- Album Intro
- Album list
Album name:Strong
Mainstream country radio rarely challenges its listeners--after all, the airwaves are really about advertising, not music--and so the consultants nod approvingly at songs with the fewest rough edges. Tracy Lawrence, a hit-maker despite his odd, muffled tenor, knows how to survive both radio's choppy seas and his own frequently turbulent life; on Strong he presents a more mature look at both. There's some ripe sentimentality in 'Paint Me a Birmingham,' about a relationship gone bad. And 'A Far Cry From You,' about a man who physically leaves but is still shedding tears, offers the kind of wordplay radio loves. Yet Lawrence can deliver country's core values without schmaltz (the title song, a tribute to single mothers), and he can bring a lump to a listener's throat with a restrained vocal and powerful lyric ('Think of Me,' which salutes firefighters, cops, EMS workers, and the military). But he's never stronger than on the old-fashioned country shuffle of 'Sawdust on Her Halo' and on 'The Questionnaire,' which dramatically exposes the dead-end truth of a marriage. If Lawrence could ever pay more attention to his own instincts rather than the dictates of consultants, he'd leave behind a legacy stronger than just his chart positions. --Alanna Nash
1. It's All How You Look At It 2. Strong 3. Stones 4. Paint Me A Birmingham 5. Everywhere But Hollywood 6. A Far Cry From You 7. Bobby Darwin's Daughter 8. What The Flames Feel Like 9. Sawdust On Her Halo 10. When Daddy Was A Strong Man 11. Think Of Me 12. The Questionnaire
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