Stars & Stripes (Lyric Street, 2002)

Aaron Tippin may be known as a country singer espousing blue collar, working man values, but something seems to be missing here in a big way at least musically.

When working class comes to mind, one thinks of Tippin's sometimes tough sounding voice that gets to the heart of the material.

But the problem time and again is the music and quality of the songs. There is far too great a generic sound produced by the typical Grade A session players. Too much drums from Lonnie Wilson and a lack of biting guitar work mainly from Biff Watson and Brent Mason.

These folks and other players are exactly slouches, so could it be that the production of Tippin, Watson and Mike Bradley was aiming for too much of a formulaic sound?

The songs themselves don't always work either. The spoken parts in "I'll Take Love Over Money" sound far too cute. He rocks far too much on "If Her Lovin' Don't Kill Me."

Certainly, Tippin is capable of far more ("Honky Tonk if You Love Country" and "Five Gallon Tear" with lots of fiddle and accordion are among the standouts). If the music could have matched the man, then these stars and stripes would be flying high.