Montreal Gazette
Feb 10, 2000



Robin and Linda Williams
In The Company Of Strangers

Sugar Hill Records


Husband and wife duo Robin and Linda Williams are one of the most reliable teams in acoustic country music. Since the 1970s, they've released a series of albums that blend elements of old-time Appalachain music with rockabilly, bluegrass and Nashville country music in sets that feature tasty picking, delightful harmonies and first-rate songs. This disc in no exception.

Alternating lead and harmony vocals, the Williamses are always effective on material ranging from "Some Peculiar Beast", a modern ballad about a murderer on the run, to "Bar Band In Hillbilly Heaven", a tribute to the forgotten musicians who've played Hank and Lefty songs in a million bad country bars, and to more personal songs like the beautiful "So Long, See You Tomorrow", which features additional harmonies from Mary Chapin Carpenter. Eleven of the songs are from the gifted songwriting trio of Robin, Linda and Jerome Clark, their long-time collaborator. The only cover is Linda's definitive, spine-tingling interpretation of Hank Williams's Cold, Cold Heart.

MIKE REGENSTREIF