Time Flies (Self-released, 2008)

Since his debut in 1992, John Michael Montgomery built a solid career on a foundation of power ballads and uptempo humorous songs. Forming his own label could have offered an opportunity to break that mold. Instead, this is, for the most part, the same album he's put out in the past.

There are the requisite good ol' boy humor songs, none with the charm of Sold (The Grundy Country Auction Incident). There's also a string of indistinguishable ballads that don't approach the bar set by I Swear or I Love The Way You Love Me.

The album takes a turn for the better towards the end. Drunkard's Prayer examines the complicated relationship between the sinner and God. The spoken word intro of All in a Day leads to a well crafted tune about the fleeting nature of time. Finally,

Brothers Til The End is a classy autobiographical track (the lone one written by Montgomery here) about his relationship with brother Eddie Montgomery of Montgomery Gentry. Three good songs don't fill an album, but without the rest of "Time Flies," they would have been a great start.