Shot of Whiskey & A Prayer
What's a honky-tonk babe to do when country radio ain't country no more? Well, in the case of Danni Leigh, whose 1998 debut,29 Nights, established her as a femaleDwight Yoakam, you hang tight, cowriting shuffles like "Cruel Heart" and "Longnecks, Cigarettes" that evoke a neon barroom so realistically there's almost the smell of sawdust in the air. But you also know that steel guitars and heart-on-the-sleeve vulnerability aren't going to giveFaithandShaniamuch competition, so you compromise a bit, throwing in some lightweight rhythm numbers like Stacy Dean Campbell and Al Anderson's rockabilly toe-tapper "Honey, I Do." And for an ace in the hole, you rely on Jamie Hartford's "Back in Your Arms Again," a killer plea for real love. What if that still doesn't cut it at radio? Well, you say, "Forget it, dudes! I'm goin' back to the roadhouse," and you make the grittiest album of your life. This isn't it--the first one was closer--but it's a hint of how great Leigh can be, wedding a barfly's pain to a honky-tonk heart, armed only with a shot of whiskey and a prayer.--Alanna Nash