Picks and Pans Review: The Family's Fine, but This One's All Mine!

David Frizzell

Frizzell, heretofore best known as the brother of Lefty and singing partner (as well as brother-in law) of Shelly West, flexes his success here in a pleasing solo album. David sounds a little like Lefty and a lot like Merle Haggard, with a mellow rumble to his voice and a nice way with a phrase. His material includes the effective As Soon as a Waltz Ain’t¾ Time (country waltzes were a favorite of Lefty’s too) and the novel I’m Gonna Hire a Wino to Decorate Our Home. This honky-tonk widow’s lament includes the lines, “I’m gonna hire a wino/To decorate our home/So you’ll feel more at ease here/And you won’t need to roam/We’ll take out the dining room table/Put a bar along that wall/And a neon sign will point the way/To our bathroom down the hall.” Frizzell is 4C and has recorded hit singles before, but with this, his first album, he is still something of a discovery, and it is, indeed, a happy one.