What was in that new liver Chris got three years ago? On his second album since lifesaving transplant surgery, this real-life cowboy - yep, that's the 54-year-old Chris taming a bucking bronc on the cover of his umpteenth album - sounds more than ever like a man reborn.

Horsepower is nothing new from Chris - it features pretty much the same combination of rodeo anthems, love songs and odes to the American West we've come to expect over the last three decades. But there's a freshness here that no one could have expected at this point, making it one more vital entry in one of country's most unique careers.

SOUND ADVICE:

A gift Horse