Dreamin' My Dreams Album Review

Dreaming My Dreams marks Patty's 16th album over a career spanning 20 years. Think about it, in an industry that chews up artists like shark chum this is an achievement worth recognizing. The first accolade to honor this will be Patty's induction at the Georgia Music Hall of Fame this year, where husband Emory is also enshrined.

    Before we begin this review let me start by saying if there are any names in the album credits that are misspelled, or someone’s instrument not spelled correctly please forgive. It seems that every year they make that darn print smaller and smaller on these CD’s.

    Let’s get the obvious out of the way, radio will once again ignore the new Patty single and any subsequent release after that.  We could speculate till the cows come home but the cold hard truth is her time has come to make way for others on their way up. As Patty moves past spin counts and chart positioning, she enters a new stage in her career, making music for herself and the fans. In the end, we all benefit as you can hear with the releases of Mountain Soul, Bluegrass & White Snow, On Your Way Home and now Dreaming My Dreams. With the exception of Strong Heart in 2000 this new millennium, her next decade of music Patty has hit the ground running.  

    After 14 reviews, you start to run out of adjectives when describing a Patty song, and with the opening cut Keep Your Distance I really do not want to sound repetitive or clichéd, but this song is awesome baby, groovy, cool, right on and mellifluousness. From the opening notes to Patty’s vocals, this song becomes musical mind meld. I have not been able to get through a day and not hear this song in my mind or on the stereo.

   Patty slows things down with the next three songs Old Soul, When Being Who You Are Is Not Enough, and Nobody Here by That Name. Of the three, the one that stands out is When Being Who You Are Is Not Enough, backing vocals by the great Emmylou Harris. Their voices blend so well together and this song they hit their stride. Of the three, I lean towards Nobody Here by That Name, just because of the lyrics and music.

   Patty picks up the tempo with the first of only four up-tempo songs, Same Kind of Crazy. While I am on interesting facts with this album, there are six songs with no drums.  Lots of fiddle playing in this one and Patty does sound a bit crazy, and the song is about someone being the same crazy as her, and so the song works well, and crazy is as crazy does, and I wonder how long I can keep this run on silly sentence going, and to be truthful I can go on and on and on and on, just ask Jess about my infamous run on sentences, she can tell you a few that are still going today.

   This next group of three songs Patty slows the tempo down with Everything But The Words, my favorite Dreaming My Dreams With You, and On The Verge of Tears. Patty evokes the spirit of Waylon Jennings who first recorded this song. Lesser singers would over sing this, but Patty blends the vocal restraint with the melancholy to perfection.  On The Verge of Tears you get to hear Patty do that hitch thingie in her voice, sooooo cool.

   The next two finish the up-tempo with Dwight Yoakam joining in the vocals on Never Ending Song of Love. I like Dwight, he has one of the unique voices in country and it works very well with Patty on this song. Big Chance is the sequel Patty and Emory have written for Pretty Little Miss and this one is better than the last. Funny, fast paced and just a blast to hear in concert.

   My Old Friend the Blues is a song written by Steve Earle and once again, the Patty sings with a touch of the blues in her voice you can get kinda bummed yourself.

   What Patty album would be complete with out the final cut being about DEATH, I am beginning to wonder how many ways you can sing about dying and going to heaven, so far it is a lot. This song dedicated to her Mom in Law who passed away this year. As much as I complain about these songs, she picks good ones and this is no exception.

   As everyone knows by now if you let this continue to play you get two added bonus's. Songs that sound as if they are being taken for a test-drive to see if they work. All you get are an acoustic guitar and Patty. Interesting way to end an album.

   Overall, I am giving this CD a 4 out of 5 paw's only because the lack of up-tempo. For me personally I would have liked a few more up-tempo songs, the album seemed a bit of a downer. I am not saying that it is not a good album; it is good, but needs more up.