Rustie Blue:
Enter At Your Own Risk

Album Review
by George Peden


In the music business, especially if you're an emerging artist,
you'll have your lean moments – your tip jar times. Then in the
cycle, fleeting recognition might arrive with "Who'd you say your
name was again?" If you're lucky, your pay dirt season, honed out of
the exhaustion of endless gigs and slow recognition, might follow.

No doubt – 2001 was the year hard work met recognition for Rustie
Blue. The singer with the auburn waist-length hair bagged it all.
After constant small town performing, she finally snared industry
nods. Then she secured needed radio-play. Along the way, she
gathered fans with her debut album, That Ought To Do It. After home
turf promotion that had the album strategically jukebox-placed, and
with local and international airplay, Blue watched as her single "I'm
Dropping Tears" peaked on Independent charts.

Now, with her second album, Enter At Your Own Risk (Country Discovery
Records), she has chart vaulted again. Rustie's manager, Robert
Keister – Elvis to Blue's Dolly Parton impression in her stage show –
recently shared the news with CountryReview.com. Blue's latest
single, "On And On And On" has reached top spot on the well-regarded
Hilltopper Music Group's Hot Country Singles Chart.

For Blue, a former nurse from Zanesville, Ohio, the recognition is a
rewarding follow through on her breakout year. The year she claimed
nominations for Indie Tracker magazine's Female Vocalist of the Year
and for Album of the Year.

Blue's popularity and fan support from the nominations caught the
attention of local and international booking agents. This lead to
sharing marquee signs and front-of-stage neon with some celebrated
talents.

Throughout 2001, Blue was the opening act for Whispering Bill
Anderson, Daryle Singletary, and David Lee Murphy, amongst others.
Her recent promotional tour of Denmark, Belgium, Germany, and Holland
has also fattened the fan base. A planned New Zealand tour for 2003
should do the same.

Back to the album. The 10 tracks, referred to in the label biography
as traditional country with a bluesy sound, wrap twang, ballads, and,
even, an Elvis cover in a voice, which is making this a popular album
for newer fans. The opening track and the first single, "Who's She
To You", with its tale of watched partner dalliance by a concerned
lover, is fiddle and steel, powered along by a tight band lead by
noted producer and guitarist Mike Headrick.

Veteran country singer Whispering Bill Anderson, a Country Music Hall
of Fame recipient and a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall Of
Fame, provided two songs for the album – the moody "I'm Not Going
Till I'm Gone" and the recent radio achiever "On And On And On".

"We Built An All Night Fire" is sultry with vocals oozed over
mandolin, piano, and fiddle. The tune lingers, smoldering with the
inherent dangers of overstaying after a candlelight dinner.

Shades of Blue's female influences – Dolly, Reba, Trisha, and Tammy –
filter through the album. The title track, with it's car craziness,
covers asphalt like Reba's "I'd Rather Drive Around With You",
while "So Close So Far" has a lilt, not unlike Garth's sometime
singing partner, that is tender and touching.

With fearless disregard for comparison, Blue, who has been a
professional singer for six years, tackles the Lieber and Stoller-
penned Elvis hit, entitled "Trouble". She does it. Fearlessly! The
track, pumping with horns, a pounded-piano, and some sexy harmony has
Blue strutting her stuff like a Vegas showstopper. She displays an
upbeat, energized vocal confidence on the track. She nails the
needed notes beautifully and entertains with pure panache. The
track, unashamedly a countrified rendition, is an album standout.

Now with a praised album drawing local and international applause,
overseas touring possibilities in the offering, and solid support
from fans, it's safe to say – for Rustie Blue, the best is yet to
fully come. No doubt.

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