Disclaimer: Nichole received a copy of the new Court Yard Hounds album, “Amelita,” for review via a One2One Network campaign. She is eligible for incentives for her participation in the campaign, but all opinions stated are her own.
Until the early ’90s, lite pop rock was the soundtrack of my summer. We’d cruise around town wailing along to “We Built this City” and “You Give Love a Bad Name,” “Time After Time” and “Hold on to the Night,” and all was well. And then Garth Brooks and his big ol’ hat released “No Fences,” the album from whence “Friends in Low Places” took over the world. Suddenly my stepmom and stepsiblings were crazy for country music, and nothing was ever the same.
That sounds pretty melodramatic, doesn’t it? Well, I was 13 and listening to Nirvana and The Smashing Pumpkins. It was a melodramatic time.
I still don’t like pop country, which may leave you asking why I’m reviewing “Amelita” by the Court Yard Hounds. Basically it’s because the duo is 2/3 of the Dixie Chicks — sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Robison; the third Chick, Natalie Maines, is now sporting a pompadour and making music with Ben Harper — and the Dixie Chicks’ version of “Landslide” usually leaves me misty-eyed. I’m a sucker for good harmonization, regardless of where the album is filed at the record store.
“Amelita” delivers on the harmonization front, and it was a nice accompaniment to the rainstorms we had last week. My favorite tracks on the album are “Aimless Upward,” which sounds like a cross between early Wilco and something you might hear at a Women of Faith conference, and “Sunshine,” a chipper and sarcastic little paean to the toxic people in one’s life.
Despite the fact that the lyrics on a lot of the songs seem pretty personal, there isn’t a whole lot of fire in the performances. I’d put it on my Pleasant & Polished But Passionless playlist (which also features Jack Johnson and Coldplay).
