Under the Covers

First things first...on her new CD, Gretchen tackles cover versions of 12 classic rock songs, and she does NOT perform "country versions" of them. The instrumental backing and arrangements are kept so close to the originals that what you're really getting here is a Country girl who's never been shy about exposing her Rocker heart turning in renditions that are VERY faithful to the originals. This is NOT "a country album."

She comes straight out of the gates with a powerhouse version of Rod Stewart & Faces' "Stay With Me," complete with all of the original Ron Wood guitar parts. Her vocals are straight Rod, she's not being coy at all, she just pulls the pin and tosses the grenade. And to her credit, she doesn't pull a gender shift on the lyrics...Stewart used this song as a showcase for some of his his most extreme bad boy rocker strutting and she does pretty much the same.

This is the point where most people are going to criticize the album and go on about how the songs are such carbon copies, but if you were THERE when these songs were HITS, the "glass half full" view is that the album is a lot of FUN because Gretchen herself is a lot of fun. If you don't believe me, head on over to YouTube and watch her in Big & Rich's "Fake ID" video. She'll be turning 40 at the end of the month (June 2013), and she could give MANY up and coming divas half her age a lesson in attitude and sex appeal. Some people may have never made it past the point of "Redneck Woman," admittedly a song (and accompanying manifesto) that's not everyone's cup of tea. That's a shame, because that's an aspect of her career that doesn't tell the whole story.

"Doctor My Eyes" benefits from some nice harmony vocals that add a little sweetness to the bittersweet of the original.

"Everybody Wants You" is one of the gems of the set. Granted, Billy Squier was all over MTV in the 80s, but I'd be willing to bet that more people have forgotten him in 2013 than remember him. This song (and the original video) leaned heavily on primping and preening and an androgynous sort of slithering around, and once again, if you tell Gretchen "give me some attitude," she will give you some attitude. She also gets major props for not just cherry picking 12 mega-selling number one hits from mainstream rockers.

"Bell Bottom Blues" really displays the care that went into selecting the set list. An FM radio "deep album track," it wasn't a hit single, but it is one of the greatest all-time Eric Clapton performances of all time. The Clapton guitar parts are somewhat note-for note, but what you do miss on this track is Bobby Whitlock's anguished background vocals from the original. Everything else is intact, but Whitlock was the cherry on the original sundae, and his contribution makes you miss it on this version.

"Funk No. 49" is another sort of bold move, stepping into the guys' arena (The Joe Walsh version of The James Gang was all about riffs and jamming), but like the Faces track, she manages to pull it off.

When I heard the opening notes of "Hot Blooded" it almost made me wish she'd tackled Autograph's "Turn Up The Radio" instead...I think she could have done more with it. Foreigner was always a radio-friendly band specializing in lunkheaded, adolescent sexuality...this song is probably the best example...but if the project is all about Gretchen sifting through her collection and pulling up some old favorites, this song definitely isn't out of place.

Led Zeppelin's "Over The Hills And Far Away" gives you more stylistic range...she's performed "Rock & Roll" in concert and could have easily chosen it here. I like the fact that she didn't go for a Led Zep flat-out riff rocker.

Cheap Trick's "I Want You To Want Me" is along the same lines as the Foreigner track...you couldn't get away from this song in 1975, and then you couldn't get away from it AGAIN when the Budokan album dropped in 1978. Gretchen rocks out on the choruses and does a nice, laid back, seductive tease on the verses.

Journey's "Lights" is another surprise...but hey, if Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain gave Steve Augeri and Arnel Pineda shots at being Steve Perry, why can't Gretchen too? It's an instrumental clone of the original, and she just GOES FOR IT. The song was a showcase for Perry hitting and sustaining the high notes with power and intensity and she doesn't cheat a bit, it's a carpe diem baby performance.

And Bob Seger's "Her Strut"...could there be a more perfect song for Gretchen, just taking the whole man as "dog on the prowl" premise of the Seger original and spanking it hard for all it's worth?

"Bad Company" seemed like an odd choice, because it is so completely associated with Paul Rodgers (and yes, I know Brian Howe fronted the band for years, but I still stand on my comment). My feeling is that if I were sitting at a Gretchen Wilson concert and she whipped this one out, I'd probably be very into it. Here, it's a little too respectful of the original and she lets the band too too much of the heavy lifting on the fade-out. Doesn't make it a bad performance...it's just that some of the others on the album are stronger.

And in a TRULY class move, she closes out the album with Van Morrison's "Into The Mystic." Lesser artists would have gone for "Free Bird" or something equally bombastic. Gretchen's version of "Mystic" reminded me a bit of Sara Evans' version of Bruce Hornsby's "Every Little Kiss." When Gretchen reaches deep down into her diaphragm and croons "I wanna rock your gypsy soul," you believe her.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this review, I fully anticipate some one and two star reviews for this one. I don't care. I buy music because I like it, not because someone else told me to like it. It was my attempt to give you an honest track-by-track rundown of this one, and if anything I wrote catches your interest, you will not be disappointed with this album.

I am playing this over and over again. Well produced,excellent musicianship....and,of course Gretchen`s rough edged sexy right on pitched voice.

Great vocals, Great versions I never thought of her singing Rock & Roll. She doesn't disappoint. Really liked her spin of these songs.