The First Album, the Universal debut by Australia's Adam Eckersley Band, is a showcase for the award-winning vocalist's burgeoning songwriting chops. Some of these songs were co-written with Nashville talents, while others were composed with Australian collaborators -- including his wife, Brooke McClymont of the McClymonts. Two pre-release singles, "Long Enough to Disappear" (penned with Troy Johnson and Henry Jack Williams) and "Should've Known Better" (with McClymont, Scott Greenaway, and Lindsay Rimes), did well in Australia, while the international single "Give Her the World" has done well digitally. This amiable blend of roots rock, contemporary country, and pop is big on hooks, artifice, and production sheen but keeps its soul on full display. While the genre's recognizable trappings -- fiddle, big clattering drums, B-3, and a seamless meld of fat electric and acoustic guitars -- populate each of these songs, Eckersley's inviting, swaggering voice and hot guitar playing stand out, much like his countryman Keith Urban's do. Eckersley's guitar-playing roots are in the electric blues, and those reveal themselves in "Sister Sunrise" and "In the End," while his rock & roll side shines through on "Sex & Money."
© Thom Jurek /TiVo