by contributing author Matt Rogers

Cooper Boone is an interesting character. Though a son of America’s heartland, he has spent more than a decade in the Northeast, dividing his time between being a farmhand in Pennsylvania and a psychotherapist in the Big Apple. He’s an ardent environmentalist about to go nationwide with his Small Change Big Planet tour, and he’s launching an online cooking series called Cowboy Kitchen. Needless to say, he’s a pretty busy guy.

As for the material on his sophomore record, Made In America (2008) – it’s a lot less interesting than Boone himself. The lyrics and melodies are a bit contrived, and don’t offer much originality for someone who’s obviously seen and heard his fair share of captivating stories, being a psychotherapist and what not. It’s safe to assume that a week or two at Boone’s office could afford a songwriter a smorgasbord of material to work with. Not the case here, though. Three tracks, “Midnight Drive,” “Bad Girls” and “Carolina Girl” are about, well, girls. Yippee. The title track is as cliché as it sounds, and the instrumentations are dangerously close to “Life is a Highway.” “Cross Creek” and “7 West” are probably the strongest cuts on the album, as they do a better job showcasing Boone’s vocal abilities - but they’re by no means chart-topping hits.

The truth of the matter is that plenty of musicians will need a psychotherapist at one point or another - but a psychotherapist probably doesn’t need to be a musician.