Tell the Truth

 (13 customer reviews)

Play that guitar Lee Roy! Parnell dropped by Arista Nashville is now with Vanguard Records. The change in labels is for the better, as Arista was attempting to make Lee Roy a country star. Vanguard has never been a label that worries about radio play and Lee Roy has recorded a CD of more than just 3:00 minute songs. Parnell has always been known as a good slide guitar player but not until this CD has he cut loose in the studio. Parnell like his friend, Delbert McClinton are what you might call Americana artists - their roots and their playing span country to rock. Except for a couple of throw away songs about Texas, this CD is superb. We can only hope that Vanguard will allow Parnell to develop as an artist.

Lee Roy Parnell has been looking for the freedom to make his music, his way, for a long time. In this record he's finally found it. He's turned his back on the Nashville Pop music machine and turned in a wonderful collection of Blues, Soul, Gospel and Rock and Roll, enough to engage your heart and mind, and make you want to get up and dance. More than ever, his songs are such that you understand they come not simply from conceptualization, but from experience. On "Crossin' Over," you understand how a pair of San Angelo boys might try to make a run for the border, to find a rite of passage, only to walk away from it, after an attack of conscience. On the same song, if Lee Roy 's slide guitar playing doesn't set your hair on fire, check your pulse, you might be code-blue. "Breakin Down Slow," a duet with the great Bonnie Bramlett, Lee Roy sings of lost love and the healing power of the human spirit. You know he's gone through his share of heartache by...Read more

This is Lee Roy through & through! Blues, country, rock & gospel rolled into one. Gotta be his best work. Get this one & you'll wear it out!!