2008 was the best year for James Otto.  Not only did he score his first #1 single with "Just Got Started Lovin' You," James also ended up with 2008's most-played single.  While his follow-up singles did manage to hit the Top 30, radio largely was still enamored with the huge hit and to an extent they still are as the song is still Top 10 on recurrent charts.  With that song's sultry and sexy mood and melody firmly in his mind, James went back into the studio with noted producer Paul Worley to create an album of "country soul" and when the first notes of "Since You Brought It Up" come rolling out the speakers, the new focus is quite evident.

Over a retro-sounding melody, that recalls Gary Allan's "Smoke Rings In The Dark" in parts, James Otto growls a soulful lyric about a man who is in the mood for some romance and in the course of a phone call with his girlfriend Otto finds a few ways to say the song's chorus hook of "Since you brought it up, why don't you bring it over."  This is an ultra sexy track that recalls that massive hit without expressively regurgitating it. 

There was a market for this kind of country song years ago and there still is a market for it now. This is actually the kind of song that Conway Twitty was known for and it's hard to see this single falling flat with radio.  While it's not fast paced, it has a feel-good, laid-back groove that screams for summer radio airplay.  Be ready to hear this one all summer long and well into the fall.  Welcome back to the top of the Charts, Mr. Otto.