Perma-shirtless hitmaker Kenny Chesney coproducing perma-stonedelder-statesman Nelson could have been the country equivalent of R. Kelly's successful work with the Isley Brothers. Instead, we get Nelson awkwardly croaking songs by Dave Matthews ("Gravedigger") and Big and Rich ("The Bob Song") as a too-loud, too-slick band churns away in what sounds like a different studio. Even the best track —a take on Randy Newman's "Louisiana" —feels a couple of years too late.

“He Will Break Your Heart”

A lightly swinging Latin-influenced, almost cha-cha groove and close harmonies decorated Jerry Butler's early soul hit "He Will Break Your Heart," delivering a stately warning that his rival would never love his girl like he did. The melody came to Butler as he was driving on the highway from Atlantic City, New Jersey, to Philadelphia with Curtis Mayfield, and as Butler told Rolling Stone, "I just sang the melody and Curtis put the chords to it." The song's premise, Butler added, "was something that I'd lived ...The lyric was an experience rather than a revelation. Whereas music is usually a revelation."