I'll Stay Me in Bloomington, MN

Luke Bryan
's debut album for
Capitol Nashville
is about as
country
as the music gets these days. Rather than borrow form
Tim McGraw
or
Big & Rich
, he takes his inspiration from more timeless and perhaps timeworn carriers of the Nash Vegas tradition like
Randy Travis
and
Alan Jackson
.
Bryan
's also a songwriter in the best sense of the word, especially when it comes to sticking close and true to the topical side of
music, from mama and praying to food and love (and its loss) to individuality and trucks. The set contains 11 tracks, ten of which were written or co-written by
. While structurally and topically
is in the mainline of
honky tonk
tradition, the sound of the album, thanks to producer
Jeff Stevens
, is pure
contemporary country
circa the early 21st century. It borrows heavily from
rock & roll
technique, in the chorus vocals and the Hammond B-3 organ to the big, compressed drum sounds. Fiddles, pedal steels and
upright pianos are everywhere, but they are layered underneath big guitar sounds, reverbed vocals, and sometimes cavernous drums. It's the stress between the expertly composed material and the sonic ground that gives the album its enormous potential. Whether it's an up-tempo love song like
"Baby's on the Way,"
with its double entendre and ringing 12-string electric guitars, the
novelty
jealous hillbilly rocker of
"All of My Friends Say,"
the line dance swagger of
"Country Man,"
the anthemic nostalgia song
"We Rode in Trucks,"
or most any cut here, this disc is deep in singles -- and potential videos. Despite the calculating, swing for the fences nature of
's debut, he is genuinely gifted, and executes nearly flawlessly. This record will sound just fine five or ten years from now (if a little cheesy for the production nuances), which is a lot more than one can say for some of his contemporaries.
is a singer and songwriter to watch as a recording artist. ~ Thom Jurek