Johnny Solinger

Well, here we go again—another rock star who thinks he can be a country singer. But don’t be so quick to dismiss this knockabout debut solo effort from the frontman for veteran hard-rockers Skid Row. Johnny throws himself into these 10 tunes with a devil-may-care attitude that immediately calls to mind true country outlaws of the 1970s—most of today’s market-tested “rebels” wouldn’t come near a song like “Heaven Into Hell,” in which the protagonist and his hired hooker disrupt a church service. Johnny saves the best trick for last, recruiting his Skid Row bandmates for the closing country-metal romp, “You Lie.”