My Two Cents: Mat Kearney - City of Black & White

I was worried it would come to this. Mat Kearney has left his hip-hop hat at home -- at least for his second major release, City of Black & White (his third on Inpop Records). When I first heard Kearney, he was rhyming over acoustic guitar licks (and sometimes as a guest rapper during our church choir's offertory specials). Now no longer a hip-hop head, the songster seems to be a full-blown popster. While there's nothing wrong with writing snappy tunes, I miss the spoken word element Kearney successfully weaved into his repertoire on past records. I also had high hopes when I first saw the title of the disc -- hoping that the album would in some way attempt to examine the pitfalls of cities like Nashville (and others in the Bible Belt). But, alas, Kearney seems to stick to typical airplay fare. I will say this: CoB&W is good driving music. And the album artwork is in the running for best design of the year.