Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

If there is a country music radio programmer out there who isn't under the sway of some corporate monkey two thousand miles away, I have a suggestion for you. Pick up the new self-titled CD by Jerry Adam and go to Cut Three and play Adams’ version of “Would These Arms Be In Your Way.” Yes, the song is classic country, and has been recorded several times, but Adams brings, believe it or not, something just a little new and different to it, much like he does to most of his new disc.

Adams has been around for awhile, though, as happens occasionally, he seemed to have fallen off after a couple of releases in the 1990s. He is back, a bit older, probably a bit wiser, and certainly a bit more weathered, though it suits him very well, thank you. Adams has a smoke-tinged voice that fits his material quite nicely, particularly the ballads that grace JERRY ADAMS, such as “Haggard On My Mind” and “Part of The Dream.” The latter song, for some reason, reminds me of Briley Parkway in Nashville, that eclectic stretch between I-65 and The Opry, and the next time I'm down there I my just have to put that song on and play it full blast and then some. There’s not a dud on JERRY ADAMS, though, the entire CD is worth your time more than a few times, from the opening bars of “Haggard” to the end of “If Your Heart Should Ever Roll This Way Again” which includes the most welcome addition of Jo-El Sonnier.

I don't know where Jerry Adams has been, but I'm glad he is back. Hopefully enough people will give JERRY ADAMS the attention it deserves to make sure he sticks around.