Jerrod Niemann
freed the music on his second album but the music found no home. Compared to his 2010 debut, which topped Billboard's Country Albums charts on the strength of the doo wop swing of "Lover, Lover," the 2012 sophomore set sank without a hit single to its name. Some critics loved
Niemann
's willingness to be weird, but reviews don't sell records, so the singer decided to straighten up and fly right for 2014's
High Noon
. Here, the hints of hip-hop are streamlined -- they're present in the embarrassing, stiff novelty "Donkey" and a cameo by professional buffoon
Colt Ford
on the closing "She's Fine"-- and when
sings "in the country/we know how to rock," he's not conjuring the ghost of
Waylon Jennings
or attempting to run with renowned outsider
Eric Church
, he's as happy and sunny as the laid-back dudes of
Florida Georgia Line
. Despite the cowboy stance of its title, there isn't much swagger on
: it's all slick, smooth and rather slow; so mellow that even the odes to "Day Drinkin'" and "Beach Baby" barely quicken the pulse.
acquits himself well, sounding soulful on the blues crawl of "The Real Thing," doing his best
Luke Bryan
on "Drink to That All Night," and navigating the adult contemporary turns of "Space" with aplomb, but his pro versatility only serves to highlight the timidity of the album. Coming after the untrammeled
Free the Music
, this conservatism is certainly a disappointment but the crushing thing is,
isn't merely cautious, it's boring. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine