Gary Allan

Mama, don't cry; even though Gary's pining for California ladies ("She's So California"), there's still a smidgen of good ole boy swagger in his hi-gloss rock-dominated stroll down Hollywood Boulevard. "Watching Airplanes" even snuck a spot on Billboard's Country Top 10. But that tune's relative twang is an oddball compared to unashamed rockers like "Trying To Matter" and "We Touched the Sun" -- which owe more of their sound to Roxette than Hank.

For the past decade, Gary Allan turned out hard-rocking country that sidestepped Nashville
cliches. But despite a handful of uptempo cuts --including "Wrecking Ball," a stomper with
ZZ Top riffs --on his seventh album, Allan comes off like just another cowboy hat. You can
applaud the idea behind "Learning How to Bend," a ballad about dropping the tough-guy act
for the right girl, but it sounds like a therapy session scored by Air Supply.