Billy Ray Cyrus
Sony Music
www.billyraycyrus.com
Ok, if I knew that it was Billy Ray BEFORE I heard it, I probably wouldn't have given this a hootennanny's worth of attention, but I liked it before I knew who did it, so why not give the guy a chance?
Billy's voice seems to have mellowed out a bit since Achy Breaky - I assume he'll spend most of his career recovering from that - he sings with a bit of a raspiness that adds a sort of sexiness and sincerity to his voice, and with plenty of love ballads for those of us who hope that "one day he'll sing it to me."
Nonetheless, there's still a lot of cliched country licks that someone could have reworked for a bit more originality, and there's some "un-country" sappy stuff in "All I'm Thinking About Is You," for instance, but on the whole it seems like he's grown up a bit.
A lot of these problems could even be the fault of the producers, who have, after all, a specific audience they're trying to reach.
The title track and "You Won't Be Lonely Now" are a couple stand out songs, "We The People," definately in the anthem category, apparently was a hit on the Bush campaign trail... we'll have to forgive that too.
Sometimes having an open mind can be a real bitch.
Anyway, if you've been avoiding Billy Ray simply because he's Billy Ray, do like I did, and buy it on sale. Much of this is pretty darned good.
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