Texas Singer-Songwriter Billy Rawlett Releases Fifth LP in Collection, “In the Blink of an Eye”

Billy Rawlett, an American classic rock and country/western performer from Arlington, Texas, has released the fifth and final LP of his re-release collection, “In the Blink of an Eye” 

American folk rock/country western performer from Arlington, Texas, Billy Rawlett, has released the fifth and final LP of his re-release collection, “In the Blink of an Eye.” “In the Blink of an Eye” is part of Rawlett's 2012 re-release collection which includes 1999's “You Can't Get Your Money Back,” 2000's “What's a Poor Boy to Do,” 2002's “Latent Treasures,” 2004's “Time Stood Still,” and this LP, 2006's “In the Blink of an Eye.” “In the Blink...” is Rawlett's only record to be performed entirely solo and acoustic, an absolutely masterful close to this staggering collection of work. While it would be a shame to miss his previous, more variegated albums, “In the Blink of an Eye” is perhaps the record that represents Rawlett most personally, and which will most intimately endear him to his fans.

Rawlett has spanned three genres in his career, starting with classic rock (a-la the Doobie Brothers' “Stampede” album) and blending this with his no-frills country/western tradition, from which he has gradually trimmed the details so that the bare bones of his style are laid before the listener. The result, in Billy Rawlett's case, is the purest kind of music a person can offer civilization. If the purpose of folk music has ever been to return to a more honest manner of songwriting and performance, Rawlett's “In the Blink of an Eye” has achieved what very few artists are capable of, and what fewer still have attained. “In the Blink...” tells ten American stories, some personal, some legendary, and includes one original American hymn. Rawlett's guitar work, while sticking to the foundations of songwriting, is some of his most solid strumming to-date, making the performance seem as easy and free as if the man were making it up along the way, or at least had grown up playing them.

Billy Rawlett's influences stem from every geographic extreme of classic rock, reaching the Ventures and the Doors on the west coast, Johnny Cash and Stevie Ray Vaughan in the midwest, and Jimmy Paige and the Rolling Stones in the UK. His blend of rock and country/western is reminiscent of such American bands as CSNY, the Band, or the Doobie Brothers – but only at their most jamming, energetic moments. Rawlett's own raw sound is arresting, striking, and full of verve even at his mellowest. It was said of Tammy Wynette that she had “a tear in every word;” the opposite is doubly true of Billy Rawlett, who performs even his saddest song in a way you'll always be in the mood to hear.

-Sean McCauley

MondoTunes Staff Writer

The LP “In the Blink of an Eye” is distributed globally by MondoTunes (www.MondoTunes.com) and is available at iTunes for convenient purchase and download

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