Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 7, 1994 TAG: 9403070005
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Way No. 1: There should have been more George Jones.
Way No. 2: Any George Jones is better than none at all.
The problem was that Jones spent much of the concert letting others do the singing.
"While I catch my breath," he explained.
Five times.
Jones is certainly no spring crooner, but how much breath does one man need to catch? It was his name on the $18.50 ticket, wasn't it?
During an hour-long 15-song set, Jones sang only 10 of the numbers. The other five songs were fillers: two instrumental fiddle rags, and three cover songs with the vocals handled by Jones' two back-up singers, the Possumettes.
And this was after the Possumettes and Jones' backing band, The Jones' Boys, did three warm-up songs even before Jones took the stage.
So, altogether, there were 18 songs - 10 by Jones and eight from his band.
Maybe it is old-fashioned thinking, but shouldn't the headliner be more of the headliner?
Not that there was anything particularly wrong with the second team. The Possumettes sang well and the fiddle rags were rousing. But none of it was particularly special, either.
Only when Jones stepped up to the microphone did things rise above ordinary. That is a credit to the enduring singer's classic country voice. Maybe he doesn't have the wind he once had, but Jones can still sing a heartbreaker like nobody else.
For country purists, his voice is still a real treat, even in small doses. Especially moving Saturday was his work on "Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes," "A Picture of Me (Without You)," and his signature song, "He Stopped Loving Her Today."
And there are signs of a strong pulse in Jones. He did more hip-shaking than Billy Ray Cyrus, which the audience of 4,829 loved.
Confederate Railroad opened the show.
Led by rough-voiced frontman Danny Shirley, Confederate Railroad safely mines that all-too-familiar, rebel-yell redneck territory that's always a crowd-pleaser - at least with the rednecks - but doesn't register any lasting impression.
The group's song titles speak for themselves: "Trashy Women," "Summer in Dixie," "She Never Cried (When Old Yeller Died)," "She Took It Like a Man," and "I Need a Little Time Off For Bad Behavior."
In an hour-long set, Shirley handled the material with an exaggerated Southern twang and the standard-issue, folksy between-song banter.
Vocally, his gravel-throated singing suited the material, but it also was so rough in spots that the words got lost.
Shirley is stronger as a songwriter. Some of his songs are riotous redneck hoots, part tongue-in-cheek, part truth. And as his song titles show, he has a knack for one-liners.
Rounding out Confederate Railroad were guitarist Michael Lamb, keyboardist Chris McDaniel, bassist Wayne Secrest, pedal steel guitarist Gates Nichols, and drummer Mark Dufresne, although clearly the group is Shirley's.
Three silly female backup singers also were on hand, but more for their trashy, leather-clad dancing than for any real singing.
by CNB