No Worry For Faith or Patty

Gina (Independent)

Gina Emerson

By Rob Greenwell

Gina Emerson's first album, aptly named Gina, is a Rusty McFarland-produced album of six cuts. From the writing credits alone, this artist has some great songwriters on her side, including Tim Krekel, Jeffrey Steele, Craig Wiseman, and Bob Dipero. These guys are some of the best writers in Nashville, and they don't work with every artist that comes to Music City to become a star.

The album starts with a catchy Krekel tune, "You Tell Me," which is about how a man always has a master plan when it comes to the good times of a relationship but gets tongue-tied when the times get tough. The second cut, "Never the Less," another Tim Krekel song, is a decent ballad, but nevertheless not up to Tim Krekel standards.

The best song on this CD and the only one which should be released to radio, is "Head On Down the Road," about heading down the road to get rid of a lost love. "Till the Heartache's Gone," penned by Jeffrey Steele, John Hobbs and Al Anderson (a former guitar player with NRBQ), is a tear-jerker ballad about holding on until the heartache of losing the love of your life subsides.

"The Last Thing on my Mind," a song Patti Loveless recently cut and took to the top of the charts, gets covered here but probably shouldn't have been. It's very risky to cut a song previously recorded by a major artist, as a comparison is inevitable. Emerson's vocals don't stand up by comparison.

The last cut is an up-tempo tune called "Stand Up for Love." It's not a bad album closer, and might be releasable to radio.

Overall, Gina is not a bad first album. Maybe Emerson will eventually make it in the business, as she does have some good allies in her corner, but I really don't see her overtaking Faith, Patty, Trisha or any of the big names quite yet.