Based on its title alone, it would seem that
Southern Voice picks up on the harder country edges of Let It Go, but that's not the case: this is
Tim McGraw's rockiest album yet, opening with a slow, spacy crawl called "Still" that would not be out of place on a record by a
U2 knockoff and often revisiting that territory, taking the occasional detour to
Nickelback territory on the
Chad Kroeger co-written "It's a Business Doing Pleasure with You." On the rest of the record,
McGraw mines a sentimental, meditative vein, musing on major changes in his life and wondering what will happen after he's gone. Such big themes fit both the big, atmospheric rock sounds and the reflective acoustic ballads well, creating an inward vibe that is occasionally punctuated by a rocker, like the laundry list of great Southern names on the title track or the mess of clichés on "It's Only Jesus," changes of pace meant to goose along the record but which wind up as speed bumps on a mellow trip. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine