Tommy Shane Steiner
sure is good looking, as the cover pictures amply illustrate, and he makes pretty
country
music -- smooth, clean, tuneful, catchy, polished. He protests that he's a bit of a ruffian on the opening track,
"That Just Wouldn't Be Me,"
and he has a duet with
Randy Travis
, but his sweet singing is clear indication that he's not made for
honky tonks
, he's made for breaking hearts. Appropriately, his debut album,
Then Came the Night
, follows the lead of that voice, offering a collection of 11 radio-ready tunes ripe for crossover. This a mainstream
pop
album with a little bit of
dressing, and while that will inevitably upset some purists, that's what's good about this record. It's a solid, appealing mainstream
record, a little bit square perhaps, but endearingly so, since he's a modest, likeable singer. After this,
Steiner
could go either way -- he could dive into
and become a male
Faith Hill
-- or he could try to strengthen his
roots and toughen up a bit. He currently leans toward the former, but the nice thing about this record is that it positions him for both directions. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine