Sam may be an outlaw by name but by nature he comes across as more of a soul searching, sensitive guy on his debut album. It’s a country record complete with sparkling pedal steel and tales of love won and lost and while he can write a good song within those parameters it often sounds to sedate and clean. It lacks the grit and dust to really demand repeated listens yet when he finds a chorus with a hook, as he does on the opener “Who Do You Think You Are”, it really works. Think a bloodless Robert Ellis or Laurel Canyon’s sweet sensitivity transplanted to Nashville.
6/10
Chris Familton
