Cross Canadian Ragweed,
Mission California

Label: Universal South
Released: 2007

(3 out of 5)

I like Cross Canadian Ragweed. I really do. I own more Ragweed t-shirts than I do any other band, and I wear them with pride. The band puts on a great live show. Yet their studio efforts have been hit or miss. Mission California needs to be a defining statement, one that fulfills Ragweed's simmering potential. As the Austin American-Statesman's Michael Corcoran wrote last summer, still breathless from seeing the band rip through a show in Boise, Idaho:

Cross Canadian Ragweed is on the verge of becoming the biggest outlaw band in country — or rock, for that matter. The band should spend as much time as possible on its next studio album after the upcoming double-disc live CD. Last year's Garage and 2004's Soul Gravy shot out too quickly. The nextest needs to be the bestest. If Canada can write half a dozen more songs like "17" and "Sick and Tired" and if the band can keep on rockin' at $120 an hour, Cross Canadian Ragweed has the potential to go as far as they want.

Well, the good news is that Mission California sounds great, from beginning to end. Credit producer Mike McClure and the full band for that achievement. The bad news comes in the form of Cody Canada's inconsistent songwriting. Too many easy rhymes, too many "I'm pissed at so-and-so and here's a song about it." So what we get are tedious rebel-pose numbers like the opening trilogy of "Record Exec," "Dead Man," and "Deal."

When he drops the rebel pose, Canada can still crank out great story-songs like "Lawrence." Inspired by the wintertime sight of an impoverished street-corner family, and told through the eyes of a helpless young child, the down-tempo ballad showcases Ragweed at its best. Other bright spots include the re-recording of "Jenny" from 2002's Carney, solid covers of Chris Knight's "Cry Lonely" and Todd Snider's "I Believe You," and bassist Jeremy Plato's debut turn on lead vocals with "Soul Agent."

I'd been eagerly awaiting Mission California, and it hasn't left my in-car CD player or my at-work mp3 player over the past few days. It's more of the same from one of my favorite bands. I guess that can be construed as a good thing. But I was hoping for so much more.

Listen: "Lawrence," "Cry Lonely," "Soul Agent," "Jenny"

Buy: Lone Star Music, Amazon, iTunes

October 5, 2007