Jimmie Vaughan has been cranking out blues for years, but has seemed to live in the shadow of his legendary younger brother, the late Stevie Ray Vaughan. Even when his album with "The Fabulous Thunderbirds" went platinum, it was the group, not his name, that people knew. Jimmie proves himself yet again as one of the greats in the music world, as the songs in this extraordinary album unfold.

It begins with "Like A King." It's smooth, and isn't exactly blues, except
for the sound. His baby makes him "Feel like a doggone king." It's simple and a little silly but the music is outstanding.

"Lost In You" has a sad beauty. He goes on explaining how she's his
"everything" and he's lost control of himself because she means so much to him. The guitar is wonderful but also a little depressing. I got "lost in" it and had a hard time getting the tune out of my head.

The title song, "Out There," starts out sounding like old time gospel and gets into a peppy beat. Some echo comes into play too, I would assume to give the impression of being more "out there." It's another fun, simple song that will make you swing.

With a stripper's bounce and a playful repetition, "Can't Say No" is one of the more interesting songs on the CD. It takes a variation on an old tune and makes it new with a few words and some tiny changes in music. Picture a man sitting at the edge of the dance floor with Kim Basinger taking it all off and you'll get an idea of what it impressed upon me, whether it meant to or not.

"The Ironic Twist" is an instrumental that's raucous, noisy, and a whole lot of fun. With the sax blaring, the guitar wailing, and the occasional shouts in the background, it sounds like your typical barroom band music, only much better.

Jimmie has a dialogue, backed up by "doo-wap" singing and a good beat, in "Positively Meant To Be," which switches to casual melody, with lots of creative rhyming and sentiment that gets you right where it's meant to, in the heart. This one might bring a tear of joy to your eye.

"Motor Head Baby" is a funny song about a woman who only wants a man with a cool ride and a heavy foot. More about the music than the lyrics, as I guess you could say about nearly all of these songs, this tune takes you on a journey with a man who might not be fast enough for this girl.

Just the title "Kinky Woman" begs to be commented on, so I won't let it down. This one's pretty hilarious in it's own sad way too. He doesn't seem to appreciate the finer art of bondage and domination and considers jumping "into the deep blue sea" if this kinky woman won't leave him be.

The last song, "Little Son, Big Sun," is another instrumental which starts out happy and carefree and pretty much stays that way. It's slightly repetitive but it's just so bouncy that I didn't really care. It's also not really long enough for you to get bothered by it. A happy note to end this terrific collection of songs.

I've found that I can't possibly put words to the way I feel when I listen to
this album. Maybe it's that I haven't been a long-time blues fan, or maybe it's just you can't appreciate this CD unless you listen to it yourself. If you even have a passing interest in blues music, I'd highly recommend "Out There."