Country wall of sound

Jamesalbum all out; also, Jennings shines

Is everyone ready for the St. Patrick's Day Downtown Street Festival Saturday?

Los Lonely Boys, The Dirty River Boys and Flashpoint (a Celtic Irish band) will perform outside, and AA Bottom and Texas Blues Runners are set to crank up the volume inside at the Iron Horse Pub.

It should be a good one!



Carrie Underwood, Kellie Pickler, Scott McCreery and Josh Gracin are just some of the "American Idol" alums who have been on the country charts since the popular show hit the air.

Another "Idol" veteran just coming into his own away from the show is Plano, Texas-born Casey James.

James' new self-titled album shows off not only the vocal prowess that kept him in the competition long enough to finish in a respectable third place, but the nine of 11 songs he penned for the new set show he knows how to write a country song.

It's a good modern country album, and I'm sure it will probably rack up a few hits. Fans of the big "wall of sound" production technique will especially appreciate its all-out-all-the-time approach.

The musical styles vary on songs like "The Good Life," "Drive," "So Sweet," "Workin' on It" and "She's Money," but the energy never lets up.

Even the ballads, "Love the Way You Miss Me," "Let's Don't Call it a Night," "Miss Your Fire" and "Undone" have all the mixer knobs set near the max.

I don't want to say it gets monotonous, exactly, but it can be distracting after a while, and I would like to have heard more tastefully textured layers in the music, a little more finesse, and maybe a little lighter touch at mix-down time.

Still, welcome to the big leagues, Casey. Keep on making Texas proud!NEXT rating: B

"family man"

By shooter jennings

Waylon's boy has had quite a varied career, recording everything from hard rock to hard country, and surrounding himself with a variety of bands.

Shooter Jennings' new album, "Family Man," is the most countrified country album he has ever done, and it's good to hear it.

I'm just not sure of exactly what he meant to do when he was writing and producing it.

Recorded in New York, the title of "Family Man" might have something to do with the birth of his son, his second child with his fiancee, less than a year ago. And the new band he put together for the project, Triple Crown, is a more settled, more sedate backup group than his previous rock outfits.

It is, in Scooter's words from the promotional materials, his most country record yet, but only he knows if it signals some kind of more or less permanent direction, or is just an amusing side project until he gets interested in heavier rock-based music again.

But it is good.

Opening with a George Jones-esque outing on "The Real Me," Scooter gets right to the country, and stays there. Even the edgier songs, like "Manifesto No. 4," are more down-home Southern rock than the rock of his past.

The best songs as far as I'm concerned are "The Deed and the Dollar," and the incredibly touching "Daddy's Hands" (which is not a cover of the Holly Dunn song of the same name).

There will never be another Waylon Jennings, but there could be a great new country artist by the name of Shooter Jennings if this kind of thing keeps up!NEXT rating: B+