Luke Bryan

Georgian Luke Bryan got his Nashville break when Billy Currington took his song "Good Directions" to the country top spot earlier this year. Now Bryan gets his own shot at the charts with the debut release I'll Stay Me, a collection of warm, vivid tales about country livin' and first love that display his innate songwriting skills and, unfortunately, his vocal limitations.

Blessed with a natural, understated lyricism, Bryan roots his music in family and faith without preaching. "Pray About Everything" may tell of mama's homespun wisdom, but the upbeat guitars and layered melody make it a pacy, pleasant track. At his best when painting nostalgia-tinged postcards of his youth, Bryan evokes the "flat river washing that red Georgia dirt" with a stirring violin refrain on "We Rode in Trucks," while "Over the River" is a jaunty, bluegrass-tinged ode to wild country parties.

Given all of his strengths, it's shame that Bryan's voice isn't more powerful or memorable, a fact that weakens many of the tracks here. The rousing lead single "All My Friends Say" relies on produced vocal layers, while other songs might be served better by different singers: the gentle guitar riff of "You Make Me Want To" brings to mind Keith Urban, while the laconic drawl of "Country Man" would shine as a Kenny Chesney song.

—Abby McDonald
08.13.07

Luke Bryan's debut album for Capitol Nashville is about as country as the music gets these days. Rather than borrow form Tim McGraw or Big & Rich, he takes his inspiration from more timeless and perhaps timeworn carriers of the Nash Vegas tradition like Randy Travis and Alan Jackson. Bryan's also a songwriter in the best sense of the word, especially when it comes to sticking close and true to the topical side of country music, from mama and praying to food and love (and its loss) to individuality and trucks. The set contains 11 tracks, ten of which were written or co-written by Bryan. While structurally and topically Bryan is in the mainline of honky tonk tradition, the sound of the album, thanks to producer Jeff Stevens, is pure contemporary country circa the early 21st century. It borrows heavily from rock & roll technique, in the chorus vocals and the Hammond B-3 organ to the big, compressed drum sounds. Fiddles, pedal steels and honky tonk upright pianos are everywhere, but they are layered underneath big guitar sounds, reverbed vocals, and sometimes cavernous drums. It's the stress between the expertly composed material and the sonic ground that gives the album its enormous potential. Whether it's an up-tempo love song like "Baby's on the Way," with its double entendre and ringing 12-string electric guitars, the novelty jealous hillbilly rocker of "All of My Friends Say," the line dance swagger of "Country Man," the anthemic nostalgia song "We Rode in Trucks," or most any cut here, this disc is deep in singles -- and potential videos. Despite the calculating, swing for the fences nature of Bryan's debut, he is genuinely gifted, and executes nearly flawlessly. This record will sound just fine five or ten years from now (if a little cheesy for the production nuances), which is a lot more than one can say for some of his contemporaries. Bryan is a singer and songwriter to watch as a recording artist. ~ Thom Jurek, Rovi