Here It Is (Fun All Wrong, 2008)

With his first studio album in 5 years, Roger Creager comes back with a 13-song effort that captures the highs and lows of romance and loneliness. The Houston native starts with the rollicking, Waylon-esque song, I Love Being Lonesome. The tune has an interesting meaning, a guy who loves his independence and freedom but can't stand the lonely feelings he often gets. Creager captures the spirit of the road on songs like Driving Home and Let's Run, where it's almost impossible not to want to listen to these get up-and go songs in the car.

There's more fun on I'm From the Beer Joint, the first single, which reflects Creager's rowdy live shows, mostly in Texas honky tonks and bars. A Good Day For Sunsets has a similar theme to an early Toby Keith hit, He Ain't Worth Missing where the narrator is trying to get a woman to forget about her ex-lover. The tables turn in the The Man I Used To Be where a woman breaks the singer's heart, and he's glad to see that the same thing has happened to her.

But for all his good-timin' credentials, Creager hits the bullseye on the slow songs like I Loved You When, where it's not revealed until the end of the tender ballad that the couple is no longer together. Not all slow songs have to be about broken hearts, in fact, the best cut is a ballad, Cowboys and Sailors,, where the singer compares his independent streak to that of those mentioned in the title.