Record Rack

* 1/2 John Michael Montgomery, “Brand New Me,” Atlantic. The chunky heartthrob has hit the top of the country singles chart again with a tear-jerker single, “The Little Girl,” a melodramatic Internet-urban-myth-turned-song. The rest of the material here has an equally calculated ring, which even Montgomery’s conventionally sincere delivery and big-budget production sheen can’t disguise.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).