Posted by Todd James Newman on May 28, 2011 at 10:00am
In a better world than this world we live in, every music fan, musician, and songwriter would be hip to Radney Foster and Bill Lloyd. I think that the fact that a decent amount of folks do dig them is a credit to how talented these guys are. I’ve always thought, or more likely wished, that cream would always rise to the top. As I’ve learned over the years, sometimes God-given talent does, sometimes it doesn’t, and sometimes it makes strange appearances, such as some of Radney’s songs being hits for artists like Keith Urban and Sara Evans. If you go to Youtube, you’ll find many a cover version of Radney and Bill’s songs posted on there, all the way from a guy sitting in his living room with a funny looking guitar to a full band doing a song. That certainly says something. It’s proof to me that I’m not the only guy or girl being moved by their songs, blasting their cds loud in the car, or being inspired by them to write my own songs, make my own cds.
I go way back with Foster and Lloyd. I bought their first lp, bought the singles, bought everything they’ve done solo-wise since then. I’m no music writer, really, just a guitar player/songwriter/singer. I’d put these guys up there with The Beatles and Big Star as far as inspiring me to keep going, always against great odds, in the screwy music business, thinking that, hell, I’m a pretty decent songwriter, maybe this music thing is just in the blood, maybe it’s all about creating great music and not about doing something just for the money. It’s nice when the money decides to join the self-expression and digging around in the soul, but I’ve never had the feeling that Bill and Radney were in it just for the money. I know I’m not, since there isn’t any.
I’m not going to run down the entire Radney and Bill musical history right now—like I said, I’m not your average music writer and there’s likely better writers than me that can tell the tale with much more gusto and entertaining detail. Let me just say that Foster and Lloyd recorded three magnificent albums together, went their separate ways, and recorded and released solo albums after that. Radney’s albums were a bit more high profile than Bill’s, although both of their efforts were equally exciting and superb. Radney’s latest solo album “Revival” is one of the most personal and moving documents that I’ve heard ever. To me, it’s up their with John Lennon’s “:Plastic Ono Band” and Big Star’s “3rd/Sister Lovers.” And amazingly enough it came along just when I needed to hear it, as some records do. I won’t go into that right now, but let’s just say that it literally saved my life.
When I heard that Foster and Lloyd were going to do a new album together, I just about danced a jig. Maybe I did. I love their new cd “It’s Already Tomorrow” so much; it’s hard to really put it into words. The songs, the singing, the guitar playing, everything—amazing. The title track deserved to be a hit, as do most of the songs. “If It Hadn’t Been For You,” “Lucky Number,” “Watch Your Movie,” and literally every track on the cd had me going the very first spin. I’m about 30 listenings in at this point, and I’m not tired of hearing the songs yet. When was the last time you heard a cd where every song is just killer? Besides some of the Replacements albums, you’d have to travel back to the 70’s. What kind of genre is the music of Foster and Lloyd? Who cares about genres! I’m a melodic pop fiend and I love Americana, country, jazz, etc. I’m tired of genres. How about we file “It’s Already Tomorrow” by Foster and Lloyd under the heading of best cd of the year.
