EDITORIAL REVIEWS
Step Right Up by Charlie Robison
On the swaggering kickoff track to his third album, Charlie Robison insists that he's the "right man for the job," and the rest of the album bolsters his claim. In this case, the job for the honky-tonk Texan is to return some creative daring, roadhouse energy, and edgy humor to the contemporary country mainstream, where male artistry in particular has been suffering from the cookie-cutter blands. Highlights range from a rollicking remake of NRBQ's "I Want You Bad" to a sardonic duet on "The Wedding Song" with the Dixie Chicks' Natalie Maines (whose bandmate Emily Robison is Charlie's wife). Not quite as rebellious as the previous Life of the Party, Step Right Up is more radio-friendly, giving Robison a better chance of balancing alt-country credibility and commercial country hits than any artist this side of Dwight Yoakam. --Don McLeese