Jo Dee Messina - Im Alright

Jo Dee Messina's 1996 hit, "Heads Carolina, Tails California," was a likable, upbeat slice of Hot Country that promised, at the least, more such work. Her sophomore album, I'm Alright, however, shows whatever edges Messina once owned to have been sanded off by the Nashville production machine. The we-can-work-it-out tone of "Heads Carolina" here becomes little more than feel-good, plucky hackwork. At the album's worst, when confronted with tragedy day after day in newspaper headlines, all Messina can do is throw up her hands and lament that "Even God Must Get the Blues." --Rickey Wright