Drive Me Wild (Curb, 1999)

Sawyer Brown is the Energizer Bunny of country music. They just keep going and going. So much so on their 16th album that they can only slow it down long enough to do one ballad, but it's a beauty, the deceptively simple "I'm in Love With Her." The band has matured so much that the boys can now handle romance ("Moon Over Miami" "Playin' a Love Song") and spirituality ("Soul Searching") with equal expertise.

One criticism is they will sometimes pull a punch (remember how they changed the "little white pills" line in their cover of "Six Days on the Road"?). Here "800 Pound Jesus" is not ironic enough to be satire and too silly to be taken entirely seriously. (For one thing, when you buy an 800-pound Jesus at a yard sale how do you get it home? And what the heck is it made out of that it weighs almost half a ton?)

But 1 song out of 11 that doesn't work is a good ratio. And at least a couple of tunes most notably the standout anthem "It All Comes Down to Love") can take their place alongside the greatest country songs of the '90's. Here's hoping their batteries never run down.