EASY MONEY - JOHN ANDERSON
Anderson’s honeyed drawl and wild-turkey wit have made him one of country’s most reliable album makers for nearly three decades, and backing from Warners and Big & Rich ensures that “Easy Money” will be his most visible release in 15 years. Oddly, the rather generic craft of “If Her Lovin’ Don’t Kill Me” and “A Woman Knows” have been pegged as singles over tracks that make the set distinctive — not just the crazed and t-t-t-tongue-tied “Brown Liquor” and the touring-is-hard-work raver “Easy Money,” but lovely ballads like the dejected, almost cynical “Weeds,” the marriage warning “Something to Drink About” and “Bonnie Blue,” six mysterious minutes revolving around race and the South. “Funky Country,” a better idea than a song, isn’t the funkiest cut here, and “Willie’s Guitar” feels somewhat gratuitous beyond its Hawaiian lilt. In the end, though, almost every cut kicks in — even those two singles.(Warner Bros. Records/Raybaw) Billboard
