My Amazon Reviews: Mike Reid "Turning for Home"

Mike Reid Walks it Home, 
3 Out of 5 Stars

In one of Country music's more unusual career paths, Former Cincinnati Bengal football player Mike Reid decided to tackle the world of songwriting. A former concert pianist, Reid did pretty well for himself, penning 11 number one country songs for the likes of Ronnie Milsap and Collin Raye. By 1990, he had his own recording deal. I was lucky enough to see him opening for Don Williams in 1991, where he signed a copy of this CD for me after the show.

Reid is a decent enough singer, but "Turning for Home" suffers from all the usual bugs that were consistent with 90's country albums: cookie-cutter production and the same studio cats that made 80% of Nashville sound exactly the same. Reid's better than average songwriting carries the day, with "Walk On Faith" (his biggest solo success) among one of the best songs of the period. He concentrates on hearth and home, love and its futility and faith as his primary topics, and does them well. While there are too many references to dying here for my tastes, the loves songs like "Simple as That" and "I Got A Life" more than make up for it.

A better than average album from Nashville's halcyon 90's period. Post-script: Reid's second album, "Twilight Town," contained his best song and probably best known song, "I Can't Make You Love Me." Bonnie Raitt and George Michael have successfully covered it.