Bruce Robison - His Greatest

Well-known among the songwriting community, Bruce Robison has experienced a level of success few have seen.  With that success, Robison has also maintained a singing career in Texas and this album is one which reflects both successes.

While fans may not know of Bruce Robison the artist, they've most surely heard his songs before from Tim McGraw and Faith hill covering his "Angry All The Time" to George Strait recording both "Desperately" and "Wrapped" and turning them into Top 5 hits, Bruce Robison has been a go-to source for heartfelt, strongly written songs over the Decade.  While a majority of these songs have been recorded by Bruce before, each of the renditions on this disc are slightly different than the original versions, to reflect the changes other artists made to the songs to fit their own styles or purely because time has changed the way the song is interpreted. 

All the changes are minute but never before has Robison offered up a collection of songs that are truly some of the greatest tracks he's written.  For most people "Travelin' Soldier" is one of the most well-known songs of the Bruce Robison catalog and if it weren't for a little overseas incident involving the Dixie Chicks, that song likely would've have garnered multiple awards and accolades.  Despite that controversy, the song still is one of Robison's best tracks and the rendition here reflects the Chicks' arrangement.  "Desperately" was written with Monte Warden and the stone country weeper again shows why Robison's sharp songwriting has garnered him glowing accolades over the years.  Bruce's wife Kelly Willis shows up to provide harmony vocals while the song clocks in at about a minute shorter than previous versions. 

Joe Dickens' shufflin' two stepper "The Good Life" is the lone song on this compilation that wasn't written by Robison and it's also one of the songs in which he allows himself to cut loose a little bit than he does on his own cuts.  The previously mentioned "Angry All The Time" was on Robison's debut album and the melancholic sadness prevalent in the lyric is hammered home with the folksy vocal from Bruce.  While turned into a hit by George Strait artists like Catherine Britt, Pinmonkey and Kelly Willis have all recorded "Wrapped."

Some of the latter tracks on this disc will be 'new' to country fans who have yet to own a Bruce Robison album.  "My Brother And Me" is one of those songs and it comes out as one of the most poetic and lyrical songs on the album and truly showcases his songwriting gifts.  "Not Forgotten You" is another strong lyric-driven track while the album closes with "Rayne, Louisiana," a song that originally was a duet with fellow singer/songwriting brother Charlie Robison.  With Nashville fully aware of Bruce Robison's ability to write killer songs, "His Greatest" goes a long way at showcasing his gifts to the fans of the songs.  There aren't many "greatest hits" packages that can rival the strength of this collection of tunes, and that's saying a lot.

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