Radney Foster and Bill Lloyd joined forces to release three albums together in the late '80s, before Foster embarked on his own successful solo career. Their sound borrows equally from the neo-traditionalism of Dwight Yoakam, the gritty roots rock of Steve Earle, and the jangly pop of R.E.M. “Crazy Over You” was the duo's biggest hit, a cute song that Elvis might have sung back in his RCA prime. Foster & Lloyd could spark up cracking honky-tonk tunes like “Fast and Louder” and “Is It Love?,” but they didn't conjure the big-spur machismo of Garth Brooks or Alan Jackson. Instead, they excelled at the sort of brooding, sensitive country songs that might well have appealed to fans of early R.E.M.: “Don’t Go Out with Him,” “Sure Thing," “Before the Heartache Rolls In,” and “White Train” would be right at home on Document or Lifes Rich Pageant. In the end, Foster & Lloyd probably didn’t have enough of an image to stick in Nashville, but they had the songwriting chops, and that’s what makes The Essential Foster & Lloyd relevant long after many of their former peers have dropped off the map.