People Like Us (CD - 2000)

Personnel includes: Aaron Tippin (vocals); Biff Watson (acoustic, electric & gut-string guitars, six-string bass, shaker, tambourine); Brent Mason (electric guitar); Paul Franklin (lap & pedal steel guitars); Aubrey Haynie (mandolin, fiddle); Steve Nathan (piano, Hammond B-3 organ, keyboards); Glenn Worf (electric bass); Lonnie Wilson (drums, loops); Dennis Wilson, John Wesley Ryles, Thea Tippin (backgroud vocals).

Producers: Aaron Tippin, Biff Watson, Mike Bradley.

Recorded at The Soundshop Studios, Nashville, Tennessee.

Aaron Tippin's first album with Lyric Street, What This Country Needs, released in 1998, met with modest success. Almost two years later, People Like Us is sure to bring even greater success to country's "hard-working," "honest," and "strong" Tippin, the man who gave us the colossal hit, "That's As Close As I"ll Get to Loving You" from 1995's Tool Box. Keeping traditional country alive with acoustic and steel guitars and fiddles, People Like Us breathes new life into a category of music that's been in a vegetative state. The 11 songs on this album are a welcome listen, including the animated "Kiss This" and "The Best Love We Ever Made" with Tippin's wife Thea providing sweet vocals on lead and harmony. Sounding "too country" sure hasn't killed this career. ~ Maria Konicki Dinoia

After over a decade as a country star, Aaron Tippin was shocked to learn that his vocal cords were shot--he'd been singing incorrectly for years. Tippin, known for his distinctive, nasal delivery, was forced to learn to sing all over again. The impressive results can be heard on his eighth album, PEOPLE LIKE US.

His voice is still unmistakably country, but it's much deeper and more versatile; his emotional delivery on love songs such as "And I Love You" and "Always Us" is a revelation. But don't think Tippin's traded in his working man's Ph.D.--PEOPLE LIKE US also delivers several of his patented blue-collar tunes, including the gritty title track and the goofy "Big Boy Toys." The lead track, "Kiss This," is a fun, raunchy romp about a woman humiliating her ex- in public. Other standouts include the syncopated "Lost," the hard-country "Twenty Nine and Holding," and the beautiful "Every Now and Then (I Wish Then Was Now)." Though the CD goes a little overboard with familial participation--his wife co-wrote two tracks and joins him for a duet, and his toddler son has a cameo--fans will still find plenty to like about PEOPLE LIKE US. minimize