Gretchen Wilson: Greatest Hits

iTunes Review

Gretchen Wilson’s Greatest Hits collects all the hits and more from her three albums for a major label that dropped her since she never matched the mega-million sales of her debut album, Here for the Party. Wilson will continue recording for her own label, and for people interested in nailing the essentials, this hits collection has the necessary stuff: Her anthems, “Redneck Woman,” “Here for the Party” and “California Girls,” her duet with Merle Haggard on “Politically Uncorrect” and John Rich on “Come to Bed,” and a previously unreleased live version of Heart’s “Barracuda” that shows where country and hard rock easily crossover. Wilson is the genuine article, a country singer who can sing like an old school country singer while keeping up with the contemporary crowd. Though she’s known for her rousing anthems, Wilson may be best at the slower numbers (“I Don’t Feel Like Loving You Today,” “When I Think About Cheatin’”) where her voice is given the room to really show off its emotional range. Wilson’s one of her generation’s finest.