If We Ever Make It Home

iTunes Review

On his fourth album If We Ever Make it Home, country artist Wade Bowen serves up a batch of songs that owe more to the heartland rock of John Mellencamp than the honky-tonk strains of his Texas peers. As a singer his gruffly emotive style recalls Travis Tritt, though with less bluesy shading. Themes of loves lost, found, and thwarted dominate, with a certain cowboy fatalism coloring Bowen’s outlook. His breakup songs — especially “You Had Me at My Best” and “Nobody’s Fool” — sound more relieved than regretful. “Turn on the Lights” and “From Bad to Good” dissect troubled relationships over lean, guitar-rooted arrangements. Bowen gets a lot of mileage out of upbeat country-rock settings with “Ghost in This Town” and the title song. The more subdued “Somewhere Beautiful” believably invokes the restlessness of youth. “Daddy and the Devil,” an unsparing portrait of an alcoholic father, is the most countrified entry. If there’s anything lacking on this album, it’s an obvious radio hit. The elements are all here, even if that one killer tune is not.