Kellie Pickler may just be a small-town girl, but she’s also become the resident vamp of country music. With her ditzy-but-sweet persona, high heels, sequins and girl-power anthems, she’s managed to come a long way from her days as an “American Idol” contestant, and with her newest and third album, “100 Proof,” she seems to be aiming to be taken more seriously than ever.
The album kicks off on a high note with “Where’s Tammy Wynette,” a punchy ode to the queen of classic country that gives Pickler’s 2008 single “Best Days of Your Life” a run for its money. And it’s fitting Pickler launches the record by calling on the iconic Wynette, as the tracks that follow happily succumb to fleeting moments of nostalgia. The most effective of these is the fiddle-laden “Stop Cheatin’ On Me,” a near-perfect nod to the genre’s benefactors.
“100 Proof” shows a side of Pickler to which we aren’t entirely accustomed — the wistful, doleful side. But this is a welcome shift, as it gives us songs like the emotive “Long As I Never See You Again,” the poignant “Mother’s Day” and the heart wrenching “The Letter (To Daddy).” Pickler’s sound is more mature, wearier of the world but still convincingly endearing.
The banjo licks and campy lyrics on “Little House On the Highway” offer an incongruity to Pickler’s usual dolled-up image, but just like with the rest of the album’s more serious material, it’s a pleasant departure from the norm. Another nice change of pace is the iTunes bonus track “Arm Candy.” It’s a pity this song isn’t included on the original album, as it’s a coquettish, utterly fun wonderland that, though more inspired by pop than country, plays like the musical and lyrical equivalent of a classic pin-up girl.
“100 Proof” is the summation of Pickler’s sugar-and-spice, country-fried demeanor, and it is the album that will put Pickler in a whole different class of country.
Rating: W W W W
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