Workin' Man Blues

"Hier Encore,” the song and its low-lit production featured neither the twang of tradition nor the grand sweep of a Countrypolitan production number. And yet, heightened by Clark's intimate vocals and elegant fingerpicked guitar, the song struck just the right chord of better-days nostalgia for turmoil-weary Americans in the ‘70's early years. Lynn Anderson's bouncy take on a toe-tapping “Rose Garden” took the opposite tack and achieved similar results, facing down toil and trouble with pluck and pop optimism. And, reaching back to her Smokey Mountain youth Dolly Parton and a gorgeous “Coat of Many Colors” offered up an autobiographical tribute to the things that really matter.