Time Marches On (Atlantic, 1996)

The difference in production styles on the two halves of Tracy Lawrence's latest - one produced by Don Cook and the other by Flip Anderson and Lawrence - is obvious. Cook's half, including the first two singles, is more electric-guitar driven and clearly more radio-friendly. "Excitable Boy," for instance, has a theme like a recent Lawrence hit, "If the Good Die Young," and its heavy drum beat and rocking electric guitar and piano are typical of Cook's production. Lawrence and Anderson's half, on the other hand, goes heavy on the fiddle and includes most of the album's slow tunes. "Somewhere Between the Moon and You" is a pretty ballad of lost love, for example, but "Is That a Tear" shows Lawrence and Anderson also know how to produce a good, uptempo country song. Lawrence still has one of country's most distinctive voices that can overcome any type of production, but it's too bad more of Lawrence's music, and country music in general, isn't like the more traditional half of this disc.