Steven Tyler – We’re All Somebody From Somewhere 

This is Steven Tyler’s “country” album. About a year ago Tyler told Rolling Stone “Country is the new rock & roll.”  I agree. Much of current country is rock and in many cases country hits would not sound out-of-place on a classic rock station. For a long time I have felt that The Eagles were as influential on contemporary country as Hank Williams. Country artist like Keith Urban are as much rock as they are country. True country is not lost – there is still has plenty of twang with new sensations like Chris Stapleton, Margo Price and Jason Isbell. Defining something as country or rock is impossible – like a lot of things it is on a spectrum.  This album is firmly in the middle of that spectrum.

I really like this new Steven Tyler album. Tyler’s voice has never sounded better. The album is barely country, but that is OK –  I like that Tyler stayed true to himself. Many of these tunes would work as power ballads on an Aerosmith album. There is bro-country (“Red, White And You”), a taste of Mumford and Sons (“Love Is Your Name”) and a nod to Don Henley and The Eagles (“It Ain’t Easy).

This is not an amazing genre shifting masterpiece like Robert Plant’s Raising Sand, but it is plenty entertaining. Tyler sounds like he is having fun. What more can you ask for from a 68-year-old rock star resisting legacy status.  Is he a sell-out? Hell yeah – but that is part of his charm – it’s only rock and roll.