Triumphant “Tomorrow:” Foster and Lloyd Reunite

I first saw Bill Lloyd on stage at a club in downtown Nashville in 1997. I was impressed with his power pop-flavored set and cover of the Kinks’ “This is Where I Belong.” I figured he was an up-and-comer with impeccable taste in covers.
It wasn’t until later that I learned that he was the Lloyd of Foster and Lloyd, a country duo, once up-and-comers with impeccable taste in everything. Over a four-year run, Foster and Lloyd released three well-received albums with reviews that brought comparisons to the Everly Brothers, Byrds and Rockpile. They were that good.
By 1991, Foster and Lloyd were no more, and Radney Foster and Bill Lloyd embarked on solo careers as performers and songwriters. Since then, there have been occasional one-off reunions. There were two successive New Year’s Eve dates at the Bluebird Café in Nashville, a track on a Nick Lowe tribute CD and a performance of “In the Ghetto” at our annual Freedom Sings salute to free expression.
Then came a benefit for the Americana Music Association, with new material and a delighted audience. That set the stage for “It’s Already Tomorrow,” the first new Foster and Lloyd album in 20 years. It was worth the wait.
Reflecting their individual music growth over the years, the new album is both the most musically adventurous and cohesive of their career. Most likely it’s the liberation of no longer worrying about the country radio market and just letting the music flow. It rocks and charms in equal measure.
The additional years also bring a different perspective to the songwriting. The buoyant title song marvels at the passage of years and celebrates a long relationship: “Two young lovers across the aisle, they make me think of us and I smile.”
Closing out the album is “When I Finally Let You Go,” an acoustic number destined to be the bride’s father’s dance at hip wedding receptions. These and songs like “If It hadn’t Been For You” and “Watch Your Movie” couldn’t have been written or performed by a young Foster and Lloyd.
Not that the sly wordplay of earlier records is gone. “Let Me Help You Out of that Freudian slip” they sing in “Can’t Make Love Make Sense”, while the joking boyfriend in That’s What She said” protests that “I can’t stop my innuendo, that’s one thing she can’t comprendo.”
Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick plays bass and electric guitar on “Hold That Thought,” and is a co-writer of “Lucky Number,” a melodic and rocking song about a confident young woman, with back-up vocals by Beth Nielsen Chapman.
Foster and Lloyd revisit their own “Picasso’s Mandolin,” a co-write with Guy Clark, freshening it with a new verse and a guest turn on mandolin by Sam Bush.
In a bit of whimsy, the CD cover is designed to look like a worn and discolored album jacket. The packaging may be weathered, but the music certainly isn’t. Foster and Lloyd are as fresh and vibrant as ever.

Ken Paulson