Even before you’ve slipped the CD inside the player, it’s not hard to picture what to expect from Bon Jovi’s latest! I mean, with a title like Lost Highway, a cover depicting a dashboard and the road ahead, and the band’s recent Grammy for the country single Who Says You Can’t Go Home, they certainly weren’t leaving much to the imagination. Of course, the sudden urge for the country style should come as no surprise really. There have been similar hints and inclinations in the band’s more recent releases, as well as on Jon’s solo albums, but it’s probably the fact that they’ve stretched their country flirtations into an entire album that has drawn all the attention.

In all truth, Jon Bon Jovi sounds like he was born for this kind of music; country rock does kind of suit him even more than his anthemic hard rock persona. It could be his measured drawl or perhaps his vocal timbre, but it works! But it’s not all fine and dandy on the band’s 10th studio album either – there’s a distinct lack in the kind of melodic hook that has always been part and parcel of the Bon Jovi songbook. This may be because much of the song-writing has been largely carried out in collaboration with genuine Nashville artists, where essence usually triumphs over commercial sheen, but as a whole, I must admit that Lost Highway does succeed in bringing out Bon Jovi’s comparatively “rootsier” side.

CD COURTESY OF Exotique