A pro in the music business makes it look easy but, for a real pro, it is easy. They have the music imbued so deeply in their fiber that all they have to do is walk on stage, or into a studio, and the magic just happens. They just have fun and we get pure musical pleasure.
Jerry Lee Lewis is a real pro and on his new duets album, Mean Old Man, he proves it. The main emotion that comes through is joy – even on the saddest, and meanest, songs here – even on the corniest cuts (it takes some doing to make “You Are My Sunshine” such a pleasure).
Lewis is joined on the record by some other big names in the business which proves to be a real treat given that some of them (such as Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson) prove they are just as much pros as Lewis. Others, however, such as Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow, struggle to keep up with the master, especially in the having fun department.
The material helps the sense of fun. These are classics that the musicians are all familiar with – in some cases, the guest stars that appear on Mean Old Man wrote the songs they duet on (such as Mick Jagger on “Dead Flowers,” John Fogerty on “Bad Moon Rising,” Richards on “Sweet Virginia” and Haggard on “Swinging Doors”). Other songs are such classics of American music that everyone knows them: “Roll Over Beethoven,” “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” and, yes, “You Are My Sunshine.”
This is being promoted as Lewis' 'country' album of duets, as opposed to 2006's Last Man Standing, his 'rock' album. It has plenty of straight country tunes on it, but it also promotes a pretty wide definition of 'country' as the set includes some reworked renditions of “Roll Over Beethoven” and “Bad Moon Rising.” What it really speaks to is how narrow the line between rock and country is these days. “Dead Flowers” and “Sweet Virginia,” both from the Rolling Stones, are pure country, while “You Can Have Her” and “Rockin' My Life Away,” both classified as country, rock as hard as “Roll Over Beethoven.”
The same could be said for Jerry Lee Lewis' career itself, which wandered (or, at points, staggered) back and forth over that line. Leaving him equally at home, equally a pro, in either genre. This album makes clear it is all just music for him, and it is all just fun.
Artist:
www.jerryleelewis.com/
www.myspace.com/jerryleelewis
Album:
Mean Old Man is out now. Buy it here on Amazon .
