John Michael Montgomery - Pictures - Music & Performance - CD

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After selling over 15 million albums, placing 15 No.1 hits on the country charts, and logging tens of thousands of miles on the concert trail, John Michael Montgomery has little left to prove. Montgomery burst onto the music scene over a decade ago, turning heads with his warm baritone and honest-to-God delivery. Good songs have always been the core of what John Michael does, and on Pictures, the singer's eighth studio release and first for Warner, the Kentucky native sticks to that tried and true formula.

Montgomery must have been paying attention to the stuff coming out of Nashville over the last few years. "Country Thang" is an upbeat yes-sir-thank-you, good ole boy tune that sounds a lot like Chris Cagle's last single. First love is celebrated on "Love Changes Everything," one of the best crafted coming-of-age songs to come out in years. A man looks back fondly at his first taste of that delicious fruit picked ripe from the tree of life, remembering the innocent days of youth, a time when things like falling in love seemed so easy.

Pictures may only contain ten cuts (a low number considering the standard seems to be around twelve nowadays), but there are few songs on the disc that couldn't be hits. "'Til Nothing Comes Between Us" is four and three-quarter minutes of classic John Michael Montgomery. A syncopated beat, light piano, and a wall of harmonies serve as a backdrop for JM's warm vocals. "I Wanna Be There" tugs hard at the heartstrings; Montgomery calls up a ton of emotion as he sings about being around for all the special moments in his child's life.

JM switches his focus from his child to his wife on the strummed ballad "Believe In Me," promising he'll be there for his partner no matter what life throws their way. Montgomery sounds like he's having the time of his life singing the rubbery drinking song, "Love And Alcohol." On the song, a guy warns the woman he's drinking with that she can take him home after the bar closes, but he's only going to go along and say the things she wants to hear because he's all liquored-up.

The bass-heavy "Four-Wheel Drive" is rife with sexual innuendo. Montgomery sings lines like, "I had to stop the truck/ because it was gettin' muddy/ we started kissing/ then I put it in/ four-wheel drive," with his tongue planted firmly in his cheek. Hot Nashville band Sixwire join Montgomery for the hard-driving, "It Goes Like This." Guitar riffage that borders on hard rock (country-metal?) makes this Steve Mandile/John Bettis penned track unlike anything JM has ever recorded before and the only real oddity on an otherwise exceptional album.

Ten years into a successful career and John Michael Montgomery shows no signs of fatigue. Sure he doesn't tour as much as he used to, or sell as many albums as he did in the early 90s, but he still has the vocal chops and an ear for good material to compete in an industry that long ago dropped many of his peers. Pictures is a snapshot of a man who is at a comfortable place in his career and personal life, a scrapbook of heartwarming melodies and thoughtful lyrics.

By Todd Sterling