Ready for Love

Album Review

Rounder Records doesn't record folk or folk-pop exclusively, but the Cambridge, MA-based label is so strong in that area that it has often been called a folk label. That may be why Ready for Love did well in the folk market, even though it's essentially a country CD (that is, country with folk, rock and bluegrass elements). This was the third album that the husband-and-wife team of Barry & Holly Tashan recorded as a duo and their first for Rounder. Ready for Love was recorded in Nashville, but it's a long way from the slick country-pop coming out of Music City in 1993. On songs like "The Price of Pride," "Heart Full of Memories" and "The Diamond," the duo favors acoustic instruments and goes for earthiness and simplicity. None of the songs sound even the least bit overproduced. Although Ready for Love was much too earthy and rootsy for country radio in 1993, country fans would do well to check out this enjoyable, bare-bones recording.