Jason Michael Carroll Albums (2)
'Growing Up Is Getting Old'
Release Date 4/28/2009
Tracks 10
Label Arista
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
The pensive, sepia-toned snapshot on the cover of Jason Michael Carroll's second album, Growing Up Is Getting Old, shows that the country singer is determined to leave the pretty-boy down-home hunk of his first album behind -- at least in terms of image, if not quite in terms of music. It may be a little softer, a little broader, a little bit self-consciously older, but Growing Up Is Getting Old shows the same fondness for arena country as Carroll's 2007 debut, Waitin' in the Country, relying heavily on sports-bar rockers and radio-ready ballads, all peppered with signifiers of Middle American life. The whole thing opens with a Saturday night bar brawl, trucks appear in every other song, whiskey flows like water, and there are dewy-eyed salutes to "Where I'm From" and trips through the past fueled by flipping through a yearbook -- all capped off by simple truths like "I think honesty is right/I think lying is wrong." Like before, Carroll can almost turn clichés into something resembling genuine emotion -- his voice is warm and friendly, giving his readings a conversational lilt. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
'Waitin' in the Country'
Release Date 2/6/2007
Tracks 11
Label Arista Nashville
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
On the cover of his 2007 debut, Waitin' in the Country, Jason Michael Carroll certainly looks like a hunk -- and not just a country hunk, either; he looks like Samantha's main man Smith during the waning days of Sex & the City, which means he's marketable not just to the country audience but perhaps to the crossover audience as well. So, he looks the part of a country idol and, with his warm, rounded baritone, he sounds like one too, a picture-perfect definition of what a modern country singer should be, so it should come as no surprise that Waitin' in the Country also sounds perfectly tailored toward country conventions in the mid-2000s. Carroll never shies away from cliché on this album -- he feels at home in the country, will sleep when he's dead, has "Honky Tonk Friends," lives in "Anywhere USA," and finds "No Good in Goodbye" -- and the music is a blend of familiar arena rock riffs and new traditionalist swagger, tempered by more than its fair share of treacly sentiment on the ballads. But if Waitin' in the Country never defies convention, it never does it badly, either. Sure, some of it can be silly -- whether it's the prefabricated rowdy shout-alongs on the chorus of "Honky Tonk Friends" or the line "The people trust the steeple/And the steeple don't lie" on the title track -- but Carroll comes across as a likeable, ingratiating guy next door: he may look like a model, but there's an ordinariness in his voice that's endearing. It also suits his friendly, ordinary country and helps make Waitin' in the Country an enjoyable first album despite its occasional lapses into saccharine pop and a slight lack of truly memorable material. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
