Mark Wills And The Crowd Goes Wild CD

Personnel: Mark Wills (vocals); Tom Bukovac (acoustic & electric guitars); Biff Watson (acoustic guitar); J.T. Corenflos (electric guitar); Paul Franklin (steel guitar); Tim Akers (keyboards); Jimmie Lee Sloas (bass); Lonnie Wilson (drums); Eric Darken (percussion); Wes Hightowewr (background vocals).
Recorded at Ocean Way, Cartee Day, Aimeeland Studios, Nashville, Tennessee.
Digitally remastered using HDCD technology.
Putting forth an impressive effort to dispel the myth that he is "the sad guy," And the Crowd Goes Wild is a collection of enjoyable songs that let us know that maybe Wills does have something to smile about. The title track is a get-out-of-your-seat rocker that's bound to inspire; "He's a Cowboy" is a toe-tapper about fun-loving cowboys; "Married in Mexico" is a bouncy song about a proposal, to name a few. But lest we forget, there are several ballads on the album that remind us why we first fell in love with Wills' warm baritone wrapped around a sad story-song. "What Hurts the Most" is an ode to a failed relationship. "I Just Close My Eyes" is about the pain of a long-distance relationship. And deserving an honorable mention is "Prisoner of the Highway," a duet with one of Wills' heroes, Ronnie Milsap, on Milsap's 1984 hit. ~ Maria Konicki Dinoia
Warning: All attempts at pigeonholing Mark Wills as a standard-fare country singer will run sharply afoul of reality. While the romantic, piano-laced ballad "That's a Woman" and the self-explanatory "He's a Cowboy" may live up to what most people expect to hear coming out of Nashville, they are the exceptions rather than the rule. The NASCAR-friendly title track to Wills' fifth album sounds more like Smashmouth with mandolin than anything else, while a Southern accent and some twangy guitars are all that keep "Nothin' But a Suntan" from seeming like an N Sync outtake. When you find out that Wills started out on the pop/rock side of things before inching over to country, it all makes sense. Hey, if Meat Loaf can cover Alan Jackson (see the former's contemporaneous release), everything is fair game.