Ronnie Milsap - A Better Word for Love (2021) [Hi-Res]

Country Music Hall of Fame legend Ronnie Milsap is back with new music this spring. His 10-song album, A Better Word for Love, will be released April 30 on Black River Records, and is the follow-up to his all-star project Duets.

Teaming with longtime co-producer Rob Galbraith, Milsap recorded much-loved songs that didn’t fit his prior albums, including those by renowned songwriters Mike Reid, Gary Nicholson, Al Anderson, Jim Weatherly, Brent Maher, Allen Shamblin, and David Ball.

“I have been blessed to work with some of the very best songwriters in the world,” says Milsap. “Over the years, they’ve kept bringing me unbelievable songs, and in some cases, they’ve let me hang onto them because I loved them so much. When Rob and I started this project a few years ago, we decided some of those songs were so special… We wanted to build this album around them, so they wouldn’t be treasures only [my wife] Joyce and I could hear.

“We got to go back to Ronnie’s Place, the studio I built all those years ago, just dig in and cut them—and some songs that have the same kind of heart, the soul and that joy that I’ve always loved. You know, even a sad song when you do it sad enough’ll make you feel better.”

Milsap enlisted some of Nashville’s finest players for the project: guitarists Brent Mason, Steve Gibson, Mark Casstevens, and Chris Leuzinger; bass player Michael Rhodes; drummer Lonnie Wilson; double steel players Mike Johnson and Paul Franklin; and Milsap’s longtime musical director Jamie Brantley.

Along the way, Milsap received a special package from Carl Perkins’ widow, containing the last song the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer ever wrote. She knew Milsap would do it justice. To that end, Milsap tapped Vince Gill to join him on the song that isn’t about a woman, but instead the famous “Big Bertha” driver. Says Milsap, “Singing a song about a golf club without Vince Gill just didn’t feel right.”