Somebody's New (Decca, 1996)
Rhett Akins
Reviewed by Dan Kuchar
Rhett Akins' teeth are perfect. His white hat is immaculate. As you can see by insert of his new album, both his shirt and blue jeans have a crease as straight as poker. A crease like that can only be achieved by carrying your freshly laundered and pressed clothes carefully on a hanger and putting them on an hour or so before the photo shoot. The music is like that, too. The sound is meticulously honed Hot New Country with nothing out of place. This is the epitome of everything that is orderly, wholesome and correct. Add to that bland, ordinary and forgettable. Some tracks manage to rear their heads above the dull morass. "Somebody Knew" and "No Match" are best picks for singles while best track is "K-I-S-S-I-N-G," a jumpin' Western swing ditty with some sizzling guitar and fiddle playing. Otherwise, this release does nothing to distinguish Akins from any other of the other so freshly-scrubbed "hat" acts.
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