Every Little Word
Hal Ketchum is one of those Texas singer/storytellers like Jerry Jeff Walker, Townes Van Zandt and Lyle Lovett who can make you hang on every line no matter how dry and sandy his voice is. Ketchum's fourth album, "Every Little Word," is no different; it's full of sharply etched stories about men lost on the street and down the road and looking for a woman to lead them back home. "Every Little Word" is Ketchum's best album not because the words are any different but because the music is.Ketchum is finally learning how to sing. His voice is a modest instrument, but on this new recording he sounds much more relaxed. For example, the album's title tune explains that true love isn't simply a matter of saying, "I love you, baby"; it's an excitement and commitment that can be heard in "Every Little Word" one love says to another. You can hear just what the lyrics are trying to describe in Ketchum's vocal. There's no strain in his throat as he opens up and simply lets the warbling notes spill out. When he sings about his wife "in the kitchen singin' like a bird," there's a chirping giddiness in his singing, too.--Geoffrey Himes