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Take a spin with Golden Graham's choice album reviews

 

Karen Taylor-Good Karen Taylor-Good

How Many Women

Insight KTG/06-12

 

 

Grammy-nominated songwriter Karen Taylor Good has had her songs recorded by Patty Loveless, Melissa Manchester, Laura Branigan, Diamond Rio and many, many more. Taylor-Good has also collaborated with such notable performers as Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, Willie Nelson, George Jones and Al Green. KTG has received the SESAC Award for 'Best New Artist' and twice been named 'Songwriter of The Year' along with a ACM nomination for 'Best New Female Artist'

How Many Women, released in April 2006 is the sixth album release from this El Paso (Texas) native containing 15 songs that she has co-written with a number of her songwriter associates. Karen Taylor-Good has a very pleasant voice and most of the songs fall very much into the modern Nashville style of country music. Andy Leftwich contributes some fine fiddle andCD cover mandolin on the bluegrass driven "God's Refrigerator", Karen Taylor-Good's first international single from the CD. "You Never Said Anything About Love" co-written with Jonathan Yudkin has that easy listening quality that runs through the most of the album. Yudkin plays mandolin with the primary accompaniment coming from Ed Tossing on piano.

The title track from How Many Women has a more up-beat feel about it with Cliff Goldmacher making a considerable contribution with a bluesy harmonica. Colin Rye joins KTG on the love/wedding style song "If You Do" offering a fine duet from this pairing. "Man Enough" offers another soft love song with KTG's band supporting with the instrumentation. Yudkin adds more fine mandolin work and though not acknowledged on the list of contributing musicians there is some haunting steel work to be heard, giving the number heart bursting sentiment.

Karen Taylor-Good's second single release from the album, "Angel's Wings" written with Jason Blume is an emotionally complex piece of writing dealing with Taylor-Good's discovery that her mother has Alzheimer's disease. KTG states "It's been more than 20 years since I was a recording artist, and this one song is my reason for coming back." While taking a lonely friend to task for having an unrealistic view of love KTG gives some no-nonsense advice to the lovelorn with her latest mandolin driven single "Love Is A Verb". "Bless His Heart" has a great line "he's a skunk sucking pig - Bless His Heart!!!" With this track we get a perfect insight of how the southern women can make the most insulting remarks while sounding all sweet as honey when said with that southern drawl…Bless Her Heart!!!

The weight of lyrics and Karen Taylor-Good's striking vocals commands attention and communicates well with the listener. How Many Women comes to it's close as Walter Suhr joins KTG first for the penultimate track that takes a look at two homes, one in Mexico and one in the USA "One Mile Apart". Suhr and Taylor-Good then close this collection with a Spanish reprise of that last track.

Graham Lees 2006