10. Win The World
11. No Limit
12. Reminisce For A While
13. Kentucky Woman
14. If I Lost My Way
15. Everybody
16. Talking Optimist Blues (Good Day Today)
17. Open Wide These Prison Doors
18. Blue Highway [feat. Chet Atkins]





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