Lonestar

Don't let the touchy-feely title fool you: Lonestar's sixth album isn't all sap and sentiment. Some songs veer into that territory, but most of the album is a highly-polished, radio-ripped departure from their early rootsy country rock sound. If you detect an Alabama vibe, it's because that band's Randy Owen sings "From Here to There."

You don't have to be populist to be popular, but it helps. Lonestar have been one of
country's most irrefutable pop forces for several years. On their fifth album, as with all
their work, they live and die by tried-and-true tropes: the goodness of children, the
intractability of the gender wars, the heroism of the soldier. It's country-by-numbers.
Lonestar excel only at bland platitudes, painting broad emotional brush strokes t... More >