Darryl Worley sets himself as a rebel on his just-released album, "Here and Now" (903 Music, $18.98).
On the opening cut, "Jumpin' Off the Wagon," Worley chides Nashville for forcing him to conform, yet "Still you couldn't find a Worley record on the rack." The hard Southern rocker "Free" two tracks later shimmers, "Free, feels a lot better than I thought it would . . . Free to come up with my own plan."
The album is Worley's fifth in his six-year career and his first since parting ways with DreamWorks Nashville when it shuttered two years ago. Worley seems to have found in 903 Records a kinship of philosophy from the label's founder, fellow country rocker Neal McCoy. But sadly it has come at the cost of some of Worley's traditional country soul. Not a lick of fiddle or steel guitar can be heard above the drone of drums, keyboards and chorus of electric guitars screaming out guttural Southern-tainted rock.
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His change in philosophy, from traditional twang to uptempo country rock, came about after he headlined the 2005 KIIM Country Music Festival at the Pima County Fairgrounds. He realized then, looking out on the crowd, that his thinking needed rethinking. His new album, he said in an interview in July, has a little bit of "that Muscle Shoals R&B and it's got a little of that Lynyrd Skynyrd."
The album shows off Worley's renewed energy and enthusiasm on the laid-back gem of a title song and the soaring anthem "Do You Know What That Is," which tickles with resonator guitar amid the thump of bass drum as Worley celebrates, "It's country, man / It's a poor boy's dream." The delicious ballad "Slow Dancing With a Memory" is about as good as country music gets. There's a Celtic folk-tale feel to his social commentary on "Nothin' to Lose," then Worley one-two punches us with the disc closer "I Just Came Back From a War," which reminds us that yes, indeed, there's something different about the boy next door.
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Pop-opera wünderkind Josh Groban delivers a collection of soaring arias and moving pop ballads on the inspiring "Awake" (Reprise/Wea, $18.98), the third CD of the 25-year-old's seven-year career and his first since 2003. The disc has more energy than his previous recordings, and it includes the somewhat sappy but inspirational ode "You Are Loved" — "Don't give up / It's just the weight of this world / You are loved" — with Groban playing drums. There also are duets with Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Vusi Mahlasela and Herbie Hancock.
Tickets ($47.50-$97.50) went on sale Monday for Groban's March 25 show at Phoenix's US Airways Center. Call Ticketmaster, 321-1000, for details.
