SUNNY SWEENEY

Concrete

[Big Machine]

Smart storytelling songs with compelling melodies and rootsy but not anachronistic settings; dashes of wit amid adult settings involving cheaters and leavers and stayers. Singing that’s pitch-true without having been Auto-Tuned into submission. Ah, so it must be Americana, yes? No, Sunny Sweeney’s Concrete is a genuine contemporary country contender, released on a major label and already sporting a Top 10 country hit in “From a Table Away.” If we want to go with hope over cynicism, we could consider the Texas-reared Sweeney part of a refreshing mini-movement that’s cutting through the radio schlock: Concrete stands as a worthy colleague to Miranda Lambert’s Revolution, Jamey Johnson’s The Guitar Song and other recent works of vibrant country neo-realism. Highlights include “The Old Me,” a grinning study of internal conflict, and the poignant “Amy,” in which—in a 180-degree turn on modern, soccer-mom country—the other woman confronts a betrayed wife. –Peter Cooper