Album Review Jamie O'Neal 'Eternal'

Grammy nominated and platinum-selling country star Jamie O'Neal returns with her first new album in five years, Eternal.

"Eternal is a little different for me," says O'Neal. "I grew up listening and looking up to all these incredible artists who helped pave the way for singers like me. These songs helped shaped me into who I became as a performer. I was already singing some of these songs in my show and just loved the way I could wail on them. Those traditional, big emotional ballads are hard to come by these days, which is why it was such an honor and a challenge to record such great music."

Produced by O'Neal and her engineer/musician husband Rodney Good, Eternal is an eleven song collection that features Jamie's take on country classics. The album opens with a more up tempo, twangy take on "Born To Run" then Jamie lends her unmistakable voice to songs such as "Leavin' On Your Mind" (Patsy Cline), "The Sweetest Thing" (Juice Newton), and "I've Done Enough Dying Today" (The Gatlin Brothers). She adds a female voice, and slows down, Kris Kristofferson's "Help Me Make It Through The Night" and takes on the George Jones and Tammy Wynette classic duet, "Golden Ring," which features Andy Griggs. 

"Wide Awake," the only original song included on the album as a bonus track, was written by O'Neal and her dad, Jimmy Murphy. She says the song is an "ode to all women who have to sleep beside a snoring moose every night." The humorous track is definitely the standout of the album. "He's snoring again and I'm wide awake/It's like a Nascar race being run on his face and the bed starts to tremble and shake/I try to roll him over I kick him with my feet/Hell I gotta wake him up so i can get some sleep."

Eternal is a collection that will definitely be embraced by Jamie's fans and hopefully introduce country classics to a new audience.

Highlights include "Wide Awake," "Just One Time," and "Golden Ring."

4 Stars

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