Chrome (CD - 2001)

Personnel includes: Trace Adkins (vocals, guitar); Biff Watson, Michael Spriggs (acoustic guitar); Dan Huff, Brent Mason, Pat Buchanan (electric guitar); Paul Franklin (steel guitar); Jonathan Yudkin (violin, cello, mandocello); Larry Franklin, Aubrey Haynie (fiddle); Tony Harrell (piano); John Hobbs (keyboards); Mike Brignardello (bass); Chris McHugh, Greg Morrow (drums); Eric Darken (percussion); Russell Terrell, Wes Hightower, Curtis Wright (background vocals).

Recorded at Emerald Entertainment, The Tracking Room, and Sound Shop Studios, Nashville, Tennessee; The Sound Kitchen, Franklin, Tennessee.

Personnel: Michael Spriggs, B. James Lowry, Biff Watson (acoustic guitar); Dann Huff, Jerry MacPherson, Pat Buchanan, J.T. Corenflos, Brent Mason (electric guitar); Paul Franklin, Steve Hinson (steel guitar); Jonathan Yudkin (mandolin, violin, cello); Aubry Hayne, Larry Franklin (fiddle); Tony Harrell (piano); John Hobbs, Matt Rollings, Tim Akers, Steve Nathan (keyboards); Brian D. Siewert (synthesizer); Chris McHugh, Greg Morrow, Lonnie Wilson, Mike Brignardello (drums); Tim Coats (Jew's harp); Eric Darken, Trey Bruce (percussion); Terrance Bruce (programming); Thomas Flora, Curtis Wright, Wes Hightower, Russell Terrell (background vocals).

Audio Mixers: Greg Droman; Jeff Balding; Mike Shipley.

Recording information: Emerald Entertainment; SOund Kitchen, Franklin, TN; SoundShop Studios; Tracking Room, Nashville, TN.

He may sport a cowboy hat and operate out of Nashville, but the brand of country Trace Adkins plays owes little to tradition. Bolstered by a semi-hip-hop beat, the title tune "Chrome" is about as close as one might comfortably like to get to country rap. The wrecked-romance ballad "Help Me Understand" owes more to the radio-friendly ballads of the Eagles than to any cowpoke lament of old. "Thankful Man," despite its blue-collar lyric about honest workin' folks, is shot through with driving rock guitar and accentuated by staccato bursts of synthesizer. The bluesy-guitar-and-drum-loops combo that opens up "Scream" could have come straight off a Beck album. Despite all this modernity, Adkins's deep voice is full of down-home twang and there's plenty of steel guitar and fiddle framing his heartland vocals. Accordingly, CHROME strikes a hitbound balance between yesterday and today. minimize