AMG Review of Countryman

Steve Leggett
All Music Guide

Countryman was first brainstormed by Don Was and Chris Blackwell way back in 1995 and was originally intended for release on Blackwell's Island Records. Work began in 1996 with Don Was producing, but the project almost immediately fell victim to label monkey business, and sat on Nelson's back burner for nearly a decade, until Lost Highway hired producer Richard Feldman to come in and finish it. Nelson does a credible job on the two Jimmy Cliff tunes on Countryman, turning in strong, eerie, and atmospheric versions of "Sitting in Limbo" and "The Harder They Come," and he shines on his own 1960s song "Darkness on the Face of the Earth," which features a cute (sorry, no other word will do) little dub tail.