music

John Anderson

Bigger Hands

John Anderson’s 2007 album Easy Money benefited from the natural friction between John Rich’s bling-bling production style and John’s own hard-core country vocals, and the result was his most intriguing effort in a good long while. Production chores are handled on this follow-up by James Stroud, who previously collaborated with John on early 1990s classics like “Seminole Wind” and “Straight Tequila Night,” so it’s no surprise that Bigger Hands is a more traditional-sounding offering than its predecessor. The quality of the songs themselves never quite rise to stretch either man’s formidable talents, even if John has the kind of voice that inevitably gives a lift to whatever material it’s wrapped around.

• June 8, 2009
• by Chris Neal