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A long-time favourite with the British audiences particularly
at the Wembley Festivals, I last saw Vernon Oxford when he appeared
at the Harrogate Festival of Country Music in 1994. Originally this
album was produced in 1980 and later released as an LP named
America's Unknown Superstar. It was then released under the title of
I Love To Sing on Bear Family records, which was followed by a
Vernon Oxford 5-CD box set in 1995. In 1986 it was re-released as an
L.P. The Oxford Touch on Old Homestead
Records and in 1992 the album was put out on cassette. This new C.D.
The Oxford Touch was released in 2002 and has already gained massive
airplay by DJs around Europe.
Former editor of Music City News, Everett Corbin who also
writes 9 of the 12 tracks found here has produced The
Oxford Touch. This is what is known as "REAL"
country music, with Vernon Oxford's fine vocals as clear as fresh
mountain spring water pouring down the Tennessee Smoky Mountains.
Vernon Oxford is the master of the emotional landscape and was once
touted as "The Greatest Country Voice Since Hank
Williams."
Check out The Oxford Touch and
bask in the glow of the likes of Owen Priester's "Walkin'
My Blues Away", and that done me wrong song "Gonna
Ease My Worried Mind". With the haunting whine of the pedal
steel Oxford nails "If Kisses Could Talk"
with crying passion on this soulful cheating song. Vernon Oxford was
well known for his gospel leaning and with "Let
Your Light Shine" and "I Love
To Sing" we find Vernon drawing to this style.
That Hank Williams moan is used to great effect throughout The
Oxford Touch and "(I Just Want)
Somebody To Love Me" emphasises the haunting inner pain
that country music so easily reveals. The power of country music
paints fascinating scenes of lost love, hard times and broken dreams
and tells of the struggles of the ordinary man. The
Oxford Touch binds these common threads together and offers a
polished nugget of well-scripted lyrics and heart felt emotion. If
you want pure traditional country music, The
Oxford Touch will lay a hand on your most intermit feelings. |
