Mexico

Album Review

Massachusetts isn't the first place you might think of as a place to cultivate the next great country singer/songwriter, but this bright, heartfelt, and witty lyricist and vocalist — who brings to mind Lyle Lovett, Jimmy Buffett, and (why not?) Toby Keith — has been a local hero in New England for some time. He's won the New England Songwriter Competition, was a finalist in the WOKQ New England Country Star Search, and has won numerous New Hampshire Country Music Association Awards. Great pedigree, but it's the songs that must win you over, and they do, in spades. The perky and playful title track isn't quite up to par with James Taylor's song of the same name, but it's still a snazzy, down-home track pondering the good life South of the Border — with great harmonies to boot. "It Ain't a Party" is a crisp country-rock hoedown that will get the bar hopping. He takes some lighthearted looks at love (the lost dog tale "Bud," "Instructions") and the sweetness of a childhood home ("I'm Home"), then tackles weightier topics like the experience of the American immigrant ("They Called Me an American"). Swiniarski is as strong a presence as any other male on the adult contemporary country scene, and will hopefully soon travel the distance between the Northeast and Nashville.