Skip Ewing‘s MCA debut The Coast of Colorado is not an album commonly celebrated as being at the forefront of the youth movement in Nashville in the late eighties. Perhaps Ewing suffered from bad timing, being neither enrolled in the fabled Class of ’86 nor the storied Class of ’89. Nonetheless, the 24 years-old was approached by MCA head-honcho Jimmy Bowen in 1987 to co-produce his debut record.
Ewing had come to Nashville in 1984 when he was 19 years old, and he played Opryland as a impersonator of famous country music stars. He also sang demos and jingles to make ends meet. Practicing his songwriting, which he first began doing in his teens, got him signed to Acuff-Rose music. Ewing‘s released his first album on April 4, 1988.
It is hard to remember that MCA released five singles from that ten song collection. I will gave you a bit of time do the math, but that is half the album. Ewing rode all of them into the top 20 Billboard country charts.
It is just as hard to remember how strong that entire album actually was. Ewing does not receive any radio play at all with any of those hit songs even on satellite radio stations dedicated to the hits from the ’80’s and ’90’s Perhaps its greatest legacy is how many of the songs from The Coast Of Colorado were later recorded by other artists including Reba McEntire, Shelby Lynne, Lorrie Morgan, and Shania Twain .George Strait had earlier already recorded Ewing‘s “Don’t Mind If I Do”
Ewing and Bowen really did assemble an excellent collection of songs here. Ewing‘s tender and controlled vocals make for a pretty and warm listening experience. This cozy aspect to his music may have put him at odds with his harder-hitting contemporaries shaking up Nashville with their no-traditionalist assault on country music at the end of the decade. You can hear Jimmy Bowen giving way to Tony Brown. I don’t know if it is of any significance, but Ewing enjoyed more chart success than Steve Earle, Dwight Yoakam, or Lyle Lovett.
The first single was “Your Memory Wins Again.” It was written by Ewing , Mike Geiger, and Woody Mullins. It reached #17 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles and Tracks chart. The propulsive pop and frenetic drive of this single still sounds great with its instrumental flourishes, even if the production is a bit polished and sanitized. Ewing is an accomplished guitar player and stylist who is said to have learned how to play guitar before he could read.
Ewing‘s would take “I Don’t Have Far to Fall” even higher, , reaching # 8. Co-written with Don Sampson, I cannot help but think how great Keith Whitley would handle this optimistic ballad. Ewing was turned on to country music by listening to his dad play Merle Haggard and Lefty Frizzell on the family stereo.
The third single, “Burnin’ a Hole in My Heart” would be his highest charting single as recording artists, climbing as high as #3. Listening to this hit now, you can hear Bowen and Ewinganticipating what the coming decade will hold for Nashville. Critics would call this a milquetoast love song, but it’s my kind of jam.
The fourth single is easily the most compelling. “The Gospel According to Luke” is detailed account of a homeless man’s faith and belief. The character clearly preaches and humbly lives his values in the song while avoiding a heavy-handed lesson for the listener. It is easy to imagine Tom T Hall’s influence on this one. It made it to #10.
The title track would only reach #15. “The Coast of Colorado” is a song of impossibilities co-written with Max D. Barnes. Again the warmth and sincerity of Ewing‘s vocals are completely soothing and inviting. Ewing must have had this effect on other listeners. It is no surprise that a crooner like Andy Williams would later cover “Still Under the Weather” from this album on his own 1991 country album, Nashville. Only fans of Andy Williams need listen to that recording.
Two other Barnes co-writes are album highlights. “A Lighter Shade of Blue” is an intimate account of a man’s painfully slow path to recovery after a break-up. He sings, “ Here and there I’ve turned a stone but the mountain hasn’t moved/ I’ve only turned a lighter shade of blue.”
“Autumn’s Not That Cold” is a brilliant song, from the crystalline piano intro to the devastating self-deceit of the lyrics. The focused intensity of his performance still gets me. This is easily my favorite song from the album. Lorrie Morgan would cover the song on her Something in Red album in 1991.
“Dad” is a beautiful homage to his father. It is sweet, strong, and to the point. This song lingers.
Even though Ewing has since recorded eight other albums, and found the most success writing career songs for other artists, there remains something sweetly sticky and significant about his disarming debut album that time has unfairly forgotten.
He’s literally one of my favorites from the 80s/90s (blame the love of well-written, sappy songs). This is the only album of his I have yet to find on CD. I would happily buy it if it was available digitally.
And like magic. On Saturday, September 13, I found not one but two copies of this record at McKay’s in Nashville and promptly put my $2.95 down to own it. It still is online for various prices over $20 so I’m happy. It’s amazing how this review made me think to look but who knows because whenever I go to that store, I have a list of stuff to look for and it hasn’t been there.
