Sometimes It Does Take Balls

"Balls"
Elizabeth Cook

When I was home making my requisite stop at the best indie record store I know (Ear X-tacy natch) my eye was caught by the new Elizabeth Cook, "Balls" on one of their listening stations. One or two song samples later I was in. A country throwback in the style of early k.d. lang or Leann Rimes or a modern soundalike like Mandy Barnett (on one of our first dates when I was playing her "I've Got a Right to Cry" Joe asked which Patsy Cline record it was) Cook is lively and fun. Though it was the album's signature song, "Sometimes it Takes Balls to be a Woman" that caught my ear first, with it's Shania Twain-like 'you go girl' energy, that is actually one of the weaker songs offered. While it's still fun after multiple listenings (my favorite line is "Honey, when it comes to the plumbing/sometimes it takes balls to be a woman" it doesn't really speak to the heart the way a good country song should. Far better is her duet with Bobby Bare Jr., in a country classic Beauty & the Beast pairing, "Rest Your Weary Mind" or my favorite, the bittersweet "Mama's Prayers". She strays from the country norm on the obligatory cover, instead of redoing a country classic she turns The Velvet Underground's "Sunday Morning" into a country dirge with some fabulous fiddle by Matt Combs. With production by Rodney Crowell that lets her confidence shine through, "Balls" is a swell record for those listeners who like their country country.