Meat And Potatoes country music seems to be a lost art in mainstream country music, what with all the southern rock, pop and soul infusions, but don’t tell that to Texan Kris Gordon. The newcomer, signed to Frio Records, has quietly crafted a collection of meat and potatoes country music with singer/songwriter Dean Miller (son of Roger) handling the production duties. Working with Miller has allowed Gordon to pull top-drawer material from Bryon Hill, Tony Ramey, Brett Eldredge, Trent Summar Lance Miller, Trent Tomlinson, Billy Yates, and Chris Young.

The record’s first single is the Tony Ramey/Michael White co-write “The Upside of Down” and on my playlist of new singles it sits comfortably with the latest from Guitar Town. It’s catchy with some strong lyrics and best of all; the vocal performance is very strong. Quite simply, it’s a great indication of how strong the album actually is. “Colder Than A Bad Girls’ Heart (co-written by Young, Hill and Yates) is a fun little ditty about a guy who wants to live life rather than sitting home falling apart.

“Angel In a Hurricane” is the lone track on the record to be co-written by Gordon (along with Miller and Ramey) and it’s a strong ballad about a woman’s ability to be a light in times of trouble while the fun “Flurtin’ With Me”  (written by Jason Blaine and Willie Mack) is nothing too special but it’s not unlike many a Rodney Atkins or Craig Morgan singles from the past few years. 

The three tracks that round-out the record stand out as what I think are the three best songs, “How You Lose A Woman” shows off all the ways to get a great woman to leave you while, “Calling My Name” has a good-time fun to be had melody to it and it’s easy to see how Trent Summar, Jay Knowles and Brett Eldredge are credited as the writers of it. “The Fool Inside of Me” closes the record and the tune, co-written by Brian Davis and Dylan Altman,  finds the narrator coming to terms with the ‘fool inside’ of himself and how he’s working to bring the ‘good guy’ out.

Meat and Potatoes country music still has a place in the world and while it’d be great to see an artist like Kris Gordon (whose a handsome guy in addition to being a strong singer) manage to score country radio hits as he’s certainly got the goods to be a successful country star and we could always use a few more meat and potatoes country stars in the world.