Indicated by its title,
COUNTRY! COUNTRY!
is billed as
HARDY
's return to the genre after two albums increasingly concerned with post-grunge, nu metal, and rock. Enough of its 20 tracks hit the intended target -- especially cuts like the twangy "Luckiest Man Alive" and "Favorite Country Song" -- to satisfy fans of his earlier days as a Nashville hitmaker, but the heavy pop gloss and rock muscle are still very much in evidence. Produced by longtime collaborator
Joey Moi
(
Nickelback
,
Morgan Wallen
),
feels more like a boisterous grunge-rocker trying his hand at a country album. ~ Timothy Monger