Pat Green

Pat Green

Cannonball (BNA/Sony)

Old dancehall-circuit buddy Jack Ingram's recent success means Nashville is again paying serious attention to what Texans have been flocking to for years, and on his third time around the major label floor, Pat Green is more than happy to oblige. Exhibit A is first single "Feels Just Like It Should," which sounds just like a song starting with "Let's jump in my El Camino" should. More Bob Seger than Waylon Jennings, Cannonball fires up veteran producer Don Gehman's radio-slick expertise. Several tracks on the album's second half, "Learn How to Live" for one, are basically indistinguishable from Keith Urban, but ballad "Sleeping With Lights On" will have longtime fans slow-dancing at Kappa Alpha's Winter Formal '97 all over again. "Way Back Texas" ("... population you and me") is roadhouse rock for people who remember Green from "Three Days," while "Dixie Lullaby," a piano-soaked slow one, will satisfy the Dierks Bentley set. Green's reluctance to commit to either pop or country made 2004's Lucky Ones a misfire; on Cannonball, especially Sara Evans duet "Finders Keepers," he's much more comfortable with both.