Juice Newton: Love's been a little bit hard on her

Juice Newton at the Corn Festival, Brentwood, CA, July 13, 2008.

Actually it was a great surprise finding this talented singer and guitar player at the Corn Festival in Brentwood, under an intense heat reaching almost 95 degrees. Juice was enjoying the heat and the friendship of her audience. She was in 1981 one of the greatest crossovers between Country and Rock. Plus, she was (still is) a hottie and there was nothing they could do about it. Her songs had charisma and were easy on the FM waves and our ears. In South America, she was big and I wonder if she ever visited the South of the Equator.

One of the best things of being not in the mainstream anymore is to be able to set up your own agenda, your own kind of music, and your own audience without risking of "conquering the world" again. Juice Newton could easily appear as a guest on "American Idol," sing "Angel Of The Morning," making people realize this is the same melody Shaggy's been singing for a while and run to the record stores and iTunes and get her music.

 

Time's been less hard on her than love, because her charm is still intact and she still knows how to sing about broken hearts and unrequited love. Juice Newton's voice still sounds amazing, soothing and elegant. She ruled the Country Rock scene in the early eighties with her Capitol Records album Juice (platinum, #4 on the Billboard Country Chart), although she was previously signed to RCA and she was strugglin to reach Fame and Fortune with Capitol as well. In 1986 she even dared to cover Italian Divo Fausto Leali's "A Chi" (translated to "Hurt") with a surprising result. Her biggest hit, besides "Angel Of The Morning," was the country tune "Queen Of Hearts," gem of her Juice album.

Newton has a continuing charm that needs to be discovered if you haven't heard her already. Check her out on CD (or vinyl, if possible) and if you find out she's gonna be playing in your area, don't miss her.