It's no surprise that Kenny Chesney, the unabashed king of chill, takes a relaxed approach to Hemingway's Whiskey. His decision to cut his last tour short in favor of recording has spilled over into his grooves. Many of the album's songs are about escaping and unwinding -- spiritually ("Live a Little [Love a Lot]," "Coastal"), mentally ("Reality") and chemically ("You and Tequila"). Highlights abound, from the feel-good rocker "Live a Little" to the George Jones remake/duet "Small Y'all" and the nostalgic "Where I Grew Up."
Eat your heart out, Sugarland! This boy-girl country crew combines sass and sweetness, pop and bluegrass (and some dirty rock licks), couching it all in sweet, close sibling harmonies. The debut from the Mobile brothers-and-sister trio hits all the benchmarks of a good country-pop album: rollicking kiss-off songs, brokenhearted ballads, pinches of honky-tonk and Appalachian folk. But they've also got a host of quirks up their sleeves (like the jazzy, piano-driven break on "You Lie" or the unexpected arpeggiated melody on the bridge of "Miss You Being Gone") that help them break the mold.
Coasting but still crafty, Toby gives these songs a lively bounce, with Motown-ish skiffle for spurned Cubs fans, fast-talking rhymes for pill-popping truckers, swamp-pop for trailer-parkers, and barrelhouse ragtime for an ex named Clementine. He gets his big ol' heart broken a lot, too, and dishes some Garth-style melodrama about making out in senior year. But the bookends stand out: At the start, a dusky yarn about outrunning the Federales with a gun-toting stripper; at the end, a Billy Ocean-indebted guffaw that absurdly insists "get out of your clothes or get out of my car."
On the heels of 2009's raucous Keep On Loving You, Reba's first Dan Huff-produced album carries on the revitalization she's shown in her mid-50s. Again, hard rock has a lot to do with it -- the brassy Jill-of-all-trades title track, the roll-up-your-sleeves "A Little Want To" and the speaker-blowing and Twitter-spurning single "Turn On The Radio" are all propelled by tough, funky guitar riffs. Add in gender-and-genre-crossing Beyonce cover "If I Were a Boy" and the gloomy courtroom and home-life details of "The Day She Got Divorced," and you'll forgive any mere professionalism elsewhere.
On the surface, this looks like your usual take-me-seriously bluegrass move from a normally sprightly Nashville stud and his gaggle of guest stars. But then you notice the lack of showboating. Bentley brings hookful tunes to support his concept: politically progressive Dylan and U2 covers, plus four originals co-written with Jon Randall that are eloquent enough to pass as standards. Gambling, murder and getting high are recurring themes; in the morose closer, coal miners who should've opted to grow marijuana dig their own graves. Yet somehow, as a whole, the set feels almost upbeat.
A Valentine's week release, Turner's fourth album is almost all baritone beefcake romance -- nine tracks out of eleven, if you count the swampy just-got-paid number about a hot Friday date, but not "I'll Be There," which turns out to be a pledge to his kids. He saves his church-organ gospel hymn for the end. But more often, he's telling you he's Mr. Right and a good provider, or suggesting you hit the swimming hole or go dancing up the stairs. With arrangements ranging from mint-julep Dixie riverboat jazz to classic soul quiet storm, it's hard not to be seduced.
The big lug's been on a roll since 2008's X, his eighth and strongest album. And he keeps getting better at big-bam-boom butt-rock, with near-metal riffs to shake honky-tonking badonkadonks: barn-sex stomp "Brown Chicken Brown Cow," Crimson Tide shout-along "Ala-Freakin-Bama," mean fisticuff warning "Whoop a Man's Ass." He also shows perfect comic timing with "Hold My Beer" (about gettin' hitched) and "Hell, I Can Do That" (about bein' a couch potato). And if the album's middle gets a bit bogged down in lovey-dovey slow jams, Trace's soul-and-western baritone keeps things manly regardless.
Enjoy Yourself is a fitting title, as most of these songs reflect the kind of kick-back attitude that musicians like Kenny Chesney have mined so successfully. Employing a full-blown horn section, Currington hits his stride on "Love Done Gone." Another highlight is "Until You," a romantic song that allows Currington to get his rock star on; the gritty vocal style suits the singer surprisingly well. "Like My Dog," meanwhile, is a perfectly written, humorous country song ("I want you to love me like my dog does, honey/ he never says I wish you made more money").
Lady Antebellum's sophomore effort proves the trio has gelled into one powerhouse of a songwriting machine. Need You Now overflows with romantic, wistful power ballads, including the title track and "American Honey," both of which made a home on the country singles chart. Lady A makes it easy to get lost in the starry-eyed drama of their songs, but the cheeky, sly-wink moments that made their debut so lovable are in short supply here.
Country music's most enigmatic icon, Willie Nelson goes back to his roots on Country Music, a vibrant collection of bluegrass favorites and traditional country classics. Ernest Tubb's "Seaman's Blues" rings especially true as the Texan warbles his way from verse to verse. The album's opener, "Man With the Blues," is a Nelson original that blossoms under T Bone Burnett's sparse production and old-time instrumentation. Recorded with many of the musicians T Bone assembled for the Robert Plant/Alison Krauss album Raising Sand, Country Music sounds every bit as potent.
