Stacey Earle Never Gonna Let You Go CD

Inital pressings of NEVER GONNA LET YOU GO contain a bonus CD featuring acoustic versions of 10 songs from the album.
Personnel: Stacey Earle (vocals, acoustic guitar); Mark Stuart (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, piano); Mark Moffatt (electric guitar); Mike Webb (mandolin, accordion, piano, organ); Anna Webb (whistle, kazoo, percussion); Byron House (acoustic & electric basses); Mark Prentice (electric bass); Craig Wright (drums, percussion); Ricky "Stig" Fataar (drums); Jeremy Hundley (chimes).
Producers: Stacey Earle, Mark Staurt, Mike Webb.
Recorded at Treasure Isle, Double Kick Productions, Tracking Station, Silvertone Studios, Nashville, Tennessee.
Personnel: Stacey Earle (vocals, acoustic guitar); Mark Stuart (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, piano); Anna Webb (whistling, kazoo, rainsticks); Mark Moffatt (electric guitar); Michael Webb (mandolin, accordion, piano, organ); David Henry (strings); Antwann Webb (kazoo); Byron House (upright bass, electric bass); Mark Prentice (electric bass); Craig Wright (drums, percussion).
Audio Mixer: Michael Webb.
Recording information: Silvertone Studio, Nashiville, TN; The Tracking Station, Nashville, TN; Treasure Isle Studio, Nashville, TN.
On the four records Stacey Earle issued up to this point, only the last two feature companion and musical collaborator Mark Stuart's name as a co-leader. His presence is felt on every record, and the increasing sophistication of the pair's collaboration is best evidenced by Never Gonna Let You Go. Sharing songwriting credits, lead vocals, and a band between them, this is easily the finest effort Earle and Stuart have ever issued. Here are 13 tight songs that grace along topics of love and its loss, melancholy, desire, tenderness, sadness, and delight. No, it's not an alt.country record. No. No. No. Get over it. What it is, is a stellar exploration of the many varied styles country music and blues have touched upon and drawn from over the previous 50 years. Here are the gorgeous ragtime blues "Spread Your Wings" and the West Texas-drenched folk of "Me and the Man in the Moon," which is dusted with the fairy dust of 1940s pop. Stuart's "If You Want My Love" moves through the kind of swing Darrell Scott first evoked on his solo recordings, but is far more effective than Lyle Lovett's attempt at the same thing -- especially with Earle's wonderfully unusual voice and a kazoo riding just above a thumping double bass in harmony. The swing band/jug ensemble feel that comes spilling from the record may seem an unlikely one, but it works like carrots in beef stew. The blues make an appearance on "Fishbowl," and the lyrics hark back to an earlier time, though the sound on the recording is anything but.
There's even bona fide rock & roll on this set in the form of an Earle/Doug Gill composition called "Our World." Electric guitars fill up the center of the mix and a Hammond B-3 shimmies in from the edges. The dark folky minimalism of "Lay Down" is in stark contrast to its simple haunted beauty. Earle's singing seems to caress the lyrics with the bass to shore her up, and the Tony Joe White swamp blues of "Lookin' for Fool's Gold" offers Stuart a chance to play his slide guitar -- dirty, spare, and funky. The truth of the matter is, there isn't a weak link in this chain. If you think you've heard Earle or this duo, it's time to think again. This is the first singer/songwriter record of 2003 that makes a listener take notice of all the elements with its gorgeous production (courtesy of Michael Webb with the duo) that is nonetheless unobtrusive when it comes to the sonic architecture of the songs themselves. In addition, its ambition is in proportionate scale to the quality of the writing. As if this weren't evidence enough, one need only to listen to the bonus disc, which includes working versions of all the tracks here. These too stand on their own, but the finished versions are simply so elegant and graceful, you'll only