ALBUM: Lone Justice (1985)
MVC Rating: 4.0/$$
This is Tammy Wynette and the Scorchers.
Country leavened belter Maria McKee delivers a hybrid punk country voice that is big and just a shade too sharp for my ears. No question she’s talented. But the LA band came with lots of hype.
One critic declared the self-titled debut the greatest album ever made, according to the band’s Wikipedia page.
Huh?
Just in the sub-genre of cowpunk, two out of three of my Jason and the Scorchers records match or exceed this.
They had a few singles but none did super well. The Tom Petty-penned ‘Ways to be Wicked’ is possibly the best.
I like the more country – leaning songs such as ‘Dont Toss Us Away’‘ and ‘Soap Soup and Salvation’ I love the album’s soft gospel closer, ‘You Are the Light.’
But after disappointing sales, they moved toward more mainstream rock and the band fizzled.
‘You are the light in my dark world, you are the fire that will always burn.’