Album Review: Sam Outlaw -- Angeleno

Sam may be an outlaw by name but by nature, on his debut album, he comes across as more of a soul-searching, sensitive guy.

It’s a country record complete with sparkling pedal steel and tales of love won and lost, and while he can write a good song within those parameters it often sounds too sedate and clean, lacking the grit and dust. Yet when he finds a chorus with a hook, as he does on the opener, Who Do You Think You Are, it really works. Think Laurel Canyon’s sweet sensitivity transplanted to Nashville.