Wanna Be Your Joe

No matter how you feel about the pride of Flatwoods, Kentucky, you've got to give him credit for sheer grit. An embarrassment to Nashville after his Chippendalesish (and hugely popular) line-dancing anthem "Achy Breaky Heart" (1992), the mullet-wearing Billy Ray Cyrus went on to make credible music (1993's mostly ignored It Won't Be the Last) before segueing into acting (Doc, Hannah Montana). Yet on Wanna Be Your Joe, an album he largely wrote or co-wrote, Cyrus doesn't do himself many favors. The quality of writing never reaches the upper tiers, and several of the songs come across as rough demos instead of fully produced cuts. His slim baritone, once gravelly and testosterone-pumped, is dry as a stump, and the hunger and passion that drove his earlier recordings also seems to slumber, whether he's paying tribute to his heroes (Dale Earnhardt, Ronnie Van Zant) or pondering lost loves. Cyrus shows his sense of humor in referencing his former hairstyle ("I Want My Mullet Back," a rootsy rock excursion), and hits all the working-class touchstones (the loving husband/father of the promising title cut, the blue-collar protest of exorbitant fuel costs of "A Pain in the Gas"). But the album never really catches fire until he brings on the guests: George Jones and Loretta Lynn for the down-home "Country Music Has the Blues" and daughter Miley for "Stand." Just as in the plots of his TV series, on Wanna Be Your Joe, friends and family save the day. --Alanna Nash

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