Tammy Cochran kicked around Nashville for almost a decade before she gained a hearing on Music Row, which says more about the goals of the
country music establishment in the 1990s than it does about her.
Cochran is a heartthrob singer in the tradition of
Loretta Lynn and
Tammy Wynette, which is not what Nashville was looking for in the
Garth Brooks crossover days of the '90s, and not even what much of Nashville has been looking for in the
Faith Hill crossover days of the '00s. But
Sony producer
Blake Chancey has been bucking that trend with
the Dixie Chicks, among others, and he finally gave
Cochran her chance with the May 2000 single
"If You Can." Chancey understood that
Cochran's strength was
ballads, and though
"If You Can" wasn't a hit, it displayed her talent well. Her debut album seems to have been delayed several times, until a second single,
"So What," released in October 2000, got some traction. It fulfills the promise of those songs by sticking mostly with
ballads, on which
Cochran emotes most effectively. It's not that she can't handle up-tempo material such as
"Better Off Broken" and her own co-composition
"When Love Was Enough," it's that she isn't able to put as personal a stamp on those songs, which sound like they could be by any competent female vocalist. But when she gets hold of a slow one with a bitterly romantic edge like
"Say Goodbye," she reminds you of generations of great
country women.
Tammy Cochran may be too
country for
country radio (it always feels funny to say that), but it should attract fans of dyed-in-the-wool
country who have been waiting for an artist not so concerned with crossing over to the
pop charts. ~ William Ruhlmann
![Midnights [Jade Green Edition] [Edited]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0602448247032_p0_v3_s90x140.jpg "Midnights [Jade Green Edition] [Edited]")
![Red [Deluxe Edition]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0602537173143_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "Red [Deluxe Edition]")
![Fearless [Taylor's Version]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0602435845098_p0_v4_s90x140.jpg "Fearless [Taylor's Version]")
![Red [Taylor's Version]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0602438737628_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "Red [Taylor's Version]")
![Speak Now [Taylor's Version]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0602455678249_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "Speak Now [Taylor's Version]")