Hits & Highways Ahead
Texan Lee Roy Parnell arrived on the scene in 1992 looking like a homogenizedDelbert McClintonfor the suburbs. Through the years, the country bluesman has evolved into a bankable, if too-safe hit-maker--mining the same, somnambulistic midtempo groove--while his slide guitar work, once as stinging as a scorpion, tends to settle for repetitive licks. Still, when he hits his stride, especially on the R&B-leaning; ballads ("When A Woman Loves a Man," "Love Without Mercy"), he brings a welcome bit of blue-eyed soul to the polyurethane radio format. Parnell also proves himself with "If the House Is Rockin'," a roadhouse raver, and with "John the Revelator," the hippest blues-spiritual (with theFairfield Four) thatLyle Lovettnever made. This (mostly) greatest-hits package contains two new songs, including "Long Way to Fall," which explores the frightening exhilaration of love in yet another midtempo loper.--Alanna Nash