Connie Smith
took her time to deliver
The Cry of the Heart
, the third album she's made in collaboration with her longtime husband,
Marty Stuart
. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the record arrived in 2021, precisely ten years after
Long Line of Heartaches
and in a year where
turned 80.
Smith
never sounds her age on
, nor does she sound like she cares a thing for fashion: it's an old-fashioned country album by design, a tight 30 minutes of hardwood honky tonk anthems and barroom weepers, all delivered without fuss but plenty of flair. The impetus for the album was the arrival of "I Just Don't Believe Me Anymore," a new song by the great retired songwriter
Dallas Frazier
, a composer
has recorded many times over the years.
and
Stuart
built
around the tune, digging up old gems by
Carl Jackson
("To Pieces," "I'm Not Over You"),
Merle Haggard
("Jesus, Take a Hold"),
Ned Miller
("Heart, We Did All That We Could"), and
Mel Tillis
("All the Time"), then pairing them with new originals. There's not a bad tune in the batch and, better still,
sounds vigorous and vibrant. Maybe her range has diminished, but her mastery of phrasing has not -- she digs into the heart of the songs, infusing them with style and emotion that resonates. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine