Jean Shepard Songs of a Love Affair / Heartaches and Tears (CD)

Songs of a Love Affair / Heartaches and TearsJean ShepardGenre: CountryDescription: PRODUCT DESCRIPTION CD - TWO ON ONE - 24 TRACKS - CAPITOL - EAN 724349685321 AMAZON The career of the Oklahoma-born Shepard who recorded these two albums in 1956 and 1962 has been largely and unfairly overlooked; at her best she merits comparison with more popularly regarded country divas like Dolly Parton or Patsy Cline (Shepard's first husband the singer Hawkshaw Hawkins died in the same plane crash that claimed Cline). Shepard has a fine edgy voice which matched with the right material still rings true. As the titles suggest Shepard's preferred metier was the somebody-done-somebody wrong song. Songs Of A Love Affair is pretty much a concept album the story of a girl as the original sleevenotes have it too eager to give her love. Though the lyrics are cringeworthy in their corniness it remains an interesting sociological insight into the morals of small-town America in the 1950s. Heartaches And Tears is much better including superb performances of the Ira Louvin/Helen Cater tearjerker I Lost You After All and Johnny Mullins' Would You Be Satisfied?. --Andrew Mueller