Beth Nielsen Chapman’s new release, UnCovered, sees her roll out a batch of premium songs she’s written but never recorded and that have already been hits or covers by other artists. Most were top ten hits, seven of which topped the charts at #1...

Recorded in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and her own “Tree House” studio in Nashville, Beth Nielsen Chapman’s new album UnCovered sees her covering songs that most will recognise, but may not have realised that they were originally written/co-written by her. The album features a number of guest artists including legendary guitarist Duane Eddy on 'Shine On Me', a song Beth wrote with Waylon Jennings, which also features backing vocals by Waylon’s widow, artist Jessie Colter; Vince Gill duets with Beth on 'Here We Are', a # 1 hit she and Vince wrote for Alabama; Darrell Scott sings and plays on 'Maybe That’s All It Takes' a ballad about how to make love last, which was a hit for Don Williams; Pam Tillis & Lorrie Morgan sing on 'Five Minutes' , Lorrie’s first #1 hit. Amy Grant along with Ruth Trimble & Eilidh Patterson sing on the stand out track 'Pray' written with, and featuring guitar instrumentalist Muriel Andersen; 'Almost Home', a Mary Chapin Carpenter single from her "Greatest Hits" package Party Doll, was written by Chapin, Beth and longtime collaborator Annie Roboff who also co-produces several tracks on this collection.

'Almost Home' features the background vocals of 'Wine Women & Song' artists Gretchen Peters, Suzy Bogguss and Matraca Berg, alongside Bekka Bramlett who also appears playing tambourine and backing vocals with George Marinelli’s electric guitar on 'Meet Me Halfway', the bluesy track written by Beth, Bonnie Raitt and Annie Roboff for Bonnie’s Fundamental release.

Of all the tracks here, I'd have to say that 'Here We Are' is probably the strongest 'cover' whilst 'This Kiss' is easily the weakest. Chapman's vocals just don't fit with 'This Kiss' in fact she sounds a little off key on a couple of occasions.

You'll know the majority of the tracks here... and it all boils down to whether you prefer the original releases (which most will surely do) or a fan enough of Chapman's to make it worth your while picking up this 'covers' album.

Track listing:

01 - 'Simple Things'
02 - 'Here We Are'
03 - 'Sweet Love Shine'
04 - 'Pray'
05 - 'Maybe That's All It Takes'
06 - 'This Kiss'
07 - 'Nothin' I Can Do About It Now'
08 - 'Strong Enough To Bend'
09 - 'Meet Me Halfway'
10 - 'One In A Million'
11 - 'Five Minutes'
12 - 'Almost'

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Nick Smithson