Long Walk Back
OnLong Walk Back, Junior Brown attempts to expand upon  his signature sound: He leaps off into extended guitar jams; he  accentuates the retro-novelty aspect of certain songs by adding  anonymous background choruses; he even tries to croon a ballad.  Unfortunately, the further he moves from concise honky-tonk shuffles  and crisply written country tunes, the more he strays from what he does  best.Long Walk Backworks wonderfully when Brown keeps a tight  grip on both his talented, one-of-a-kind guitar technique and on his  colorful baritone voice. But when he indulges his guitar prowess, or  when his voice challenges its limitations, he leaves behind what makes  him special.--Michael McCall