Rise & Fall

Rise & Fall begins with the snap of a twangy riff, a sound associated with honky tonks of all eras. A veteran of American Idol, Scotty McCreery has never wandered far from classic country, but here on his fifth album, hes decided to lean into classicism, relying on hardwood country-rockers and barroom ballads. Its music that wouldve sounded like a throwback in the 1990s, the decade when country relied on the kind of clean, oversized polish that could fill arenas. McCreery spends much of Rise & Fall chasing memories of Alan Jackson, yet he somehow never succumbs to nostalgia. McCreery avoids such sentimental pitfalls because hes focused on perennial country themes, letting himself indulge in the sweet sentiments of "Love Like This" and the gentle puns of "No Country for Old Men." These songs -- all but one bearing a co-writing credit from McCreery -- evoke the past but are focused on the present, a combination that makes Rise & Fall resonate with genuine emotion. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine