Henson Cargill - Skip a Rope (1980/2018) Hi Res

The title song of this album is the only song this particular country artist is really known for, and anyone that has heard it will probably not forget it. It wouldn't have been possible as a radio hit in any other era but the '60s, the age of the cynical anti-hero. It was a bitter sounding, haunting country song about hypocrisy that was not written by Cargill, but suggested he might be a performer who would have an interesting career ahead of him. According to the liner notes, Cargill got the song from a batch available from the big country publisher Tree Music and financed the recording sessions himself. When the song took off and the label was ready to put out a whole album, the producer seems to have sandbagged Cargill right off the bat by having him cover three, and that is three too many, blockbuster hits of the day. The album needed better material than this to really stand up and although there are a few pretty good tracks, nothing is anywhere near the level of the mighty "Skip a Rope."