Have You Forgotten?

1	Have You Forgotten? 4:03
2	I Will Hold My Ground 4:03
3	Pow 369 3:43
4	I Need a Breather 3:38
5	Back Where I Belong 3:20
6	Those Less Fortunate Than I 3:57
7	Shiloh 4:24
8	Tennessee River Run 3:23
9	The Least That You Can Do 4:04
10	I Miss My Friend 4:02
11	Family Tree 3:21
12	A Good Day to Run 3:08
13	Second Wind 4:24
14	When You Need My Love 3:39
15	Too Many Pockets 2:52
16	The Way Things Are Goin' 3:46

Barnes & Noble

One of the best hard country artists to emerge in recent years, Darryl Worley is a man with conviction, which he makes abundantly clear on his third album, Have You Forgotten? The album presents four new tunes buttressed by six songs each from Worley's first and second albums, including his career-establishing hit, "I Miss My Friend," a tender, affecting ballad about an acquaintance killed in a car wreck. Worley's stately, macho baritone combines on this disc with arrangements that strike a scintillating New Traditionalist balance between true-blue styles and subtle pop and rock embellishments. Such distinctions, however, may be lost in the blunt message behind two of the new songs, chiefly the title tune. Inspired by the events of 9/11 and Worley's visit to U.S. troops in Afghanistan, "Have You Forgotten?" is an unabashedly prowar anthem -- war against terrorism, not Iraq, although that point was moot by the time of the album's release -- powered by pounding drums and anguished slide guitar wails. Worley lays out his vengeful position in sober, unambiguous language: He's John Wayne to Toby Keith's Gen. Jack Ripper. Fiddle and twanging guitar drive "I Will Hold My Ground," a feisty neo-honky-tonk statement of purpose expressing one man's (and by implication, one nation's) resolve to fight back, because "it's just not in my blood to lay down." Worley still finds time to have a sense of humor -- especially in another new song, the lilting, Jimmy Buffett–style tropicalia of "I Need a Breather" -- even as he infuses his songs with substance and depth, addressing a variety of personal and social topics. Those who don't buy the message will still find a lot of reasons to cast a vote for Have You Forgotten? David McGee

All Music Guide

Darryl Worley started to gain a larger audience in 2002 when his second album, I Miss My Friend, brought him to the top of the country charts, so he was on a career upswing prior to the release of Have You Forgotten? in 2003. Have You Forgotten? contains 16 songs, with six songs apiece from Worley's first two albums, 2000's A Hard Rain Don't Last and the aforementioned I Miss My Friend, which constitute half of each record. Of the four new songs here, three are war-related and the fourth finds the singer stating "I Need a Breather," wishing he was wasting away in a Margaritaville, since he needs a break from "this angry boss man." Worley goes out of his way to align himself with the red, the white, and the blue, standing in front of the stars and stripes on the front cover and posing with troops on the back. Then, of course, there's the flag-waving fervor of "Have You Forgotten?" itself, in which Worley attempts to fuse the anger of Toby Keith with the tear-jerking Alan Jackson. The results feel more calculated than heartfelt, overshadowing the material from his first two albums, material that nonetheless suggests Worley could be a neo-traditional country singer with some real promise. Stephen Thomas Erlewine