Jimmy Dean - The First Thing Ev'ry Morning (2015) [Hi-Res]

The most successful in a string of pop-oriented albums Jimmy Dean released during the early to mid-'60s, The First Thing Ev'ry Morning is perhaps the finest example of Dean's super-smooth, Hank Williams-by-way-of-Lawrence Welk hybrid country style. At times sounding like Frank Sinatra's backwoods cousin, Dean combines full-throated crooning, lush orchestral arrangements, and an oohing/aahing chorus with a fairly straight two-step beat. The material consists of both pop standards (by the likes of Irving Berlin and Henry Mancini) and Nashville fare, which, given the Jimmy Dean treatment, all sound as if they could've been written by the same person. Music this slick is obviously a love-it-or-hate-it affair, but Dean's genius was that he could inject just the right amount of honky tonk raw edge into even the sappiest surroundings. Of course, if one were to take away the glockenspiel and oboes, Dean's voice would still be a thing of supple beauty, the equal of any of his contemporaries. The string-laden title track was a number one record, but the best tunes are the ones where the real Jimmy Dean can step out a little. On "Shutters and Boards," the lyrics' rural imagery seems to be pulling out his country roots despite the producers' efforts to keep them in check. Dean invests the song with a pathos worthy of George Jones, which is no mean feat considering the backing singers sound like they just stepped out of the Mormon Tabernacle. On the album's last song, "Harvest of Sunshine," which gets the Hollywood-style Dixieland treatment (think Apple Dumpling Gang), Dean goes so far over the top that it's almost subversive. Considering his ever-present fake smile and later success in the sausage business, it just may be. ~ Pemberton Roach