Track This: Jonathan Richman's "The Neighbors" (Jonathan Goes Country Version)
Jonathan Goes Country is undoubtedly my favorite Jonathan Richman record as I return to it much more than the others, despite such classics as I, Jonathan and Back in Your Life, having many amazing tracks. Of course, The Modern Lovers records are also filled with incendiary classics. Something about Jonathan Goes Country resonates more with me than most on a song-by-song album level. Almost all the tracks have a place in showing that Richman can make country records with the best of them. The album's composition adds to its cohesion: five covers that honor the country canon while adding Richman's inimitable spin and seven originals that fit right in. He reworks three ("The Neighbors," "You're the One for Me," and "Corner Store") from his earlier albums, although you would never know he didn't write them for the album. The record has few lows and many highs, cohesively fitting Richman's sound and style into the country idiom while reta