CD REVIEW | NEW MUSIC FROM "AMERICAN IDOL" CONTESTANT KELLIE PICKLER
Kellie Pickler, "Small Town Girl"
Former "American Idol" contestant Kellie Pickler isn’t as clueless as she want us to think she is, at least when it comes to picking a producer.
Blake Chancey, who has burnished the Dixie Chicks’ sound, has given “Small Town Girl” a similar appeal: standard commercial country with a slightly traditional vibe.
As a singer, Pickler is serviceable and competent. When she sticks to the country/roots-rock material (the first single, “Red High Heels,” and “Things That Never Cross a Man’s Mind”), she is in her element.
When Chancey tries to unleash her inner diva (“I’m On My Way”), however, she gets lost in the bombast.
The good news for her: Country radio has been kind to others who have emerged the way she has (Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Buddy Jewell); and there’s just enough “there” here to expect better things down the road.
Our rating: 2.5 stars out of four.
The CD will be in stores Tuesday.
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