MCA Nashville
Country, 2000

Isn’t the title track of I Hope You Dance lovely? Corny lyrics aside, I love the way Lee Ann Womack’s husky vocals blend beautifully with the male bass of Sons Of The Desert. And in the current vacuum of big, torchy weepy ballads in the music scene, I’ll take what I can get

This album is pretty else much lackluster. There are moments when I thought the demon apparitions of Shania Twain and Faith Hill would pop out and wail me to death with their schmaltzy ballads, but thankfully, there are enough grittiness in this album to prevent it from going all schmaltz.

I Feel like I’m Forgetting Something is the perfect “Ah, yes! Honky-tonk, people!” butt-swaying, cowboy schmoozing, beer guzzling anthem. Likewise, the obligatory “Mamma blues” song every female country singer sees fit to incorporate, Stronger than I Am is pretty moving in a Kleenex way.

But most of I Hope You Dance is paint-by-number country standards. The production mostly downplays her husky and charming drawl and slickly glosses everything with Shania-Twain-esque poppy anthems. It’s not exactly grotesque like Ms Twain’s efforts, but it’s not exactly compelling either.