*** MARK CHESNUTT, “Longnecks & Short Stories” <i> MCA</i>

Chesnutt may be as flat as the plains of his native Texas when he sits down to chat on “The Tonight Show,” but plant him at a mike in the recording studio and he’s suddenly Mr. Personality. Chesnutt’s second album is held back by some bland material, but it showcases what is clearly the best pure singer in the new country crop.

His voice is thick and chewy, with a leather texture and elastic range, and he has a sense of adventure when it comes to phrasing. But he’s not a showoff, and he knows how to keep the emphasis on the lyric. Just check his deceptively effortless romp through the hit “Old Flames Have New Names.” His naturalism obscures the difficulty of the fast tempo, and he brings a new twist to every round of this wry recollection of old romances.

What’s missing is the expressive dimension that would transform the album’s many genre exercises into testaments of personal revelation. He comes close on Charlie Rich’s “Who Will the Next Fool Be,” a closing-the-joint blues that ends the album on a note of great promise. Maybe the third time will be the charm.

New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to four (excellent).