Kelly Willis - Wandering Eyes - Songs of Forbidden Love (1998)

This Austin collective explores the "cheatin' song," once a staple of Nashville music and now a rapidly dying breed. In fact, the Nashville mainstream looks at the cheatin' song as if it were some sort of bastard child: inextricably part of country music history, but a part they pray will be forgotten. Lead-vocal duties are shared among Austin stalwarts such as Dale Watson, Kelly Willis, Ted Roddy, Chris O'Connell, and Rosie Flores while veteran musicians including Jason Roberts, Rich O'Brien, Floyd Domino, and (producer) Dave Sanger lend tasteful support. There's enough variety to keep it interesting as honky-tonk grit sidles up next to Countrypolitan flourishes. Nashville's roots are still being nurtured--but in Austin. The Nashville machine does have a point though: Their target middle-class Omaha housewife would probably turn this off rather than do battle with her paranoid thoughts. --Marc Greilsamer