Rodney Hayden,
Down the Road

Label: Palomino Records
Released: 2007

(4 out of 5)

Rodney Hayden debuted with a splash in 2002, as the aptly titled The Real Thing earned the 22-year-old wunderkind acclaim in such lofty publications as People, Billboard, and Country Weekly. George Strait comparisons abounded, yet Nashville never embraced Hayden's contemporary yet reverential approach to country music. And that's a shame, as this former Robert Earl Keen protege truly is the real thing. Now 27, he's re-settled in his hometown of Pleasanton and recently released his third album, Down the Road, on his own label, Palomino Records. Top to bottom, each song features a winning blend of modern country & western with just a hint of countrypolitan whimsy. Hayden wrote or co-wrote all 11 tracks, and he gets some help from Bobby Flores on violin and harmonies, Joel Guzman and his inimitable accordion on "Nuevo Lardeo" and "Midnight in Memphis," and the honey-voiced Sunny Sweeney duetting on the honky-tonker "These Arms." A talent like Hayden should be Nashville's dream, and "Whoever Wrote this Song" should be a radio hit. But here in Texas, we're glad to keep calling Hayden our own until Nashville wakes up and realizes what it's been missing. Five years after wowing the establishment with his polished debut, Hayden remains a bona-fide star in the making.

Listen: "Down the Road," "Whoever Wrote This Song," "Nuevo Laredo," "These Arms"

Buy: Lone Star Music, Amazon

May 21, 2007