The Country Music Truth from Deryl Dodd on "Stronger Proof"

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 To get to Deryl Dodd's website, click on his CD cover, to hear a couple sample music clips click on the links after the review. 

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Americana Music      Texas Music       Rock and Roll and Blues

Deryl Dodd - Stronger Proof

So, I was getting all the yellow slips from the post office, you know the ones that say "item too large for your box" and I quickly browsed over all the titles I got that day. When I first saw the cover of Deryl Dodd's latest CD "Stronger Proof", I thought, "that one might be good", but it didn't really speak to me (the cover that is), not like it may for the women out there, it seemed like just another CD. Well, shucks, I couldn't have been more wrong on that one friends, Deryl Dodd seriously kicks some country ass, Texan style! hey, in my opinion, Dodd finally gets to wave the middle digit at the Nashville folks who wanted to herd him into the so called "Country" style they say is what the fans want to hear. Sometimes they are farther from what the fans want to hear than they will EVER admit!

Deryl's last CD on LuckyDog, the label he wanted to record for, snubbing the flagship of Columbia, may have seemed like career ending suicide, but the result was a great CD "Pearl Snaps", which was more true to his Texas roots, but not until the latest release on the true Texas label of Dualtone, "Stronger Proof", did Deryl Dodd actually craft his masterpiece. "Stronger Proof" is just what country music is supposed to be! Think of it this way, I often have, one of the greatest country music songwriters ever Harlan Howard said of Country Music that it's "Three Chords and the Truth". My friends we have found the real truth in Deryl Dodd, and by God this is Country music, yeah Texas style, but the way it was meant to be! Whether you really wanna hear some kickin' countrified Rock tracks or some moanin', heart string tuggin' Country Classics, you don't have to go much further than right here. Deryl Dodd IS spreading the Country Truth, and it's something you don't want to miss the boat on, you really want to get your hands on this one!

As far as songs selections, well, Deryl Dodd wrote or co-wrote 9 of the 10 tracks here, and his working of the one cover, Kenny Rogers "Love Or Something Like It", is maybe better than the original, at least more modern! Deryl Dodd also tips his hat to the ones that support him, the Fans, in "The Crowd". "The Crowd" may just be the best tribute to music lovers since Alabama's "Fans". The single "Let Me Be" is currently (as of the writing of this review) at the #5 spot on the Texas Music Chart, and yeah it is in like the higher 50s on Billboard, but it's still a great song. The there's the cuts "Never Again", "Outside Lookin' In" and the title cut "Stronger Proof" that give you the real heart and soul of Country Music, Deryl Dodd has a way of putting into words the way many of us may have felt during Heartbreak, lost love, or our reasons for drinking. More than once I said to myself while listening "That's just what I wish I could have said" about certain real life situations.

Finally, I just want to say to Deryl, welcome back..... This is the CD I have been waiting for, and you nailed it. I know the CD was released in late 2004, but I will still go out on a limb here and say this may just be one of the most truthful, and honest recordings of 2005, an awesome CD that can get you moving, and help out some of the "tear in my beer" sessions we've all been through. This is Texas Music defined, and what Country Music should be.  A real country CD that doesn't play by Nashville's rules. Deryl Dodd with "Stronger Proof" has delivered one hell of an album, possibly the single most important recording of his career thus far. This is one fan that is glad the troubled and poor health in Deryl Dodd's past is in the past, the future is a much better place to look for this, once again, Star on the horizon, it's been said before, but the sky's the limit, don't think, just buy this one, you won't be disappointed! 

  ( 5.5 Stars out of 6 )

Play MP3 Sample of "Let me Be"

  Play MP3 sample of "Outside Lookin' In"