**1/2 Don Walser

HERE'S TO COUNTRY MUSIC

(Sire)

Walser's a retired gent, mid 60s now, ex-Texas National Guard, his ears damaged by all those weekend amplifiers, his knees made undependable by the considerable joy he takes in food. So he sits when he sings, but his voice is still in working order, his heart's in the right place, and his notion of country music settles in the 1940s.

And much like Moses Rascoe -- the retired truck driver/Piedmont-style bluesman discovered in Pennsylvania in the late '80s -- Walser is as close as we now get to the real thing. Music, for both men, was a hobby not allowed to interfere with the business of living and raising families, until retirement. Walser follows in the vast wake of Texas dancehall stars like Ernest Tubb, Hank Thompson, and Ray Price. He's in their spirit, not in their league, but today -- when oldstyle is somehow avant-garde in country music -- his is a fresh and welcome voice, yodels and all. Here's to Country Music shuffles gracefully through the Hank Thompson title track, bows toward Floyd Tillman, and duets with Crystal Gayle. Walser's Pure Texas Band, including legends Buddy Emmons and Buddy Spicher, is spot-on, and this is easily Walser's best recorded outing. His is not a great voice, simply a very good one doing yeoman's work in hard times.

-- Grant Alden