Stacey Earle
Dancin’ With Them That Brung Me
Gearle Records
Stacey Earle has made tremendous progress in the short time since she pushed her musical career to full-throttle. A late bloomer in several ways, Stacey has really come into her own in the music world in a very short period of time. She started widely touring just a little over a year ago in support of her first recording, Simple Gearle, but she has quickly earned a following that keeps her very busy. She did an incredible 274 shows last year, and shows no signs of letting up.
Simple Gearle was a very well-chosen title for that album. The recording was simple and unadorned. It was a plain-spoken, brutally honest woman sharing the experiences of her life through her songs. Her sweet little girl voice took you on a tour through a heart that had been through the mill, but refused to be bitter about it.
The themes of the songs in this recording have not really changed. This recording is just as much about love, struggle, recovery, and a full-grown woman’s fight to hang onto a little girl’s dreams and illusions as much as the last one was. Musically, however, this recording is a total departure from the last one. The road work has paid off. The musicianship is much tighter, as are the arrangements. The sound is richer and fuller and the recording has more flavor thanks to the contributions of multi-instrumentalist and Assistant Producer Michael Webb and her backing band the Jewels (named after her grandmother).
This is a family affair in several ways. Her husband and inseparable musical partner Mark Stuart handles guitar and other stringed-instrument duties. Her son, Kyle Mims does duty on the drums (at least until she fires him this fall so that he can attend college). She covers her brother’s “Promise You Anything,” a recording that marked her professional debut on his 1990 recording, The Hard Way .
This recording should ratchet up her and husband Mark’s career a notch or two, and deservedly so. It’s a real gem.
Gearle Records, P.O. Box 739, Ashland City, TN 37015; gearlerecords@bellsouth.net
