Freedom (CD - 2002)

Personnel: Andy Griggs (vocals, acoustic guitar); Dan Dugmore (acoustic, electric, slide & steel guitars, dobro, bass); Tom Keifer (electric guitar, background vocals); David Grissom, Brent Wilson, Michael Landau, Kenny Vaughn (electric guitar); Stuart Duncan (mandolin, fiddle); Ron Block, Charles Cushman (banjo); Jimmy Nichols (piano, keyboards, background vocals); Glenn Worf, Michael Rhodes (bass); Kenny Aronoff (drums); Martina McBride, David Lee Murphy, Lonnie Wilson, Melinda Norris, Neil Thrasher, Wes Hightower (background vocals).

Recorded at Emerald Studios and Starstruck Studios, Nashville, Tennessee.

Freedom is the follow-up album to Andy Griggs' 1999 You Won't Ever Be Lonely, and it proves that the best things in life come with time and nurturing. Griggs has a voice that can adapt itself to ballad and raucous grit alike, interpreting the music with a vocal "soul roll" in the right places. Griggs has been dubbed a follower of outlaw country, which is hinted at on cuts such as "A Hundred Miles of Bad Road" and the title cut, but mostly Griggs gives a variety of cleverly written relationship songs superimposed on vigorous guitar platforms. "How Cool Is That" is, indeed, cool; imagine the irreverence of the tattooed preacher's daughter holding a beer and winking your way. Ok, now picture a couple together on the couch and the man saying "All week I've been your husband; tonight I want to be your man." It's all here, from romantic sweet talk to love 'em and leave 'em in "Brand New Something Going On." This Louisiana native has found a place for himself in Nashville and on the country charts. Let's just hope it doesn't take another three years for album three. ~ Rick Cohoon

Andy Griggs escaped a life stacking shelves at Sam's Wholesale Club with a hot debut album, YOU WON'T EVER BE LONELY, and with his follow-up FREEDOM consolidates a style that, while respecting the Nashville bottom line, frequently branches out into outlaw country. "Practice Life" is a wake-up call to couch potatoes everywhere, while "Custom Made" has no-brainer country hit written all over it. Griggs's one-two punch of traditional country and hard-edged rock & roll, blending high-class production values with gritty, amusing lyrics and raunchy musicianship, is a winning formula that harks back to the time before Nashville came to depend on consumer research for its hits.

Paradoxically, in its eschewing of blatant hit-seeking, FREEDOM sounds simultaneously more commercial and more original than most of Music City's recent output. Griggs's voice is classic country, and he's ably assisted by guests Martina McBride (who's been a co-conspirator ever since Griggs arrived in Nashville) and Tom Keifer. Songs like the "Blanket on the Ground"-like "Tonight I Wanna Be Your Man" ("all week I've been your husband/tonight I wanna be your man") fulfill the Nashville Prime Directive of big-time chick-appeal while avoiding the usual mawkishness of such efforts. minimize