Album Review: John Anderson – Easy Money

John Anderson’s career has spanned 30 years, and he’s had 17 top-ten hits. That, by itself, is pretty darn impressive.

But what if?

Whenever I listen to an Anderson record, I always get stuck on, “what if?” What if he was a badass? What if he had a drug problem? Or had engaged in some scandalous affair? What if he’d been in trouble with the law? How would that change our perception of him?

What if?

Would we remember him the same way we remember the greats of country music? Would we say Cash, Haggard, Waylon, Willie, and John, all in the same breath?

Don’t get me wrong. I wouldn’t dare put Anderson in that same category. Those guys are legends. But that’s my point.

I wonder these things because, when I hear him sing, I’m not sure that there is anyone on a major label today who possesses a voice as emotive, as unmistakable, and as undeniably country.

This is especially evident on “Easy Money,” an album loaded with genuinely stellar songs delivered with character and believability.

The album’s up-tempo material is on-the-money, the highlight being “Funky Country,” an ode to Anderson’s newfound MuzikMafia brethren, which speaks perfectly to a contemporary country audience as likely to carry Nelly or JayZ on their iPod as Tim or Faith.

It is in the album’s more sensitive moments, however, that Anderson’s voice is at its best. “A Woman Knows,” the album’s second single (which failed to chart), is a damn-near perfect country song.

Likewise, the Cowboy Troy co-written “Bonnie Blue,” captures the charm of the south without invoking the ‘redneck revolution’ images which have become so common of late, while brilliantly addressing, in its final verse, the issue of conflict between a confederate heritage and a modern world view. “Bonnie Blue, is your tattered flag still flyin’/Bonnie Blue, yeah they showed you wrong from right/Bonnie Blue, I’m so sorry that I’m cryin’/But there isn’t that much difference between black and white.”

Only someone with the experience and maturity of the 53 year-old Anderson can make something like that sound genuine, and this is true of a number of the album’s ballads, including the heartbreaking, “I Can’t Make Her Cry Anymore,” and the passionate, “You Already Know My Love,” which is one of the best country love songs so far this year.

So, what if?

The question, of course, is irrelevant, because unlike those country legends I mentioned before, John Anderson’s legacy will be his music and nothing else. That’s difficult to market. He is not The Man in Black. He is not The Workin’ Man’s Poet. He is John–just John, and most country fans will never even know this album was released. That’s a shame, because “Easy Money” is the strongest work of his career to date, and when it comes to neo-traditional country music, it doesn’t get much better than this.