The week's top pick goes to Watch Your Movie, from reunited country duo Radney Foster and Bill Lloyd
PICK OF THE WEEK
Watch Your Movie, Foster and Lloyd
Between 1987 and 1991, Radney Foster and Bill Lloyd turned a smart blend of Texas folk, rockabilly and power pop into a half-dozen country hits before splitting up. They reunite on It's Already Tomorrow, out digitally today (physically May 17). This jangly number imagines a lover's past as a four-star biopic.
Foster and Lloyd It's Already Tomorrow ('Effin 'Ell ***1/2)
In the late '80s, Radney Foster and Bill Lloyd recorded three albums that placed them somewhere among peers such as Rodney Crowell and Marshall Crenshaw - artists who were reinvigorating segments of what the Blasters called simply "American music," in this case country and guitar-pop. They split up in 1990 and have recorded fine solo work. Now they're back together and, well, it sounds as if they never left.
It's Already Tomorrow contains all the Foster and Lloyd hallmarks: a mix of Byrdsian jangle and Bakersfield twang, vibrant harmonies that recall the Everly Brothers, and superb songcraft that blends indelible hooks with emotional resonance. In other words, from the twin-guitar sparkle of the title track, which opens the album, to the poignant closer, "When I Finally Let You Go," this is music that is not about tomorrow or yesterday. Instead it's thrillingly timeless.
