This is recent album finds Gregory playing some stone country. It's his first album in some time and has been followed up by a bluegrass album. Always an indie artist he released a number of albums on One Step back in 1990 as well as one album on Polydor. This, his first album in awhile, continues where he left off with good time, hard core down home country that in the main deals with break-ups and break downs but also throws some humour in the mix.
Too Country For Nashville's title pretty much sums how he feels Music Row views him. The Tommy Barnes/ Will Bill Emerson song sums up how a lot of artists playing country music feel now in the heart of Music City. You Play Like Chet is a amusing song about on audience members enthusiasm for the subjects playing skills. If It Ain't Jones is about writing and recording a song that sounds like the late and much loved iconic country singer. It includes the lines "if that ain't Jones I'll kiss your possum". Gregory's ballad Has Love Taken It's Toll is a sad heartbreak ballad about two hearts turning cold. It Took Every Tear follows a similar well-trodden path of regret. The title track is another that sees the singer hit rock bottom and tries to wipe the memories away in a glass but finds too much ain't enough. Craig Martin's song She Did is a fine vocal performance on another song of regret that would also be ideal for Vince Gill. You Smile deals with loss and can be taken on a number of levels but it has resonance. Crucifixion is another Gregory song that takes the central theme of Christ's crucifixion in a song of faith and redemption and is also featured on his new bluegrass album.
Gregory is an excellent fiddler as well as a believable and solid singer and he is joined on these tracks by some fine players like Troy Lancaster on guitar, Eddie Bayers on drums and Steve Hinson on steel. Steel and fiddle are well to the fore in Gregory and Jamie Creasy's production. One that lacks any of the recent trends in Nashville towards bad pop and southern rock. Which means this album is unlikely to gain any radio play in the mainstream. But that don't matter for those looking for something that sounds like country and rings true. There are still some great hardcore country albums out there but they need to be tracked down.