The Deal: Deep dish country: bottomless Texas honky-tonk that's smooth around the edges.
The Good: After recording his biggest hit, "Whiskey River" in 1972, country singer Johnny Bush's vocal chords were paralyzed by a rare neurological disorder. A couple of years ago Bush found a cure. With the help of botox injections into the muscles around the vocal chords, he's back to his fine, froggy self on Kashmere Gardens Mud, sounding like Sleepy Labeef impersonating Waylon Jennings. It doesn't really matter what Bush sings. He could work his way through the phone book and you'd still be mesmerized. Bush isn't one for histrionics -- he just sings it straight and that's plenty.
Bush's baritone recalls the golden era of country that once reverberated with the sounds of Dave Dudley or Ernest Tubb. He even has a touch of Johnny Cash in his voice in the title cut. This is a concept album showcasing the music of Houston, Bush's hometown, but that doesn't stop it from wandering all over the place, genre-wise. "Born To Lose," Ray Charles' classic weeper gets smoothed out by Bush's country lounge style. He also demonstrates his astounding range, doing some tonsil-stretching on his duet with the limber-throated Dale Watson on Watson's tequila-soaked samba, "Tequila and Teardrops."
The Bad: The only problem with this record is that there's not more of it.
The Verdict: Johnny Bush is back. Listen up.