Veteran Nashville tunesmith Chris Gantry’s latest album, his first in a good long while to my knowledge, brings novelty songs back to the limelight with spunk and sheer wit.
Label: Faverett
[Rating: 3.5 STARS]
Veteran Nashville tunesmith Chris Gantry’s latest album, his first in a good long while to my knowledge, brings novelty songs back to the limelight with spunk and sheer wit. For listeners expecting thinkers like Gantry’s late ‘60s classics “Dreams of the Everyday Housewife” (a Glen Campbell hit) and “Sundown Mary” (a Billy Walker hit), they won’t find them here; but this collection warrants attention-in this day and age where novelties, sadly, have lost their luster in country music. There are enough one-liners in “Marriage of Pope Paul to Flipper” (“Have you ever dined on mice and baked cigars?”) alone to make even the most sour person crack a smile. “Foo On You,” which chronicles the trials and tribulations of Percy (son of “Big Bad John,” kin to “A Boy Named Sue”), is downright hilarious.