Country songwriter Hunter Moore's fourth album South of St. Louis is, in essence, a demo tape issued on a CD. Recording alone, Moore accompanies himself on acoustic guitar or, occasionally, piano, in a home studio setup. He emphasizes the primitive nature of the process by including false starts and bits of chatter; indeed, although 23 tracks are listed, only 18 are actual song performances. In those songs, Moore comes up with familiar-sounding guitar parts and simple melodies, and for the most part he writes the kind of lyrics that get attention in Nashville, story songs based on little wordplay concepts such as "First Things Last," in which the word "last" is employed as a verb and the song revolves around the idea that the first experience of anything sticks with you, or "If You Were the Answer," a kiss-off song in which the inevitable rejoinder is, "What was the question?" There's no reason why some country star wouldn't pick up on such a song, and some gospel singer would do well to give a listen to "The Carpenter," an unsubtle metaphor for Christ. If pressing up copies of this collection on a CD helps get these songs more circulation in the corridors of Music Row, it may have justified its existence. Actual record buyers, however, may find its deliberately rudimentary nature affected and off-putting, which would be a shame since Moore clearly is a craftsmanlike writer.
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