Country Rock" usually describes acts that are neither – like the Eagles or the Marshall Tucker Band – but one performer who fits the tag in the truest sense is Junior Brown, the Austin, Texas, guitar hero with the honky-tonk soul. Brown is hard-core country on the new blue-collar anthem "Joe the Singing Janitor," and he exudes trucker conceit on "Semi-Crazy," the title track of his third album. But what sets him apart from the trad pack is the go-for-the-throat rock guitar instinct of "I Hung It Up."

That there are two Junior Browns is a great thing, except when he straddles the fence between Nashville airplay and Texas grit, as he does on such new tracks as "Gotta Get Up Every Morning" (next line: "Just to say good night to you") and a surf instrumental medley that is much wilder in concert. Fortunately, the cologne of calculation doesn't cloud the overwhelming musical testimony that Brown isn't playing dress up. (RS 736)

MICHAEL CORCORAN