Fresh off of a most impressive Oscar win, Ryan Bingham doesn't use his time in the spotlight to write catchy, upbeat songs to expand his fan base. Instead, he lays out a sepia-toned world of down-and-out characters, desperate souls gone astray by design or circumstance. Producer T-Bone Burnett creates a crisp, uncluttered musical path for Bingham's gritty voice to wander. As Bingham introduces us to his set of characters, he weaves an intoxicating spell of desperation and heartache that sucks you in and changes your mood, making Junky Star an oddly powerful release.
The Secret Sisters are making old music new again, or at the very least they're making it strange. Maybe it's their old-timey look, maybe it's those close harmonies which seem to be plucked from the sky and woven out of light, but whatever they're doing on their 2010 debut, it feels like they've tapped into a past we'd all like to visit. Whether they're singing trad country, '50s love songs or the startlingly sweet original "Tennessee Me," they hover between innocence and opacity... and it's intriguing. T-Bone Burnett was so taken with this album he created a new label to release it.
Josh Thompson's genuine affinity for small town, honky-tonk lovers is at the heart of almost every song on his debut, most notably "Always Been Me," "You Ain't Seen Country Yet" and blue-collar hit "Beer on the Table." In the title track, Thompson invokes a backwoods Holy Trinity when he sings, "We're about John Wayne, Johnny Cash and John Deere way out here," but lest you think he's a heathen, he's quick to offer, "Our houses are protected by the good Lord and a gun." His life inspired these songs but it's his honesty, sense of humor and the ever-present hook that sells them.
Zac Brown Band know fame is fickle, so if the songs on You Get What You Give deal with relaxing and enjoying life in the moment, you can't really blame them. Not that they have anything to worry about: the tightly-spun songs hook you in and take you for a spin on a most enjoyable journey. "I Play the Road" is a slice-of-life song that documents the band's rigorous road schedule; its fast-pumping piano and twangy electric guitar nod to the Allman Brothers. "Who Knows" is a sprawling 10-minute-plus epic jam, while "As She's Walking Away" has lush harmonies, a shuffling beat and none other than Alan Jackson making a guest appearance.
"Little White Church," the overwhelming centerpiece here, a holy-roller stomp with blues-rock guitars and a woman holding out for her wedding ring, preceded this album by several months. There are two good train tracks, the louder of which borrows a title from Soul Asylum and closing riff from T. Rex and concerns messing up while escaping out west. "All the Way Down" does a groovy Fleetwood Mac sway. The rest is mainly lush uplift and sweet coed harmony -- some a cappella, some bluegrass, most ditching LBT's earlier edge and hitching Lady Antebellum's ride into Adult Contemporary Land.
Judging from the song titles alone, it'd be easy to think Gary Allan is wallowing in the curveballs life has thrown him. One listen, however, and you realize Get Off on the Pain is a song-by-song glance into half-full glasses, even in the emptiest of circumstances. The title cut is a raw, powerful testament to that struggle; "Get Off on the Pain" blusters with a boisterous bravado even as the lyrics expose Allan's own doubts. Another highlight, "No Regrets," is a slow-burning beauty about living life to the fullest. Easier said than done, but Allan makes it sound natural.
Ghost Train will make you long for the days when country music was full of grit and soul. Stuart, who started his career at age 13 playing for the legendary Lester Flatt, knows how to make old-school country sound new and appealing. "Branded" is a catchy tune about consequences and bad reputations; what makes this song work so wonderfully is the pulsating drums and ringing guitar that twangs its way through from start to finish. Another highlight is rockabilly number "Country Boy Rock & Roll," which features Kenny Vaughan lending some Everly Brothers-type harmonies. And try not to sing along to Stuart's plucky version of Warner Mack's 1965 gem "Bridge Washed Out," which features the kind of old-school, twanging guitar licks that make you pine for another era.
With a countrified take on heartland rock, the Randy Rogers Band has a familiar sound (there's a Mellencamp feel to many of the songs), yet Burning the Day is indelibly stamped with Brady Black's amazing fiddle work and Rogers' poetic way with turning a phrase. With a keen eye towards relationships, Rogers sings, "Let's drive through town/ Down to the lake/ We'll beg the moon to take its time stealing the day," in "Interstate." Other highlights include the gritty, arid "Damn the Rain," "Missing You Is More Than I Can Do" and "I Met Lonely Tonight."
Jamey Johnson has one of the sharpest senses of humor in country music, which is why his acerbic songs cut so deep. The Guitar Song is a loose concept album: Part one is the "Black Album," filled with the moody, bitter songs in which Johnson excels; part two is the "White Album," revealing Johnson as upbeat as he gets. "Can't Cash My Checks" is a bloody-but-unbowed slow burner that captures the album's best vocal performances from Johnson. "Macon" is a slow-building, Southern rock masterpiece; the Southern gospel background singers take this one to a higher place. Other highlights include "Lonely At the Top," and "Playing the Part" – both of deal with the trappings of fame.
