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Release Date: May 21, 2009 Label: OMG Records Related Sites: · Official Site Grade: A+

"I wanna see where Kurt Cobain got married,
Ride to where James Dean was buried,
Walk the ground where Jesus carried that cross.

I need to hear that Elvis demo tape,
Taste the wine from a Rothschild grape,
Search for who I am til I get lost.

When it comes to doing music reviews, my office is more often than not my car. No one's going to bug me, the drive is long, and the sound system is better than a pair of headphones sticking out of my laptop case. But it has another advantage as well, one evidenced by albums like Brad Cotter's latest release, Right on Time -- that being that the solitude means I don't have to worry about embarrassing myself (too much) if I start to sing along.

By the third time around on Cotter's release, I'm doing just that. Not humming. Not tapping my fingers lightly in beat on the steering wheel. Full-throated, open-mouthed, volume-cranked singing right along, looking ridiculous to passing vehicles and not really caring.

From those very opening lines of the first track, "Somethin' Out There," you can tell there's an edge to Cotter's music. Kurt Cobain, James Dean and Jesus all in the same breath? That's some moxie, my friend -- and it's a hook that sticks, pulling the listener in and not letting go. Before you know it, you're hearing the closing strains of the final (and titular) track, "Right on Time," and playing the disc over again.

There's an old-school country/rock sound on Right on Time -- old-school for me being the 70s, when the performers remembered performing with Hank, but were nurturing up-and-comers like the Marshall Tucker Band. Whether it's the electrical sound of guitars and sliders or the horn section right out of an Elvis Las Vegas performance, the sound is there in many places, but not pervasive, overriding, or even distracting; it's just right, unpretentious yet bold, and helps these songs stand out among their contemporaries getting airplay today.

Coming out of the energized "Somethin' Out There," things slip into a lower gear, seemngly, with the inspirational "Let Me Believe," which slowly builds up into one of those brass-backed power gospels evocative of the white-jumpsuited Elvis. When "Love Works" takes over, the listener easily slides into a contemporary Kenny Chesney mode.

There's a thread of positive spiritual messages running through these first three songs, and the fourth doesn't drop it. If anything, it winds it all up into a big ball of electricity as Cotter rocks out to "I'm Lookin' for a Church," with its rapid, syncopated rhythms and and funk/gospel backup singers.

The old-school country fans will feel quite comfortable with "A Lot of Catchin' Up to Do," as Cotter slows things down with a love ballad that could have been pulled right off a Ronnie Milsap album. But it's the next song, "I Sing for Free" that competes hard for the right to get national radio play:

So I jump on the bus with the boys in the band.
We'll fly if we can't get there by land,
'Cause when you bring me you I'm who I was born to be.
I pay the bills with the till, but that ain't the deal for me.
I'm on the road for the money -- but I sing for free.

"I Sing for Free" is one of those infectious and fun songs that your DJ needs to be playing, so get those phones ringing at K- or W- whatever. Once you've heard it, you'll understand and get on board with the program.

If you can't get behind the movement to get "I Sing for Free" on the airwaves, then maybe you'll be moved to call for the love ballad, "My Mind's Runnin' Away With You." Romantic, yearning -- it's the kind of song you arrange to be playing in the background when gathering the courage to approach that girl you hold as unattainable -- and it's the song that becomes "our song" when she says yes.

From Dusty Springfield's "Son of a Preacher Man" to Toby Keith's "God Love Her" (with a rest stop in the feature film "Footloose") there's always been an attraction to the ideal of wild sexual rebellion repressed in the hearts of those raised surrounded constantly by the trappings of religion. "Preacher's Daughter" capitalizes on that, with a slightly blasphemous edge as church idioms are used to express elation of another kind:

Amen, Hallelujah, we're headed for the water,
Runnin' down the devil with the preacher's daughter.
Bless my soul -- Lord I hope
Hellfire ain't no hotter (it can't be hotter)
Than the preacher's daughter!

Brad Cotter - Right on Time Track Listing

Somethin' Out There Let Me Believe Love Works I'm Lookin' for a Church A Lot of Catchin' Up to Do I Sing for Free My Mind's Runnin' Away With You Preacher's Daughter Wild Angels Free I Miss Me Right on Time

The album begins the slow wind-down after that, with a quartet of more mellow tunes, starting with "Wild Angels" and "Free," the latter of which is a particularly stellar example of the way country music excels over other genres when it comes to word sculpture in lyrics. Cotter also channels a bit of his inner Trace Adkins with the vocals on this one.

Also included on this album is a remake of "I Miss Me." During the second season of Nashville Star, which Cotter won, he played a version of this tune on Original Song Night. (Ah, what a season that was -- George Canyon, Matt Lindahl, and Jennifer Hicks. Where have they all gone?) He also replayed it during the season finale.

Cotter shares writing credits on a handful of the songs, but the bulk of the tunes come from Cotter's partner/producer, Steve Bogard, who has written songs for Diamond Rio, Tim McGraw, Lonestar, and Clay Walker. Bogard's works are joined by those of Jason Sever, who actually teams up with Bogard and Will Doughty to create "My Mind's Runnin' Away With You."

Right on Time is strong on replayability, and filled to the edges of the disc with powerful tunes that lodge themselves in your head long after you've stopped listening. It's a real showcase of an album, and highly recommended for country music fans.