Randy Rogers Band

Randy Rogers Band

With Radney Foster producing, Randy Rogers Band's sixth album sounds still more steeped in rootsy Texas twang. Brady Black's old timey fiddle style and Rogers' lazy drawl both help to give the album a Lone Star State tone, and it's apparent from the catchy "Better Than I Ought To Be" that they'd sound a lot different had Steve Earle's music (and much of the 1990s' alt-country movement) never seeped into Rogers' songwriting consciousness. (The third song here, "Lonely Too Long" even makes reference to taillights fading, a phrase used in Earle's "Before They Make Me Run.")  Rogers takes a detour on "One Woman," an endearing ballad with old school instrumentation and the kind of shiny new song hooks that sound more polished for Nashville than Austin — especially with the more contemporary guitars at the end which come off at times like borrowed effect pedals from The Edge of U2. More Ryan Adams than Steve Earle, "In My Arms Instead" is a standout tune that could make anyone believe Whiskeytown never broke up.

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