Artist:   Mick Overman
Song:   "When You Were Mine"
Album: Mister Double Happiness
Label:   Max
Year:    2008

A Prince song made famous by Cyndi Lauper done with accordion and banjo? Why not? The short Minneapolis genius is all about being open, so to hear one of his early hits taken to the rural side of the road sounds perfectly logical. What’s even better is how the ambiguity of the lyrics lends itself so willingly to the freshness of country music. Cheating is cheating, whether you’re doing it with men, women or farm animals, right? The hapless boyfriend in “When You Were Mine” can’t figure out if the dirty bed sheets or the girlfriend wearing his clothes is worse, and finally concludes it’s really all the same. He is fresh out of luck no matter what.  Even when the girlfriend brings another woman home, all he can say is “I love you more than I did when you were mine.” Turns out that memory does make the heart grow fonder, and Mick Overman is a man lost in the past struggling to keep a small measure of pride in the present. His plaintive voice captures the pain of being on the losing end of love, and the best intentions of staying strong can’t hide the hurt. The instruments keep the song down to earth while the rest of his world falls apart, and though it’s on the banjo, the old boyfriend is still the one getting plucked. And maybe it’s time Nashville discovered Prince and turned Big & Rich loose--“Save A Horse, Ride a Little Red Corvette” anyone? Or how about Cowboy Troy and the Artist Formerly Known As teaming up on “My Raspberry Bow Tie?”  The visual possibilities alone are mind-boggling, with one almost fitting in the pants pocket of the other.  Plus Prince always did look good in chaps. Howdy!