Time
By now it's a cliché to say that a great older singer's voice has mellowed like fine wine--but sometimes clichés are true, which is how they become clichés in the first place. Ray Price's solid-oak timbre and phrasing here suggest the experience and wisdom of a lounge singer while remaining stone country. Few others could do justice to the hard, complicated truths of "You Just Don't Love Me Anymore" or "If It's All the Same to You," and Price proves he's earned an overwrought lyric like the title song simply by undersinging it. Produced by Nashville veteran Fred Foster, featuring old-hand sidemen who played on Price's shuffling early hits, and even including three songs written by fellow Texan Cindy Walker,Timedoesn't come across as nostalgic, but rather as the eloquent statement of a masterful artist who knows he's just not done quite yet, thank you.--John Morthland