To be honest, I didn’t much care for Dean Strickland’s album, Hitchhiking Guitarman. The lyrics are simple and run-of-the-mill, with Strickland singing about the usual suspects of Jesus, family and Texas. The strumming is not bad, but not terribly forceful either. All in all, the album has a feeling of having been done a million times better by million other country singers. I appreciated the reality and ‘tried-and-true’ nature of the album, but other than that, the songs fall awfully flat.

But – and this is a huge but – in Strickland’s stripped down ditties there is something genuine. By the album’s end, I did believe his sorrowful pangs of doubt from the road. I believed he was an authentic hitchhiking guitarman, someone who took to the road and learned life’s lessons. Unfortunately, the opportunity of his experiences on the road feel squandered with the 13 songs he’s put together.

The album’s first track, All the Means We’d Need, is actually not that bad in the musical department. It’s a simple song with Strickland’s vocals matched with his guitar work. But the lyrics are cheesy beyond belief, with continual espousals of family and God. If this was the only reference to the typical country lyrics of Jesus and America, I could have dealt with its presence. But nearly every song, especially the ridiculous It Takes a Cowboy like Me, feels like it’s been done before and has these similar lyrics.

A lot can be learned about Strickland’s variety just by looking at the song titles on the album. One is called Texas. Another is called I Love Texas (It’s My Home). One is called I Believe the Lord Has Put Me Here to Sing to You. Another is called The Life of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Yet another one is called The Good Lord Knows.

Now, I don’t call into question Mr. Strickland’s love for his God and country. In fact, it’s commendable. But for listeners, there needs to be some branching out from these central themes. How many different configurations of these lyrics can we country lovers take? It feels as if every modern country song is about God and country. And to have Strickland include a song titled, Why Did Classic Country Music Have to Die? is pretty hilarious. The answer to his question may be this very album.

Old time country music – you know, the good stuff with Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Merle Haggard – definitely had the God and country stuff. But those singers also tested themselves with other subject matters. I highly doubt any country singer today, including Strickland, would show the type of redemptive appreciation to prisoners and criminals that Haggard and Cash sang about. What about Willie Nelson’s odes to the open road? Where are they?

Despite my previous objections to its typical title, I Love Texas (It’s My Home) is a wonderful song. It’s the one song on the album that has a feeling of being something bigger, a feeling of country roads and dusty railroads. If only the rest of the album followed this song’s lead, than maybe Hitchhiking Guitarman would be a welcome addition to the annals of country music.

Old country music is dead, and Dean Strickland is not helping revive it.