Sugar Cane County

Sugar Cane County
CHS-1012 (1969)

Side 1:
Sugar Cane County (Brown)
I Want to Thank You (Bailey-Gibson)
You'll Come a Running (Hawkshaw-Lloyd)
Never Love Again (Kershaw-Kershaw)
Take It Out In Trade (Brown)
Another Souvenir (Lane)

Side 2:
I'm in the Arms of a Heartache (Woods)
Under the Influence of Love (Zackery-Stephens)
Dad I Never Saw You Cry (Gantry)
My Biggest Mistake (Brown)
Take Time to Know Him (Davis)
One Man Band (Kippe-Gibson)

Produced by:
Felton Jarvis & Slim Williamson

    In everyone’s lifetime there should be a “Sugar Cane County,” whether it’s deep in the delta or in some remote area of a dream. And in everyone’s life there should be Maxine Brown.
    Having made her mark as part of perhaps the greatest country trio ever assembled, she comes roaring back now to show her versatility as a single. And in this album versatility is an understatement.
    There are so many facets to the talent of Maxine Brown that two of the best producers in the business combine their skill, separately but equally, to make this a many-sided LP They have brought out everything from cotton-patch blues to up-tempo bounce, all the while retaining the contemporary country flavor for which Maxine has become noted since walking the once-lonely path of the single artist. The path, by the way, is no longer lonely. The fans have flocked around in genuine adulation, and there is no question in anyone’s mind now but that the sultry-voiced singer from Arkansas has arrived.
    Take, for example, her treatment of the plaintive ballad I’m in the Arms of a Heartache or the outstanding voice blending of Another Souvenir. And the title song should, of course, start a run on the delta. She mixes pathos with rhythm in Dad, I Never Saw You Cry and her delivery of Take Time to Know Him has all the elements of soul. There is a hint of something very modem in both I Want to Thank You and Never Love Again, and her first great single for Chart, Under the Influence of Love, is a decided bonus.
    Maxine shows her ability to deliver a novelty number too in a real teaser titled Take It Out in Trade and she goes almost mod with You’ll Come a Running. In a clever play on words Maxine mingles sophistication with patriotism in her rendition of One Man Band. My Biggest Mistake was the flip side of her title single and is another winner.
    Other superlatives could be tossed in here about Maxine. She could literally “stand on her records.” But this album says it all. If you are a Maxine Brown fan, you’ll enjoy every second of it. If you’re not a Maxine Brown fan as yet, just listen to this album and you will be.

BILL WILLIAMS
Billboard Magazine