CD Review: Carrie Underwood "Play On”
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Published: November 6, 2009
COUNTRY
(19 Recordings Limited/Arista Nashville)
Contemporary country star
Carrie Underwood stretches her strong soprano, her songwriting skills and musical boundaries on her third album, "Play On.”
The Checotah native co-wrote seven of the 13 songs, and the album’s sonic diversity reveals the 2005 "
American Idol” winner’s willingness to grow and experiment.
The record opens with her latest hit, "Cowboy Casanova,” a feisty country-rocker about a "snake with blue eyes” lothario. She co-wrote the cautionary tale with country songsmith and fellow
Okie Brett James and hip-hop writer/producer
Mike Elizondo.
She keeps rocking with "Undo It,” a catchy kiss-off with a stuttering chorus and strutting groove that she penned with "Idol” judge
Kara DioGuardi and hard-rock producer
Marti Frederiksen.
Underwood, 26, gets sentimental with songs such as the spiritual weeper "Temporary Home,” which she co-wrote with
Zac Maloy, former front man for
Oklahoma City band The Nixons, and the earnest ballad "Mama’s Song,” her other DioGuardi/ Frederiksen collaboration. And if "Change” comes across as a too-syrupy bit of idealism, her youth and philanthropy can probably earn her a pass.
The crossover hitmaker often takes her lumps from the
Nashville establishment for her pop-flavored music, but she spotlights her country side on the beautifully sad "Someday When I Stop Loving You” and the slow-dancer "Look at Me,” featuring
Oklahoma star
Vince Gill on vocals.
— Brandy McDonnell
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