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Popping in the Eli Young Band’s 10,000 Towns, you know you’ve heard it before, but man, you can’t help but love it in spite of all its slick production and done-to-death overkill. These guys pick a sound and they run with it for all it’s worth, therefore earning just a bit more credibility than some other Music Row-swayed hit chasers.

The band’s third major label release is filled with hooks that would have ignited the biggest party anthems of the 80’s, albeit with visions of counting stars and hanging out behind the local Texaco. Tracks like “Drunk Last Night,” rife with the good-natured inebriation you’d find in four out of five current Top 10 Country hits, is so darn infectious and anthem-like that you just have to succumb to its sweet Southern siren call. “Dust” also earns points for rocking out as hard as a hare-pin turn on a gravel road – vocalist Mike Eli’s natural delivery doesn’t try to unnecessarily inflict that fake “y’all” charm.

The ballads are satisfying and sincere, as is “Your Last Broken Heart,” with melodic fire and earnest twang behind the steel guitars and thick harmonies; one can’t help but think this is how Restless Heart would sound as a hungry young outfit today.

10,000 Towns is a record that won’t exactly break the mold, but is sure to strike a chord along Main Street, USA.

– Mark Uricheck