Greatest Hits 2 (CD - 2006)

Diamond Rio: Marty Roe (vocals); Jimmy Olander (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, banjo); Gene Johnson (mandolin, background vocals); Dan Truman (keyboards); Dara Williams (bass instrument, background vocals); Brian Prout (drums).

The missing link between the first wave of rootsy Nashville revivalists and younger acts like Nickel Creek and Alison Krauss & Union Station, Diamond Rio were the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band of the 1990s, mixing traditional bluegrass and honky tonk styles with new-country gloss. Their second best-of compilation, comprised of 13 tracks, features hits like "That's What I Get For Loving You" and "Unbelievable," plus four brand-new recordings.

Diamond Rio released their first Greatest Hits in 1997 and Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 followed in 2006. Not surprisingly, it concentrates on the nine years between the two albums, although it does reach back to 1996 for "That's What I Get for Loving You" and contains no less than four new songs ("God Only Cries," "Redneck Love Gone Bad," "Over You," "In God We Still Trust"), which is a lot for a 13-track collection. It also doesn't have every charting single they've had since the last Greatest Hits, but the missing tunes -- "I Know How the River Feels," "Stuff," "That's Just That," "We All Fall Down" -- either barely made it into the country Top 40 or didn't crack it at all, so they're not missed much at all. So, this winds up as a good overview of Diamond Rio's second decade, containing their big songs from 1998-2003 -- "Unbelievable," "You're Gone," "One More Day," "Sweet Summer," "Beautiful Mess," and "I Believe" -- which makes it a good supplement to the first hits set. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine minimize