The Metropolitan Hotel

Chely Wright's sixth album Metropolitan Hotel is a revelation...at least for someone like me, who doesn't listen all that much to country music. After playing this CD a couple of times, I'll have to stop and think before I tell the old joke...what happens if you play a country song backwards? You get back your wife, your dog, your pickup, and your mobile home. This album goes way beyond those cliches.

Wright has a lovely voice, and she applies it effectively to this impressive collection of songs, which cover a gamut of subjects from lost love ("I Got Him Ready for You"), the complexities of patriotism ("The Bumper of My S.U.V."), and life and death ("The River"). Vince Gill does a back-up vocal on this last song.

The tunes are catchy, the lyrics are moving, and the instrumental backup is expert. I have to admit being a sucker for pedal steel guitar, and that instrument is played beautifully here and not overused. Wright wrote most of the songs in this collection, but I should mention two songs by others: the opening number "It's the Song," written by Bonnie Baker and Katrina Elam, would make a great single; and Chuck Berry's "C'est La Vie (You Never Can Tell)," which Wright says she's been singing since she was a little girl.

This will certainly be successful on the country music charts, but I hope people outside the country music scene give Metropolitan Hotel a try. If they do, they'll likely check in for a long stay.