The country equivalent of a boy band, this trio achieved some success with its first two albums, 2000's self-titled debut and 2002's Melt, largely on the strength of some slickly directed videos. But they would need Steven Spielberg to bail them out this time. Frontman Gary Levox and his sidekicks Jay DeMarcus (Levox's second cousin) and Joe Don Rooney are much better singers than the 'N Sync/Backstreet Boys crowd; they can hold a harmony line and they don't drift too far off pitch. On the other hand, Levox has never heard of subtlety, and the group's songs tend to a treacly, dispirited sameness. The sappy "Bless the Broken Road" may appeal to romantics in the crowd, while the relatively lively "Fast Cars and Freedom" and "Oklahoma-Texas Line" come as a very welcome change of pace. However, it's a little hard to figure out exactly what the deliberate title song is about, and "Holes" lives down to its title's promise of emptiness.
COUNTRY
DOWNLOAD THIS: "Fast Cars and Freedom"
