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Lee Ann Womack - Last Call
By: Allen Jacobs
Last Updated: August 18, 2008 12:00 AM

Lee Ann Womack knows how to play the heart strings of America. "I Hope You Dance" remains synonymous with Kleenex the way that Budweiser goes with Buffalo wings. However, having scrapped an album of tear-jerking ballads, Womack does not go for power pop here, but rather settles for an intimate relationship crossroads tune. "Last Call" chronicles a troubled woman assuming that her unforgettable ex-lover is drunk-dialing, and teasing out the imagery of that circumstance.
In truth, few could tackle this contemporary social syndrome as well as Country's little lady, but it's the broken descriptions, that feel like run-on sentences that hold this back from a hit. "I bet you're in a bar, listenin' to a Country song / Glass of Johnny Walker Red, with no one to take you home" feels more Tracy Chapman than Tracy Lawrence. While the profoundness of always being someone's "last call" is true to Womackian form, the song itself feels much too forced, and the listener fails to understand why anyone habitually falls back in love with a 2 am drunk.


READER'S COMMENTS
Rick says:
Posted: Monday, August 18, 2008
You know Matt I hope you're right on this one. I would love to see Lee Ann back as a regular visitor to the Top 10 on Top 40 country radio. I don't even remember how high "I May Hate Myself In The Morning" got on the charts, but this song has a similar sound and vibe so it should do about as well. When I really like a new single they rarely do well on radio and I like this song. I love Ashton Shepherd's "Takin' Off This Pain" and was glad to see it make it to # 20 for a brief period, and I'm jazzed Crystal Shawanda's single continues its slow climb up the charts. I hope Lee Ann's new single fares as well.
Matt B. says:
Posted: Monday, August 18, 2008
Rick, There have been many songs that stalled from one week to the next. So I still think it will do fine. Top 10 or 5, maybe not but if it does a slow climb a la "You Can Let Go" it will be fine.
Rick says:
Posted: Monday, August 18, 2008
Arguing the merits of this single is almost a moot point as its already stalled in the mid-40's on the country singles charts. I'll agree that the lyrics aren't the deepest or most compelling, but I do like the musical structure of this song a great deal. Let's face it that mellow acoustic ballads aren't big on mainstream country radio as they want mostly high energy content to keep capturing the 30 second attention spans of their listeners. A current Top 10 act like Sugarland can get away with a song like "Stay", but an artist like Lee Ann, who's considered yesterday's news, isn't given that kind of liberty. Back a few years ago when Lee Ann released the wonderful single "(You've Got) The Wrong Girl" and country radio mostly ignored it, I knew the door at radio had pretty much closed for Lee Ann. That's a shame as she is one of the best traditional female voices still active in the country mainstream. I hope she comes up with good enough material to kick down the doors at Top 40 radio and get back in, sadly this song ain't gonna do it....