Terri Clark (CD - 1995)

Personnel: Terri Clark (vocals); Biff Watson, Don Potter, D. James Lowry (acoustic guitar); Brent Mason (electric guitar, tic tac bass, 6-string bass); Richard Bennett (electric guitar); Sonny Garrish (steel guitar, lap steel); Stuart Duncan (fiddle, mandolin); Joe Spivey (fiddle); Matt Rollings (piano); Duncan Mullins, Glenn Worf (electric bass); Eddie Bayers (drums); John Kelton (cowbell); John Wesley Ryles, Dennis Wilson, Liana Manis (background vocals).

Recorded at Sound Stage Studios, Nashville, Tennessee.

Personnel: Terri Clark (background vocals); Don Potter, B. James Lowry, Biff Watson (guitar, acoustic guitar); Richard Bennett , Brent Mason (electric guitar); Sonny Garrish (steel guitar, lap steel guitar); Stuart Duncan (mandolin, fiddle); Joe Spivey (fiddle); Matt Rollings (piano); Glenn Worf, Duncan Mullins (electric bass); Eddie Bayers (drums); John Kelton (cowbells, percussion); Dennis Wilson , John Wesley Ryles, Liana Manis (background vocals).

Audio Mixer: John Kelton.

Recording information: Battery Studios, Nashville, TN; Cayman Moon Recorders, Nashville, TN; Sound Stage Studios, Nashville, TN.

Canadian country singer Terri Clark made her American major-label debut with Mercury Nashville. Co-produced by Keith Stegall and Chris Waters, this solidly assembled set of 12 songs signaled the arrival of a star. Clark wasn't only a pretty face with a voice; she arrived in Nashville a polished, accomplished songwriter who was given the "rare opportunity" (some call it stubbornness, and some call it recalcitrant artistic integrity, but they're both the same thing in this case) to record her own songs on her first recording. In Nash Vegas, that's done rather infrequently -- even Vince Gill was only able to contribute two tunes to his MCA debut. Clark wrote 11 of 12 here and scored immediately with her blend of hard honky tonk-style traditionalism, classic country balladry, rock & roll aesthetics, and pop savvy. "Better Things to Do" is a fine display of this, as is the swaggering, bluesy "Flowers After the Fact." "Was There a Girl on Your Boy's Night Out" is a lean and mean honky tonk rocker, and of the ballads, "If I Were You" and "The Inside Story" are delivered with conviction and sincerity. Terri Clark is an auspicious debut, but hindsight being 20/20, it only hints at what she was really capable of, as displayed on later recordings. ~ Thom Jurek

That she bucks the glitzy fashion trends of current female country stars is but one of the reasons to like Terri Clark. Dressed comfortably in a hat, boots and jeans, fronting fiddles and steel strings, she makes it obvious from the onset that a shimmering country melody is more important to her than a rhinestone suit.

As with Patty Loveless, Clark's warm, confident vocals perfectly complement her neo-traditional material. A powerful singer, she can belt out a rocker as easily as she can soothe a listener with a ballad.

Ballads are the strength of her self-titled debut, and Clark offers plenty of them--the savvy "If I Were You," the cowboy love song "Tyin' A Heart To A Tumbleweed," and the vulnerable, bluesy "The Inside Story" are particularly captivating. But she can also stir things up, as she does on the rollicking, sly single "Better Things To Do." The track firmly plants her in the don't-mess-with-me school of female country singers, whose principal is Loretta Lynn. Terri Clark tells her guy she'd rather watch "Donahue," or wash her hair in the rain, than be with him. Laid-back and lethal, it's light years from songs like "Stand By Your Man." minimize