What is it about Australia regarding its brand (no pun intended) of country music? It seems like, with the exception of Keith Urban, no Australian singer has had any long-term success with country music here in the United States. Columbia Records seems poised to change that with new signee Adam Brand. Active since 1998, he’s had seven albums in his home country and charted a Top 20 hit with Lee Kernaghan and Steve Forde in 2007. Now, he gets to test the waters by sending “Ready for Love” out to American country radio.
Brand has a very rough, raw, gritty voice that brings to mind Matt Kennon or Porter Howell of Little Texas. Speaking of Little Texas, “Ready for Love” brings to mind that band’s “My Love” by asking if his lover is ready to fall in love. It’s simple yet sturdy, with an easily memorable hook and slightly off-kilter melody that leaves it sticking in your head well after you’re done listening to it. The production is clean and polished, sure, but it’s not overdone, and in fact makes a pleasant contrast with Brand’s voice.
Crossing over is perhaps all the trickier when one is an established artist in one field, and trying to cross over into a field where he’s a complete unknown — after all, you want to find a track that showcases how far you’ve already come as an artist, but at the same time, you want something that’ll retain interest and keep the new fanbase coming back for more. “Ready for Love” may be just the right single for Brand to cross over to this side of the Pacific.
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