I'm Not So Tough
By now, folks buying Mindy McCready albums know what they're getting into. If McCready's far from a devastating singer, she's also far from incompetent, and when she has solid material likeMatraca Berg's "All I Want Is Everything," this album's most traditional-country-flavored track, or the road song "Tumble and Roll," she's capable of enough emotional vigor to pull them off. Unfortunately, her third record lacks much in the way of memorable songs, and whereas her previous two outings hinted at a feminist edge, the 23-year-old McCready now strikes a conventional desperate-for-love vulnerability and often a pouting vocal style. Invariably, the weaker the tune, the more she resorts to cloying whispers and chirps. IfI'm Not So Toughhas any highlights, they're to be found in Glen Duncan and Larry Franklin's soulful fiddle breaks and Paul Franklin's tasty pedal steel, which, to McCready's credit, are given plenty of room to roam.--Roy Kasten