BRENNEN LEIGH & NOEL McKAY
Before the World Was Made
www.brennenleigh.net

Cute musical couples love to make cute songs of love together. One supposes it’s dang hard for ’em not to do so, particularly when they’re both crack songwriters whose cow-country crooning blends together like Bar, B and Q. The dozen songs on Brennen Leigh and Noel McKay’s Before the World Was Made are a rosy bouqet that even those who may not be all googly-eyed romantic at the moment will be heart pressed (yeah, that was intentional) not to find enchanting and engaging. The tandem penned the clever “Let’s Go to Lubbock on Vacation,” about a twosome who figure a visit to West Texas may be just the thing to test the strength of their bond. It may not get Leigh and McKay invited to play at the Buddy Holly Center anytime soon, but it’s certain to play for laughs elsewhere in Texas (“Come on, it isn’t really that bad, is it?” she sings, to which he responds, “A place to live, but maybe not to visit.”) Other highlights on this Gurf Morlix-produced project include “Great Big Oldsmobile,” a song of McKay’s that speaks not only to the big old old-person car they’ll drive well into their golden years, but offers a hopeful vote of confidence in Viagra’s staying power; and “Be My Ball and Chain,” a series of heartfelt and slice-of-everyday-life promises the pair makes as a co-proposal of sorts: “I’m so tired of being lonely, won’t ya be my ball and chain?” — D.C. BLOOM

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