Janie Fricke
The Country Music Association's female singer of the year two times in a row, Fricke is on more than a roll: She's a one-woman stampede. To look at the cover of this album, though, it would appear someone is out to make over her image from nice girl to harridan. Dressed in a garish outfit that is red, violet, fuchsia, magenta and orchid, she has a fist clenched and seems to be snarling. Unfortunately, this off-putting picture belies the contents of the album, which consist of more of the same semisweet, good-natured-country-lady singing that has made Fricke such hot stuff. The tunes are Grade-A Nashville material by composers such as Charlie Black and Tom Rocco (Love Lies), Alan Rush and Dennis Linde (Walkin' a Broken Heart) and Jan Buckingham and Shawna Harrington (I've Had All the Love I Can Stand). Fricke's singing is lively and engaging. Awards aside, she never approaches the emotional intensity of, say, Parton or Wynette, but she never walks through a tune either.
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