That Don't Make Me a Bad Guy (CD - 2008)

Personnel: Toby Keith (vocals, guitar, background vocals); Kenny Greenberg, Brent Mason (guitar, electric guitar); Jerry McPhearson (guitar); Ilya Toshinsky (acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin); Jerry MacPherson (electric guitar); Paul Franklin (pedal steel guitar, dobro); Robert Hajacos, Rob Hajacos (fiddle); Jim Hoke, Steve Patrick (saxophone, tenor saxophone, trumpet); Steve Nathan, Charles Judge (piano, keyboards); Glenn Worf, Mark Hill (bass guitar); Shannon Forest (drums); Eric Darken (percussion); Scat Springs, Vicki Hampton, Perry Coleman (background vocals).

Audio Mixer: Mills Logan.

Audio Remasterer: Ken Love.

Recording information: East Iris STudios; Ocean Way Studios; Scruggs Sound; The Mix Mill Studio.

Photographer: Richard McLaren.

Twelve studio albums into his career, Toby Keith has settled into the sort of comfortable groove that generally allows a country singer to maintain a career for several decades. After spending the first years of the 21st century embroiled in non-musical sideshows like an ongoing feud with Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks and mild controversies about his political beliefs, THAT DON'T MAKE ME A BAD GUY, like its predecessor, BIG DOG DADDY, leaves social commentary behind for a genial, mature brand of rock-influenced country. The first single, the power ballad "She Never Cried In Front Of Me," is a domestic drama in the grand country tradition, while "Cabo San Lucas" and "Creole Woman" are scrappy good-time tunes. Other highlights include the weepy "Hurt A Lot Worse When You Go" and the wry "Missing Me Some You." THAT DON'T MAKE ME A BAD GUY may not win over any Dixie Chicks fans nursing grudges, but it's a solid and enjoyable album.

If 2007's Big Dog Daddy seemed like a back-to-basics move after a few years of wandering, its 2008 successor, That Don't Make Me a Bad Guy, seems downright primitive in comparison. Hard and heavy with guitars, That Don't Make Me a Bad Guy is a roadhouse album at its core with blues playing a larger role than honky tonk here. Keith cranks those three chords hard on the tough "Creole Woman," runs through a talking blues on the slyly funny "Time That It Would Take," and lets it smolder on his lonesome soldier anthem "Missing Me Some You," subtly weaving some deep Southern soul horns into the chorus. Those horns are about the only subtle thing here, as "Cabo San Lucas" hits its south-of-the-border accent shamelessly hard, while the rolling acoustic "You Already Love Me" piles guitars upon guitars and the ballad "She Never Cried in Front of Me" escalates in a crescendo suited for arenas. This pumped-up swagger comes close to exaggeration, but as a producer Keith favors well-defined muscle to steroid-fueled bluster and his writing is similarly lean and natural, turning That Don't Make Me a Bad Guy into a record that's at once brawny and humble. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine minimize