Loving Every Minute
Even when he's happy, the ever-mournful Mark Wills sounds like a country-pop Droopy. And when he's sad, he sings of a parade of Norma Raes, wiping their brows in a laundry room or dishing out advice to lonely customers who can't see the forest for the ham 'n' eggs. Wills goes into orbit for "Back on Earth," about a touring country star who likens himself to an astronaut, but saves his brighter moments for "I Hate Chicago" and "Lost in a Kiss," which contain the best hooks in the fly box. It's the sort of schmaltzy country, thick with strings and pounding pianos, that creates its own video tableau, like pet food that makes its own gravy.--Henry Cabot Beck