Del Rio Texas 1959
As half of the Nashville duo Foster & Lloyd, Radney Foster blended the sounds of the Byrds and the Everly Brothers into lightweight country-pop tunes. On the soloDel Rio, TX 1959, Foster wades out into the deeper currents of country tradition and fishes out a Texas-swing honky-tonk album so good it could have come from George Strait. The title refers to the time and place of Foster's birth; it was a year when Texan George Jones topped the country charts with "White Lightning." When Foster tells a departing lover, "Don't say goodbye, just slam the door," the twangy kiss-off recalls the unvarnished frankness of Jones's heyday. --Geoffrey Himes