Ratliff Dean
Misc 101
Reviewed by Margaret Moser, Fri., May 13, 2011
Ratliff Dean
Only MemoriesThe tough-walking bass of opener "Train Back to Texas" is honky-tonk code for "let's dance." Two-stepping is quite secondary to Ratliff Dean's kicking around traditional back forty turf – women, work, wandering – all sung in a rich, manly baritone and backed with fiddle and fire ("Free Again," "Since She's Been Gone," "Fencepost Digging Blues"). More suede than rawhide, but good stuff to play when yer hitchhiking with yer honey.
