Montgomery’s Best When Sweet, Sincere : JOHN MICHAEL MONTGOMERY, “John Michael Montgomery” (<i> Atlantic</i> ) ** 1/2
Montgomery has probably sold more albums the last two years (5 million) than any country artist outside of Garth Brooks, and his new single, “I Can Love You Like That,” is off to a lightning start on the charts.
So you would expect some of the striking vocal character and independent spirit associated with country’s greatest talents. But Montgomery is an ordinary singer with relatively timid instincts.
Why the appeal? Credit his feel for the kind of sweet, sincere ballads that helped make Brooks a star. Montgomery includes more of them--including “Long as I Live”--in this album than Brooks has given us since the “Unanswered Prayers”/”Somewhere Other Than the Night” days.
New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to four stars (excellent).
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