Music Review: Amelita by the Court Yard Hounds

You may be more familiar with the Court Yard Hounds than you think because the duo was formerly 2/3 of the Dixie Chicks. They now bring out their second album, entitled Amelita and consider this duo a band. Which I think is important. The are not the Dixie Chicks or a duo project by members of that band, they are their own band and create their own sound as Court Yard Hounds. As Emily Robinson stated "We like our sound, and we’re going to continue to do this, and share something new this time around"

So a few years after taking a break from music in the limelight, Emily and her sister Martie Maguire got together, formed a new band and now  present Amelita as their second album. Its 11 tracks differ markedly from their 2010 debut album because Robinson comes fresh off a divorce and feels that newly single, she is now open to new ideas and ways of looking at life. In her words, the album is therefore "not only a more hopeful album, but it’s more… well fun." You can convince yourself about the more hopeful album by ordering it from Amazon or iTunes. They even have some of the tracks available for free and the best way to have a quick listen to the preview songs is by following Court Yard Hounds on their Facebook page here. One of the available songs is a free recording of Divided that the Court Yard Dogs did for Yahoo Music.

Before going into more detail on how I liked the album, here are the tracks included on Amelita:

1. Sunshine 
2. Amelita 
3. The World Smiles 
4. Aimless Upward 
5. Guy Like You 
6. Rock All Night 
7. Phoebe
8.  Divided 
9. Gets You Down 
10. Watch Your Step and
11. The Road You Take

I also want to include how the second half of the band feels about the Court Yard Hounds and their new album because Martie has added her own impressions of where they stand as a band. She states "I love this band...the way we explore new aspects of ourselves and what we can expect from each other, both musically and as people." She actually feels that being on the road and in the studio is a like a retreat from being a mom, which has its own everyday challenges. 

To find out more about where you can listen to the Court Yard Hounds and get preview samples of their music, you can follow them on Twitter. Martie's account is here and Emily's account is here.

I have listened to the album now several times and I know why they made Divided available. I love the song. It is mellow, reflective, but also and maybe despite of the rather slow melody, beautiful to listen to. The harmonies between the sisters are fantastic. Another song that I really liked was Phoebe, slightly more upbeat and actually kind of feisty. It reminded me more of a typical country song, but still had the gorgeous harmonies by the two sisters. I find that the variety of songs is great on the album, offering something for almost every (country)taste, from slow moving harmonies to fast paced modern country/pop crossover records.

 

1. Disclaimer: I participated in this campaign for One2One Network. I received a free copy of the CD to facilitate my review. By posting, I am eligible for incentives. All opinions stated are my own.