The Restless Kind (CD - 1996)

Personnel: Travis Tritt (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars); Marty Stuart (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, mandolin, sitar); Lari White (vocals); Larry Byrom, Wendell Cox (acoustic & electric guitars); Mark Goldenberg (acoustic guitar); Michael Henderson, Reggie Young (electric guitar); Robby Turner (pedal & lap steel guitars, dobro); Mark O'Connor (mandolin, fiddle); Peter Kent, Joel Derouin, David Campbell, Suzy Katayama (strings); Jimmy Joe Ruggiere (harmonica); Marty Grebb (tenor & baritone saxophones, piano); Lee Thornberg (trumpet); Benmont Tench (piano, C-3 organ); Roy Huskey, Jr., Mike Brignardello (bass); Kenny Aronoff (drums, percussion); Sam Bacco (timpani, percussion); Herb Pederson, Portia Griffin, Myrna Smith (background vocals).

Recorded at Oceanway, Hollywood, California; Javelina, Nashville, Tennessee; Chomsky Ranch, Los Angeles, California. Includes liner notes by Don Was.

Personnel: Travis Tritt (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar); Marty Stuart (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin, sitar); Lari White (vocals); Larry Byrom, Mark Goldenberg (acoustic guitar); Wendell Cox, Mike Henderson, Reggie Young (electric guitar); Robby Turner (lap steel guitar, dobro); Mark O'Connor (mandolin, fiddle); Joel Derouin, Peter Kent (violin); Suzie Katayama (cello); Jimmy Joe Ruggiere (harmonica); Lee Thornberg (trumpet); Benmont Tench (piano, organ); Roy M. "Junior" Husky, Roy Huskey Jr. (upright bass); Mike Brignardello (electric bass); Kenny Aronoff (drums, percussion); Sam Bacco (timpani, percussion); Myrna Smith, Portia Griffin (background vocals).

Audio Mixer: Rik Pekkonen.

Liner Note Author: Don Was.

Recording information: Chomsky Ranch, Los Angeles, CA; Javelina, Nashville, TN; Oceanway, Hollywood, CA.

Photographer: Greg Gorman.

Unknown Contributor Role: Roy M. "Junior" Husky.

All is not what it seems with this outlaw hero, whose music continues to boogie a fine line between hard country and soft rock even while his spirit continues its inevitable drift toward country tradition. THE RESTLESS KIND finds Tritt relishing those contradictions. He plays lumbering Southern boogie (the title song), Rolling Stonesy blues-rock ("Back Up Against The Wall") and even a kind of Bo Diddley beat ("Double Trouble") with all the joy of a teen-aged boy driving a car for the first time, and then turns around to offer some of the most somber country balladry he's made yet.

The whole album follows an arc from the title song, about a kid who's always on the run (while sneakily admitting "as sure as I leave...I'll be back"), to the ravaged closing ballad, "Where Corn Don't Grow," in which our now-grown-up hero looks back on his wrecked dreams and realizes he can't just wake up and start over. These are adult concerns, and THE RESTLESS KIND, in spite of its ironic title, is very much an adult album, and a bold step forward for Travis Tritt. minimize