Chris Vaughn

CD REVIEW: Chris Vaughn - Chris Vaughn
By Chip Withrow - 07/02/06 - 08:50 AM EST

Listening to Chris Vaughn’s self-titled CD, I find myself thinking about the randomness of country music success.

Here’s a guy who, unlike many of the big names in Nashville, writes almost all of his own songs. Vaughn creates contemporary-sounding country music that is still firmly rooted in tradition.

To my ears, Vaughn’s disc is as good as what I hear on the radio. It’s closer to Dwight Yoakam than Kenny Chesney, a well-produced effort that is slick but with some serious twang as well.

So why isn’t this guy on CMT? As far as potential hits, Vaughn gives us the clever and catchy “Backward” and “Out of Your Mind.” I’m playing these songs over and over again instead of tuning into the local “from the latest to the greatest” country station.

I like the ode to a trucker’s life, “500 Miles,” to start the album. It’s a straight-ahead rock and roll number, a punchy attention-getter. Later in the disc comes the other barn-burner, the bluegrassy “Picture in My Mind.”

The cover of Johnny Paycheck’s “In Memory of a Memory” is a perfect choice. Vaughn pours out an aching vocal of one of the best country lyrics I’ve heard lately. That song and the pretty “I Still Love You” (dig the soulful piano work) show that Vaughn can deliver a sensitive ballad.

Even the song that I think gets too cute lyrically, “Material Cowgirl,” is a musical romp. And maybe I’d appreciate the tune more if I were a cowboy. I have to stress that Vaughn's band (piano in the spotlight again, this time fun and strolling) absolutely swings.

I can imagine the closing track, the mid-tempo “The Wind,” being a big hit. It’s a bittersweet look at a couple who don't see eye to eye, and it has crisp drumming and a crying guitar solo.

The musician who is all over this disc, whose riffs blow me away, is pedal steel player Steve Easter. Check out how he makes “Backward” (my favorite cut) absolutely cook. Anyone who wants to have a country band needs to find a guy like this.

Granted, Chris Vaughn doesn’t break much new ground here, but every number is worth a listen. If you like popular country music, and you give this disc a chance, you will see that Chris merits a shot at big-time success. He’s his own man, in charge of his own sound and image, and that’s refreshing.
- Muse's Muse Reviews

Chris Vaughn knows how to write a song. As a pure country artist with authentic twang and drawl, of course he covers songs about love and trucks and living on a farm. But I’ve never heard it put quite the way he puts it in “Material Cowgirl”:

It all started when we bought this farm
Then she had to have a new horse barn
Bridles and saddles that cost more than my truck.
She got the very best western wear
uses mane and tail in her hair
And now my bank account has run amok ...

Sounds like the poor guy married the Bama version of Paris Hilton. And that’s what impresses me about Vaughn’s music – he’s 100% devoted to good old-fashioned, old-school country music, but he’s not afraid to rise above the cliches and put his own clever spin on things. We get the full smokin’ band, angelic harmonies, and wailing pedal steel (nice work, Steve “Rabbit” Easter), but what stands out are great lyrics like the ones in “Backward”:

I sat down to write a song about me and you
Always on the last line, we wind up sad and blue.
I don’t like the outcome, so this is what I’ll do
I’ll write this song backwards, then I won’t have to lose ...

This is the real deal. Fun and foot-stomping tracks mixed with sweet, heartbreaking ballads, and a well-done cover of Johnny Paycheck’s “In Memory of a Memory,” which contains one of the best song openers in country music: “I guess I owe all the neighbors an explanation about the noise that’s coming from this old house and me.” I guess being a sharp songwriter himself, Vaughn knows a winner when he hears it. - Indie-Music.com