To borrow a line from Marty Stuart, "Now that's country."

Jamey Johnson's third single for Mercury Nashville finds him continuing in the same deep, emotional tone set by "That Lonesome Song," a modern-day outlaw album, if there ever was one. In fact, the song only finds him growing even more mature both as a singer and songwriter (he wrote the song with Charlie Midnight). The lyric follows a pretty straightforward pattern, using simple yet effective prose, telling of how he was living hard and fast until he found that certain someone in his life. The lyric is somewhat open-ended in that "you" is never defined in the title, but that open-endedness makes the lyric seem more intriguing than vague. Jamey steps up his game vocally, giving the rugged emotion that only a man who's truly been through tough times can give. (And boy, has he been there).

The production is nothing short of perfect: starting with a simple acoustic guitar and a crying steel that sounds like John Hughey has come back from the grave, the song rises to a swelling, anthemic chorus which gives added muscle to Johnson's stellar vocal performance. Even better, the song is given an almost haunting feel, simply by being in minor key.

With his last album having gone gold off only two singles, Jamey proved that there is still an audience for such stark, raw, gritty music, even if radio hasn't warmed up to his style quite yet. Maybe if he keeps putting out material this consistently amazing, that radio will eventually get it.

Listen to a low-fi sample here and get the mp3 of the song for FREE at his website.