Though he'd been making music for decades before this 2002 release, Krekel had released few prior albums and enjoyed greater success as a songwriter and sideman than as a recording artist in his own right. You wouldn't think he was ill at ease with being a frontman from listening to Happy Town, accomplished and sometimes buoyant heartland rock roll with heavy echoes of Tom Petty, somewhat lighter echoes of the likes of Bruce Springsteen, and yet lighter shades of Elvis Costello. There's an easy familiarity to the sound which might make you wonder (if you don't live in Louisville, where he has a sizable following) why you haven't heard of him before, and could come from nowhere but the U.S.A. The preceding sentence might sound like a press agent's idea of a pull quote, but in fact it's not intended as an entirely positive summarization. Part of the reason he sounds familiar yet unidentifiable is that he doesn't sound like nearly as much of his own man as Springsteen, Petty, Costello, and others do. Too, Krekel's musical backing veers closer to the bar band median than those of his more renowned peers, and a sameness of mood to these guardedly optimistic compositions tends to make your attention diminish the further you get into the disc. For all that, it's not a bad record, and one that actually sounds best when he lessens the heartland earnestness for some purer pop. Sunshine Baby and Who You Think You Are, for instance, have likable Byrds-Petty-like riffs; when he gets bluesier and rootsier, he's more forgettable. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi

1		Sunshine Baby
2		Who You Think You Are
3		It's a New Day
4		Loss to Explain
5		Best Thing I Never Had
6		Sugar From My Baby
7		Come Back Baby
8		Happy Town
9		Fell Down in Memphis
10		Come Around
11		Just Let Me Be

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