I really liked this album.
I really liked this album and purchased it in May 1988 shortly after it was released. To the best of my knowledge, this album has never been released in a digital format but the MCA Skip Ewing’s Greatest Hits album has all five of the singles from this album.
Ewing’s problem was that he had a very pleasant voice but there was nothing very distinctive about it. Even so, I have picked up several of his non-major label releases over the years and they are all very good
Skip Ewing is so underrated. Both WKJC and WATZ break out his songs now and then. I know I’ve heard “I Don’t Have Far to Fall” in the wild. Also when “Every Other Weekend” came out, WKJC insisted on the Skip Ewing version.
I like so many of his songs as a singer, and many more as a songwriter too. My favorite is “Mary Go Round”. He’s just so charming and laid-back, like a slightly zippier Don Williams.
I reviewed Ewing’s latest album back in Spring 2024, and it was exactly as good as his output always is. Didn’t have the bandwidth at the time to do the interview with him that his publicist, kindly, had hoped to set up, and I regret that. Glad to see him featured here, Peter!
I’ve tried multiple times to get his team to submit a picture of him to Wikipedia. Still hoping someone can take care of that.
“I don’t know if it is of any significance, but Ewing enjoyed more chart success than Steve Earle, Dwight Yoakam, or Lyle Lovett.”
It would be quite significant if it were true, but it’s not by a longshot-at least with regard to Yoakam!
Dwight had 2 #1 singles, 3 #2’s, 4 other top 5’s, and 5 more top 10’s, and 7 more top 20s.
Ewing never had a #1 or #2 single, had 2 top 5’s, 2 other top 10’s and 3 other top 20’s
Dwight, of course, also had three #1 albums and certified sales of 10 times platinum.
Dwight Yoakum is a future Hall of Famer.
I think he meant on their respective debut albums, but that characterization threw me when I read it too.
It surprised me when Skip Ewing’s boomlet of late 80s momentum didn’t have any staying power at all. He seemed like a younger Steve Wariner and maneuvered quite well in that lane at a time when I figured there’d have been more demand, especially given his looks.
Curiously, I was pretty confident Ewing would have a comeback in 1997 with “Merry Go Round” which I thought checked all the right boxes for its “sensitive guy” era. Certainly if Bryan White would have recorded that song, it would have been a #1.
I was unclear with the point I hoped to make regarding Ewing’s chart success. I wanted to highlight how special and significant it was that he released five successful singles from his debut album, something neither Earle, Lovett, nor Yoakam did. He also enjoyed a more consistent level of success with each single. It feels like a poor man’s version of Rodney Crowell five consecutive #1 hits from “Diamonds & Dirt,” although that was not Cromwell’s debut album.
Some further historical context would have also revealed Ewing’s first single, “It’s You Again” from his second album would go top ten, after which the bottom would fall out from his radio success.
In 2018, Ewing was nominated for induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Fair enough.
I looked up the Nashville Songrwriters’ H-o-F. Skip Ewing may have been nominated in 2018, but it’s been seven years and he has not gotten in. I’m not familiar enough with his songs to have any opinion about whether he should be in, but the only E names in the Nashville Songwriter’s Hall are Don and Phil Everly and….. (speak of the devil)… Mr. Earle.
Steve Earle and Lyle Lovett were never very successful at country radio, so beating them there is not a huge deal. I thought Earle’s biggest song AFTER his debut album was “Copperhead Road.” I looked that up and “Copperhead Road” did not make the country chart at all, though it hit #10 on Billboard’s “Mainstream Rock” chart and was top 40 in Australia.
I had the cassette release of The Coast of Colorado back in 1993, and literally wore it out. I recently bought it on CD off Amazon. I’m a big Skip Ewing fan, remembering hearing “I Don’t Have Far to Fall” on my late aunt’s old Magnavox transistor radio on the local AM station back in the day, then found his greatest hits cassette years later. There’s a lot of talk about the “Classes of ’86 and ’89”, I’d like to look into the classes of ’85 and ’88, some of those artist had fleeting success.
I read Steve Earle mention in a recent article how Country radio wouldn’t play “Copperhead Road” back in the day. On a trip to Nashville a few weeks ago, SiriusXM played it on Prime Country! I mentioned to my wife how that song wasn’t picked up by many Country stations back in 1988.
I had completely forgotten about “Burnin a Hole in My Heart”. Maybe not a world beater but I have always loved the sound of that song and put’s me in a nostalgic mood. I vaguely remember “It Wasn’t His Child”. I remember purchasing his early 90’s greatest hits package for quite a penny back in the day. Will need to revisit.