Jamey Johnson - That Lonesome Song

I'll admit, I'd never heard of this guy until I saw him on Letterman the other night. Considering his album has been lauded from Nashville to New York, I guess I'm a little late to the game. Anyway, I've got to tell you, this is easily the best of the four albums I've picked up this week.

Once upon a time, there were a lot of country singers who sounded like this. His voice is deep and grizzled. Like Jennings and Jones before him (as he references in one song), he doesn't sound like a guy who set out to be a star. He sounds like an outlaw from the road with war stories to tell. In his case, these are the stories of drug abuse, a dissolved marriage being dropped by his first label.

So what is it about this guy that hits me just right? I think it's that his traditional sound and familiar stories actually sound legitimate. This isn't some guy approximating the old-time country sound. Rather, he's an actual old-soul who knows intimately of the pain he sings. When he tells me "the high cost of living ain't nothing like the cost of living high," I don't imagine him smiling at his desk for having turned a clever phrase. Rather, I see a man lamenting his life and hoping that the act of bearing his soul might unburden his heart. Or at least open the door for better days ahead.