by Thom JurekDuet records are big deals, especially in the country music world, where seasoned veterans seem to put them out just to get back on the charts or to keep from completely disappearing from view. Ask Willie Nelson, he's done at least half a dozen. Veteran Reba McEntire scored 500,000 units in the first week with her 2007 Reba Duets album. The Chain is a duet recording of sorts, though thankfully not everything here is one. Deana Carter's 2005 album The Story of My Life is one of the great songwriter recordings of the 21st century thus far, and if it was commercially under-appreciated it wasn't critically, and anyone who heard it needed to own a copy. It will always be a stellar aesthetic triumph in her career. Given her restlessness as an artist and her early brush with the charts and stardom on her 1995 debut Did I Shave My Legs for This? has probably been a thorn she's had to contend with ever since. Alas. What The Chain has to do with all this is that it feels contrived. A collection of cover songs is one thing, a way of paying back something to all the careers that inspired one's own. Carter's a fine singer and has always had some compelling ideas about production -- even if they are at times quirky, they more often than not bring some hidden depth and dimension to any song she cuts. Here, the production is wonderful, but the choice to use most of these people as singing partners -- and some of the songs she chose -- just don't get it. The set begins well, with her excellent reading of Roy Orbison's "Crying," it's full of soul even with its synth strings and loops. It works like a charm. There is even some tenderness when she duets with Kris Kristofferson on his "Help Me Make It Through the Night."... Read More...