Mercury Dime - Shy Ways Into The Limelight - 1996
from the OpryFiredHank records cd "Baffled Ghosts"

from CMJ.com

Mercury Dime elevates moody Southern strum 'n' twang to high art on this LP. The album is rife with reedy, swirling melodies, punctuated with bursts of bright piano riffing and upper-register guitar work. With grace and reverence, the band ably melds the honky-tonk electricity of Tumbleweed Connection-era Elton John with the morose lilt of R.E.M.'s Fables Of The Reconstruction (in fact, the legendary Mitch Easter produced four of the ten tracks here). The result of this unlikely combination are consistently strong, and sometimes downright amazing. "Baffled Ghosts" exemplifies the latter: a classic Southern potboiler turned triumphant by the lyric cipher that it ends with, this tune should be an instant favorite. Lead singer and songwriter Cliff Retalick belts these songs out with authority and his piano skills are formidable indeed, but it's really his lyrics that are his finest work. Retalick is a master lyricist, capable of infusing bleak realities with humor and irony: "I have stained all I've touched with the sweat-sweet perfume of your inventor/Chocolate Impala, ripped cream seats, cheese for you ''neath all the sandwich meats" ("Shy Ways Into The Limelight"). Backed by the meticulous playing Alan Wyrick (electric guitar), Eric Webster (bass), Jim Martin (drums) and Darryl Jones (whose pedal-steel work deserves special mention), Ratalick's words are fleshed out in full, animated colors. Mercury Dime is an aural monument to the passion of the South that sketches an impressive portrait of that stored, mystical world.

Band Members:
Cliff Retalick - Vocals, Piano
Alan Wyrick - electric guitar
Eric Webster - bass
Jim Martin - drums
Darryl Jones - Pedal Steel