Buddy Jewell
Nashville Starwinner Buddy Jewell, with hisWaylon-esque good looks and his tender-tough demeanor, so reminiscent ofMerle Haggard, may be the most perfect new mainstream country singer of the decade. His self-penned "Help Pour Out the Rain (Lacey's Song)" made history as the highest-charting debut single by a new artist sinceWynonna's "She Is His Only Need" (1992), partly because of its sweet parent-child dynamic, but also because Jewell knows how to emotionally connect with listeners. Steeped in tradition in his native Arkansas and seasoned as a Nashville demo singer for the past eight years, he arrives at his debut as a full-blown artist, commanding on the deep-dish, rootsy material and confident with the MOR ballads. His sonorous baritone-bass gives wings to even the most routine songs, though producerClint Blackhas outfitted him with some very fetching tunes, indeed, including the left-field "O'Reilly Luck," a Celtic-laced story-song about an Irishman who curses his fate when illness forces his family from boarding the Titanic. Jewell covers the usual romantic topics--heartbreak, the difference between the sexes--and offers a tip of the Stetson (and a little flip of the bird) in the good-natured "I Wanna Thank Everyone," which acknowledges his drive to succeed when everyone else dismissed him. Blessed with underdog charm through and through, this guy is a natural.--Alanna Nash