Wild Kentucky Skies (1993)

Marty Brown's debut, 1991's High and Dry, was a shotgun blast of old-fashioned country music, but like so many sophomore efforts, Wild Kentucky Skies is more self-conscious, more calculated — it aims higher and misses. Brown still howls eloquently in romantic agony (''I Don't Want to See You Again''), but the overwrought (''God Knows'') and the maudlin (''Honey I Ain't No Fool'') efforts amount to creative gun control. Aw, shoot, Marty — loosen up. B-

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