Strong
Mainstream country radio rarely challenges its listeners--after all, the airwaves are really about advertising, not music--and so the consultants nod approvingly at songs with the fewest rough edges. Tracy Lawrence, a hit-maker despite his odd, muffled tenor, knows how to survive both radio's choppy seas and his own frequently turbulent life; onStronghe presents a more mature look at both. There's some ripe sentimentality in "Paint Me a Birmingham," about a relationship gone bad. And "A Far Cry From You," about a man who physically leaves but is still shedding tears, offers the kind of wordplay radio loves. Yet Lawrence can deliver country's core values without schmaltz (the title song, a tribute to single mothers), and he can bring a lump to a listener's throat with a restrained vocal and powerful lyric ("Think of Me," which salutes firefighters, cops, EMS workers, and the military). But he's never stronger than on the old-fashioned country shuffle of "Sawdust on Her Halo" and on "The Questionnaire," which dramatically exposes the dead-end truth of a marriage. If Lawrence could ever pay more attention to his own instincts rather than the dictates of consultants, he'd leave behind a legacy stronger than just his chart positions.--Alanna Nash