200-gram vinyl pressing by Quality Record Pressings!

Singer-songwriting couple make album about heartbreak, relationships

She was the queen of post-modern cred-country. He was the aw-shucks singer/songwriter with the No. 1 records with singers George Strait, the Dixie Chicks, and Tim McGraw with Faith Hill. They were the first couple from Texas' alt-country scene, and separate but equal propositions with their own careers to tend to. In 2011 at South By Southwest, Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis did the unthinkable: They teamed up for the Americana Music Association’s show at Antone’s. More a merging of solo acts than a genuine duo, they were endearing in their awkwardness and engaging in their off-the-cuff camaraderie.

"We didn’t want to get lost in a duo because we are so different, and we’ve each worked so hard to establish our own careers,” says Kelly. The thing about chemistry, though, is it can’t be denied. To hear them sing together is to understand opposite attraction, spontaneous combustion and a whole lotta life lived together. And that telekinetic thrust is what makes Cheater's Game, a collection of songs that hurt, cheat, doubt, lust and hold on, so very delicious. Whether it's the busted samba refiguring of Dave Alvin's "Border Radio" that turns up the woman's reality from the Blasters' original, Don Williams' truth in what's really going on "We're All The Way" or the Beatles-esque shuffling pluck of sweeping close harmonies on Robison's own "But I Do," there's complexity in the neon and the heartbreak, as much said in the tone these notes are sung with as the actual lyrics or what the instrumental breaks evoke.

"It was a lot of things," Robison says. "Crazy, sexy, cool, terrifying...We both know how to make records, have takes on how this works...But together that all goes out the window. This is bringing in 30 songs and sitting with her, then Kelly just sings'em... Some work, some don't... and some, well, something just happens! Those are the ones we keep."

Given the QRP 200-gram vinyl treatment, with lacquer plating by Gary Salstrom and pressing by the world's finest record pressing plant, Quality Record Pressings, this LP sounds as fantastic as the couple's alt-country vibe.