Here's the review from the Miami Herald of the cover CD which includes Gord's Early Morning Rain:
The Nashville Acoustic Sessions
CMH Records
*** ½
Three seasons of American Idol and its various spinoffs haven't killed the art of superb interpretive singing. Not if the latest CD from Mavericks singer Raul Malo and three top-flight bluegrass musicians can be entered into evidence.
The beautifully recorded Nashville Acoustic Sessions is a refreshingly casual effort -- voice, guitar, dobro and bass. It's the kind of simple record you'd imagine recording with friends in your living room if you had this kind of talent.
With his pure tenor, Malo is just right singing this CD's well-chosen selections which range from Henry Mancini to Bob Dylan to Hank Williams. Roy Orbison's Blue Bayou is a natural fit. Malo also shines on Gordon Lightfoot's Early Morning Rain, the Louvin Brothers' The Great Atomic Power, Gram Parsons' Hot Burrito #1, and the two departures into pop standards -- Moon River and (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons.
The Nashville Acoustic Sessions was never intended to storm the country charts or land on the radio -- and it won't. But if you're a fan of good singing and playing you should seek it out.
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