Rating:
Genre:
Country
Release Date: 04/01/2008
Despite the success of contemporary vocalist
Josh Gracin's self-titled debut album -- the set landed three Top Five singles (including
"Nothin' to Lose," which hit the top spot) and went gold -- the former
American Idol contestant (and fourth-place finisher in the second season) faces a bigger test on his sophomore effort for a number of reasons. First of all, this is a very fickle marketplace.
Gracin began to record a follow-up album to be released in 2006, tentatively called
I Keep Coming Back, but pulled the plug, citing a need to record all new material. Four years is a long time out of the limelight in popular music in the 21st century. Luckily for him, country audiences tend to be more loyal than rock & roll audiences, and are not as obsessed with next big things. Musically,
Gracin knew what he was doing, apparently. Once more he teams with producer
Marty Williams and engineer
Bart Morris on some cuts and
Brett James and
Luke Wooten on others; there are also a few holdovers from the studio band on his debut -- namely bassist
Mike Brignardello, backing vocalist
Russell Terrell, and the ubiquitous steel guitarist
Dan Dugmore. A nice addition here is veteran studio ace
Matt Rollings on keyboards.
Gracin is one of those big-voiced singers who gets to his upper tenor register somewhat effortlessly, and he makes the most of it on power ballads and big guitar storming anthems that have enough punch and enough story in them to carry the listener along for the ride. His voice drips with sincerity in everything he delivers, which is a real plus. The title cut, which was written by
Gracin, is a standout. The enormously compressed guitars climb and wail, and
Dugmore's steel has distortion careening over a multi-voiced chorus with a ringing 12-string and big drums. It's the album's first single, and it's a worthy one.
Blair Daly's
"I Don't Want to Live" follows the same basic formula, and it too works seamlessly with a nice lonesome fiddle touch at the tail end of the each line that trails into the beginning of the next. The breeziness of
"Telluride," by
Brett James and
Troy Verges, with its neo-psychedelic guitar touches and shuffling pace, has one of those fairy-tale "poor but rich with love" storylines, and is another sure bet as a single and/or a video. Ultimately, this is formulaic contemporary country, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing; its fans are always hungry for more stories, more guitars, more catchy hooks and big choruses.
Gracin does it better than most; if anyone has a chance of making lightning strike twice -- despite the long wait -- it's him.
~Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
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