Drift Away: The Best of Narvel Felts, 1973-1979

Felts, Narvel

album cover

Narvel the Marvel

"When Your Good Love Was Mine," one of the early hits on this collection of gems from unjustly forgotten country singer Narvel Felts, starts out mildly enough—with a kicky little Nashville beat, and some dancing pedal-steel guitar from veteran Lloyd Green. The first eight bars of the verse are nothing special either: It's another song about a guy looking back, remembering a sweet love that's gone. And then, right around bar ten, the band starts to stir. Felts gives his silvery voice some wings, and suddenly we're inside a big reverb-laden Righteous Brothers production—the urgent sound of classic pop circa the mid-'60s. The beat gets more insistent, and by the time he hits the song's apex, Felts has transported his listeners from the lunch-bucket normalcy of Nashville into an exalted pop place.

On the string of (mostly medium-sized) hits represented here, Felts—whom Dolly Parton once called "the greatest voice in country music"—manages this trick repeatedly. Alternating between an authoritative baritone and a surprisingly agile falsetto (which he uses to great effect on "Reconsider Me"), the Missouri-born singer lifts up ordinary little clichés just by the emphasis he puts on some words. Felts was comfortable doing Elvis Presleyish rockabilly, humble gospel, and was particularly compelling singing soul. The great pleasures of this set include renditions of the Jackie Wilson smash "Lonely Teardrops" and the Dobie Gray title track. Felts drifted away in the late '70s after his backup band went on to become the supergroup Alabama. Since then, he's devoted himself to religious music and touring on the oldies circuit, where his still formidable voice can be heard singing these just plain great songs.

Genre: Country
Released: 1996, Bear Family
Key Tracks: "Drift Away," "When Your Good Love Was Mine," "Until the End of Time," "Lonely Teardrops," "To Love Somebody."
Next Stop: Roy Orbison: Mystery Girl
After That: Charlie Rich: Behind Closed Doors
Book Pages: 275–276

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