Blake Shelton the adult shines on new LP

Blake Shelton
“Bringing Back The Sunshine”
(Warner Nashville)

Blake Shelton’s public persona -- a mix of smart-aleck whimsy and thoughtful sensitivity -- has made him country music’s most ubiquitous male star. A full-grown man with a boyish cheekiness, his easy likability has made him a consummate award-show host, a high-profile judge on “The Voice” and a constant presence in ads across print, the Web and TV.

His recent albums draw on both sides of this personality -- but it doesn’t always work as well on record. His new “Bringing Back The Sunshine” connects mostly when he sounds like a busy adult trying to balance love and career.

“Lonely Tonight,” an impassioned love song performed as a duet with the wonderful Ashley Monroe, shows off his vocal and emotional range. Other romantic cuts, like the fiery “I Need My Girl” and the wistful “Just South Of Heaven,” prove how well Shelton can deliver a well-written song.

The boyish side comes out when Shelton slips into a sweet, funky groove. The hit “Neon Light” is lighthearted fun, but on songs like “Gonna” and “A Girl,” where he assumes the role of a guy half his age, he stops being believable. And credibility is just as important in country music as it is when sitting in the judge’s chair. (AP)


Lady Antebellum regains altitude on ‘747’

Lady Antebellum
“747”
(Capitol Nashville)

Lady Antebellum took off at jet speed with back-to-back multiplatinum albums in 2008 and 2010. Since then, while continuing to score radio hits, the trio’s sales leveled out and started drifting downward.

The group’s fifth album, “747,” sounds like a concerted effort to head back toward the stratosphere. After a couple of uneven albums, “747” has a cohesive, celebratory feel that brings out the best in members Dave Haywood, Charles Kelley and Hillary Scott.

Landing on a sound all its own, Lady Antebellum presents pop-flavored, adult-oriented country music that stands out from Nashville’s party-all-the-time male singers and the hard-edged, aggressive female stars. The interweaving voices of Scott and Kelley have a buoyancy and maturity that returns on “747,” an album that ranks with the trio’s previous best, 2010’s “Need You Now.”

The first single, “Bartender,” is a grown-up take on country music’s current obsession with hard drinking. But the album has better songs: the beautifully sensual “Damn You Seventeen,” the musically and vocally complex “Down South,” the sultry, spiritual “One Great Mystery” and the yearning “Lie With Me,” which makes good use of the clever double-entendre in the title and chorus.

With “747,” Haywood, Scott and Kelley find their own distinctive path, once again. Long may they fly. (AP)


Kenny Chesney shows the way on new album

Kenny Chesney
“The Big Revival”
(Blue Chair/Columbia)

Kenny Chesney took a year off before recording his new album, “The Big Revival,” and it shows. Cohesive in scope, “The Big Revival” suggests the veteran country star is determined to extend his two-decade string of top 10 hits -- something he has achieved with first single, “American Kids.”

Chesney has continually tinkered with his sound, growing more introspective in recent years while remaining the king of the arena sing-along. Chesney’s forte is that even his rockers offer snapshots of the lives of his fans, as he does here on “Beer Can Chicken,” which he cowrote. A rocker like “Drink It Up” avoids the clicheuros flowing through contemporary country songs by injecting some real-life gravitas.

Working with longtime coproducer Buddy Cannon, Chesney slips some modern Nashville rhythms and loops into songs like “Til It’s Gone” and “Rock Bottom,” yet holds on to the classic-rock guitar sound he loves. But the album’s most powerful moment arrives with the closer “If This Bus Could Talk,” which traces Chesney’s story from a nervous greenhorn opening for Patty Loveless in 1993 through the twists and turns of a long career.

Today’s country arena rockers may model themselves on Chesney’s good-time style, but “The Big Revival” proves they still have a thing or two to learn from him. (AP)