HERIZONS MAGAZINE

Romi Mayes
Sweet Somethin' Steady
Gurf Morlix

Review by Cindy Filipenko

Winnipeg's Romi Mayes has been compared to Lucinda Williams and Mary Gauthier, two of country music's finest songwriters. With Sweet Somethin' Steady, it's apparent that she fully belongs in that esteemed company.
Whether she's getting you primed to let another tear fall in your beer or pulling out the full bluegrass twang, this is a writer so immersed in the structures of classic country that her sound is both fresh and timeless. Especially tasty is the roadhouse blues of "The Other Dame" with its whiny slide guitar and plaintive lyrics: "I am destined to be lonely/ Your love's not the only one/ I am righteous but I'm randy/ Your love tastes like candy/ Bring it on."
From the title track that has her asking a lover to be her "sweet something steady on the side" to the painful admission of "just because I'm strong don't mean that I'm happy" on "Desperately," this album is meditation on the big universal themes of lust and love. Mayes skillfully merges her spare, poetic lyrics with melodies that can just as easily get your heart breaking as they can get your toe tapping.
With the exception of the new-country-sounding "Eight More Days," there's not a single song on Sweet Somethi'g Steady that couldn't have been written 40 or 50 years ago.
To paraphrase the great Kitty Wells, God may not have made honky-tonk angels, but she came damned close with Romi Mayes.