Easy Does It (2009)

Jake Owen kicks off his sophomore effort in rakish lonely-rambler style with the dark, driving ''Tell Me,'' and there's believable passion behind his drawl on single ''Don't Think I Can't Love You.'' But the rest of Easy Does It suffers from curiously opposing problems: too many songs in awe of generically wild women — including ''Eight Second Ride,'' repeated from his 2006 debut — and a tendency for the 27-year-old to slip into middle-aged schmaltz. Fingers crossed he'll be around to revisit the more maudlin stuff in about two decades. B–

Download This: Listen to the song ''Don't Think I Can't Love You'' on imeem.com Originally posted Feb 18, 2009 Published in issue #1036 Feb 27, 2009 Order article reprints