Married for 17 years, Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison have kept their recording careers separate, aside from a low-profile Christmas album. Hearing Cheater’s Game, it’s hard to fathom why, because their talents are so perfectly matched. Robison, writer of country chart-toppers for the likes of George Strait, the Dixie Chicks, and Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, would be hard pressed to find a more sympathetic duet partner for his lyrics than Willis, who earned acclaim in the ’90s as an exquisite singer with a keen appreciation for left-of-center material. They mix it up on the seven Robison originals included here: Sometimes Willis takes the lead with support from Robison (“Ordinary Fool” and “Waterfall”), sometimes vice-versa (“Lifeline” and “Leavin’”), and sometimes they harmonize in full-on duet throughout (“But I Do” and “Dreamin,’” the latter a gorgeous ballad co-written with Miles Zuniga of Fastball). It all works because Robison’s easygoing folksiness a perfect foil to Willis’ emotionally expressive style.

They’re perhaps even better on the album’s half-dozen brilliant cover selections, which include standouts by fellow Texans Robert Earl Keen (“No Kinda Dancer”) and Hayes Carll (“Long Way Home”) as well as old-school country gems (Don Williams’ “We’re All The Way”) and roots-rock classics… read more »