Rodeo Waltz
For most folks in Nashville, the fall from a mega-company like Columbia Records to a small outfit like Sugar Hill would be a tragic blow, but it may be the best thing that ever happened to the Sweethearts of the Rodeo. On their first album for Sugar Hill,Rodeo Waltz, Janis Gill and Kristine Arnold (who grew up in Southern California as the Oliver sisters) have traded in the electrified country-pop sound of their CBS albums for acoustic country-bluegrass arrangements, which suit them far better. The country-folk approach really clicks for the Sweethearts of the Rodeo, perhaps because their voices and sensibilities are so intimate and delicate to begin with. The wooden echo of the picking by mandolinist Sam Bush, fiddler Stuart Duncan, and others has a gentle quality that fits the sisterly harmonies just right.--Geoffrey Himes