Since contemporary country records have little to do with sounding like country music from any other era -- other than the use of pedal steels, fiddles or banjos in their instrumentation at times -- it's a wonder that Travis Tritt, one of those responsible for ushering in the current era and a hitmaker of major proportion, is no longer with a major record label. It just doesn't make sense. Tritt was considered one of the "new traditionalists" back in the day. Whatever. He could still rock harder in his approach to the country tradition (without forsaking honky tonk or rockabilly in the process) than most any mainstream pop band. And while he isn't Merle Haggard, he is still a hell of a songwriter when he wants to be. As a performer, he is second to none. Not to take anything away from the considerable monolithic talent of Tim McGraw, but the latter may never have ascended the heights of the Nash Vegas and pop pantheons if Tritt hadn't come first. The Storm is Tritt's very first studio recording as an independent artist. Issued on the Category 5 imprint, the set is solid from top to bottom and offers a listen to the singer/songwriter as a thoroughly modern performer in the new country mold without giving up an ounce of his integrity or his backwoods character. What's more, he proves he can sing the blues and funk, too. The Storm is not a recipe for a disaster. It is an almost perfectly balanced recording with four strong originals, a few fine tunes by Diane Warren, and a killer cover of Hank Jr.'s The Pressure Is On. It's got a wonderful equanimity between up- and mid-tempo tunes with a ballad or two thrown in for good measure.

1		Mudcat Moan Prelude / You Never Take Me Dancing
2		(I Wanna) Feel Too Much
3		Doesn't the Good Outweigh the Bad
4		What If Love Hangs On
5		Rub Off on Me
6		Something Stronger than Me
7		The Storm
8		I Don't Know How I Got By
9		The Pressure is On
10		Should've Listened
11		HIgh Time for Gettin' Down
12		Somehow, Somewhere, Someway