COUNTRY MUSIC ALBUM OF THE YEAR
in the Hawai`i Music Awards

 "CORDELL COUNTRY," the debut recording for Hawai`i's newest 'country' artist has just been released by Island Viking, and is now available in your favorite music store.  It includes 16 favorites, songs from the past 50 years of American "country" music.  The new CD has been called the "most traditional" country album ever recorded in Hawai`i.                                                      
     Jerry Byrd, Nashville icon, says the new CD is ". . . 'country' as it 'used to was,' clean and uncluttered."
"It is not overly 'busy' as today's 'country' is.       ," said Byrd, a Hall of Fame musician and record producer who spent a quarter century in the country music business in Nashville, is regarded as the foremost of country steel guitar players. "As I listened to the CD, I found myself wishing that I could have produced it ," Byrd said.

     "CordellCountry" is a musical trip through a half century of country favorites -- from composers Hank Williams, Eddie Arnold, Buck Owens, Kris Kristofferson, Larry Gatlin, Harlan Howard, Shel Silverstein, Jud Strunk and more.
     "CordellCountry is a delightful listening experience," said local concert promoter and record producer Tom Moffatt. "It is as country should be."
     In 1995, after singing a country and folk song concert tribute to one of his idols, the late Burl Ives, Haugen decided to work seriously on a recording.  When he began to assemble this CD, Cordell had about 80 "favorite" country and folk songs that he wanted to record. The following year, after a performance at the Mall of America in Minneapolis, he began to whittle down his list of about 80 songs to 16, that included some songs that were hits from his childhood, and some he had fallen in love with during the past four decades.  
      For this debut recording, Cordell also picked three songs from the nearly 30 country tunes he has written.  And he assembled a stellar team of country musicians and backup singers.    While narrowing down the list of songs, I was also writing some new country tunes, and we were listening to local musicians to find those who could play 'country' without sounding Hawaiian.
 

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The Songs
Songs titles with a note next to the track number, are links to short audio clip samples

Cut

Title

Composer

Time

Key

1   

 I Watched Love Die    

Keith Haugen

2:51

C

2

 I Don't Know A Thing About Love

Harlan Howard

3:19

G

3

 I Don't Remember Loving You

Harlan Howard / Bobby Braddock

3:41

A

4   

 Medley: Crying Time / I Can't Help It If I'm Still In Love With You

Buck Owens / Hank Williams

4:56

C/Bb

5   

 Please Mister, Please

Bruce Welch / John Restill

3:39

F

6

 The Winner

Shel Silverstein

5:06

C/D/E

7

 Before The Next Teardrop Falls,   Hawaiian translation by Alice  Namakelua  (1975)

Ben Peters / Vivian Keith

4:09

D

8   

 Me & Bobbie McGee

Kris Kristofferson / Fred Foster

3:40

C

9

 A Daisy A Day

Jud Strunk

3:58

A

10

 To That Little Girl Who Taught Me Love

Keith Haugen

3:53

C

11 

 The Son of Hickory Holler's Tramp

Dallas Frazier

3:06

A

12

 The Love That Counts

Keith Haugen

3:35

C

13

 You Don't Know Me

Cindy Walker / Eddie Arnold

3:13

G

14

 Don't Laugh At Me

Steve Seskin / Allen Shambin

2:56

D

15

 Does My Ring Hurt Your Finger

Don Robertson / Doris Clement / John Crutchfield

2:32

C

16

 The Midnight Choir

Larry Gatlin

3:00

G

Produced by Keith Haugen, Island Viking.  
Recorded in Hawai`i in July-August 2000 at Sma'Kine Recording Studios, Kailua, O`ahu, Hawai`i.  
Engineered by Steve Kramer & Greg Sardinha
Mixed and assembled by Steve Kramer
Mastered at EXXEL Audio, Oceanside, California
Concept, design and graphics by Keith Haugen & Jen Loper.
Photography by Carmen U`ilani Haugen
Hawaiian translation by Alice Namakelua
Spanish language consultant: Edie Becker
Dedicated to Evangeline Cornelio Freitas, who gave Gordo a guitar and taught him how to play it.                 
    
Artists joining Cordell on this premier recording are:
Don Humprey - guitar, backup vocals, organ, arrangements
(www.sceneamerica.com)
Gordon Freitas - guitar, bass, harmonica, arrangements  (courtesy of MGC Records) (www.niu.com/Gordon)
Greg Sardinha - steel guitar, dobro, arrangements
Katie Linskey - fiddle (solo on "I Watched Love Die" and 'Cajun' duet on "The Love That Counts")
Jay Linskey - fiddle ('Cajun' duet on "The Love That Counts"), fiddle arrangements
Lee Carney - fiddle (rhythm, solo on "The Love That Counts")
Carmen Haugen - backup vocals ("A Daisy A Day" and "Before The Next Teardrop Falls") (www.hawaiiansong.com)
Nanilisa Pascua - backup vocals
Keith Haugen - backup vocals, arrangements (hakumele@aol.com)

"CordellCountry" is dedicated to Gordon Freitas' mother, Evangeline Cornelio Freitas ". .. who gave Gordo a guitar and taught him to play it." Mrs. Freitas died while the band was rehearsing for the recording.

 Copyright, C. Keith Haugen.  All arrangements copyrighted by Island
Viking, P.O. Box 1976, Honolulu, Hawai`i 96805, USA / (808) 734-4332 /
Cordell@CordellCountry.com