Shannon Walker

Album Review

On the cover of his self-titled 2008 album, Shannon Walker is dressed in white against a white background. As it turns out, this is a pretty good visual representation of his clean starched music, as Walker is so loathe to offend he doesn't even risk big hooks in his polite country-pop, for they might attract too much attention. Even on the one time he attempts to kick up some dust — "That's How I Love You," as in "like Toby loves that bar" and "like Willie loves his dope," he loves you — Walker hedges his bets, proclaiming from the start that he "ain't no silver-tongued devil," but there's no risk of him being mistaken for anything other than a sweet, polite guy next door, celebrating family, god, and country and lamenting unwed mothers. All of this is as conventional as country gets, but it's not badly done; Walker is genuinely humble and the softness of the music is warm and isn't too slick, so it's likable enough even if it tends to fade into the background. Shannon Walker is amiably pleasant, but it's too much white on white — there needs to be a little bit of color or hooks for it to make a lasting impression.