This one I'll get over, stone cold sober...

R.I.D.E. is the third album from bar-band-cum-semi-successful-country-act Trick Pony. Trick Pony started out as a couple of session hacks (hippie-looking Ira Dean and suave-looking Keith Burns) with (peppy-looking) singer Heidi Newfield doing a competent but way watered-down version of "saloon country". (hmm... Ira, Heidi, overcompensation, much?) I mean from their website alone is this statement of purpose:

Trick Pony, America's most energetic, hard working, and orneriest barroom rockin', buttkickin' hard-core honky-tonk band, will look you straight in the eye and lay down its new album R.I.D.E.

Butt-kicking? Ornery? Can you imagine Johnny Cash describing himself this way? In the immortal words of sage Whitney, "Hell to the no!" Ornery is what you call your cow. You can more say music to play in steakhouse chain restaurants who want to seem edgy without upsetting the blue-plates or soccer-moms. Their first two albums consisted basically of one OK faux-alcoholic single ("Pour Me" and "On A Mission") surrounded by material that could have been stuck onto a soundtrack. And in this aspect R.I.D.E. doesn't disappoint, giving your bar-song ("Ain't Wasting Good Whiskey On You"), your fodder, and one ringer remake single (Bonnie Tyler's "It's A Heartache"). However this album is more homogenous then even the last two. Besides the three singles ("...Heartache", "...Whiskey..", and "The Bride") there's a couple listenable tunes, the swing "What's Not To Love" and the by-the-numbers ballad "When I Fall". Otherwise, forgettable cliche-ridden white-breadneck country all around. Mind you this is well produced and performed, so if you like have an aunt or something that eats at the country buffet but still has a Harley Davidson T-Shirt she got from the restaurant 8 years ago to get a birthday present for, this may be the album for you.

Grade: D+
Best Cuts: "What's Not To Love", "When I Fall"
Worst cuts: "Hillbilly Rock", "Once A Cowboy"

R.I.D.E. hit #4 on the country album and #20 on the pop album chart.
"The Bride" hit #27 on the country chart.
"It's A Heartache" hit #22 on the country chart.
"Ain't Wasting Good Whiskey On You" hit #42 on the country chart.

You can buy Trick Pony's R.I.D.E. by clicking here or here.

Here's their video for "The Bride"..

And here's the video for one of their older songs, "Pour Me".