John Michael Montgomery
settled into a groove early into his career, choosing to never push things too far. He had an easygoing style and a mellow baritone that sounded equally good on
country
rockers and love
ballads
. To the dismay of hardcore
purists,
Montgomery
chose to keep things easy -- his rockers never pushed too hard and his
were clean and calm. This inclination to keep things smooth only increased as his career progressed, and his sixth album,
Home to You
, is his smoothest yet. Nearly every song on the album is a love
ballad
, and all of them sound better-suited for
adult contemporary
radio than
contemporary country
radio (in the case of
"Nothing Catches Jesus by Surprise,"
it could fit right into a
CCM
station's play list). Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, since
's strength has always been
, but the album winds up sounding very homogenous and bland after a while. It's hardly an unpleasant listen, yet few songs distinguish themselves from their peers. Those that do will undoubtedly sound fine on the inevitable second greatest-hits collection, but in this context they're part of the sonic fabric on an album that is essentially romantic
mood music
. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine