Any Way the Wind Blows
Ricky Lee Phelps and his kid brother Doug are best known for their work in the Kentucky Headhunters. OnAnyway the Wind Blows, the duo strike a balance between Ricky Lee's classic honky-tonk voice and the aggressive arrangements which had made the Headhunters so popular. Rather than boogying on old bluegrass, novelty, and hillbilly songs as the Headhunters did, Brother Phelps draw their outside material from the likes of J.J. Cale and Steve Earle. And on their originals, the brothers bring a contemporary, progressive edge to their country-rock as if taking their cue from Cale and Earle. The album includes two Earle compositions, "I Ain't Ever Satisfied" and "The Other Kind," and Ricky Lee provides the vocal firepower to push these non-conformist anthems over the top. Ricky Lee and Doug lead a similar hard-hitting attack on the blues stomp "Down into Muddy Water" and their own rocking celebration of a convertible, "Ragtop." If he's not able to transcend mediocre material, Ricky Lee is able to rise to the occasion when a good song comes along. Such an opportunity comes on Dennis Linde's "Lookout Mountain," a narrative about the Civil War battle told from the perspective of a scared Confederate picket. In a strong vocal over a moody arrangement, Ricky Lee captures both the fear of battle and the sense of reluctant duty in this fateful tale of honor, defeat, and death.--Geoffrey Himes