CJ Field would like to convince you that folks from Massachusetts can throw down with the country boys and girls just like anybody else. With a debut album like Modern Day Cash, he may just be able to.

I grew up in Texas back when people actually sat around the dinner table talking about seceding from the rest of the union. With a world view that narrow, we thought New England was maaaybe one of the original thirteen colonies. But we’d probably bought it (to use the old fashion phrase) “on time” from England years ago and they’d probably repossessed it, furniture and all, long ago. Was it even still up there? Then, I actually moved up here and what a surprise.

The accents and cultural references may be a tad different but they can do “down home” like anyone else. CJ Field’s work has been compared to Bruce Springsteen which might bother some dyed in the wool country folks. But he’s also been compared to Johnny Cash himself, if that makes you feel any better. Honestly, though, I was just the other day trying to convince someone that Springsteen has some of the most countrified “not country” records you’ve ever heard. So, do give this poor boy a chance.

In Too Drunk to Sing Along, Field is at a bar going through the jukebox looking for songs “to cure this lonesome feeling in my bones.” Even though it leans on Don’t Rock The Jukebox, I thought it stood on its own pretty well. It also had the running around, up to no good feel of a Tom T. Hall song. George Jones even makes an appearance here, well, at least his name does, as do Merle and the usual suspects. I liked it. Every album needs a good drinkin’ song

Crazy Over You is a great summertime song. It starts out right with a good beat. This is one to listen to when you’re outside working or inside feeling sorry for yourself. Ramblin’ Woman was the best song on here, in my opinion. But then, I’m partial to “she done left me” songs. Also, just like every record needs a good drinkin’ song, every one also needs a good ramblin’ song. Listen to this one on a road trip or just on some horrible, caught-in-traffic weekly errand you’d like to pretend was a road trip.

On the title track of Modern Day Cash, CJ Field asks for a new kind of hero, a modern day Man In Black. I’ll have to hear a few more records of his to see whose boots he can fill. At 23, he’s just beginning to fill his own. But, as a debut album, I liked it a lot. Would I go all the way back to the truck, stomping in the mud, to get this cd if I was out fishing? Nope. But, I’d risk running the battery down to crank it up so I could hear Ramblin’ Woman while I was out sleeping under the trees. And that, my darlin’, says something.

Goes good with: A beer. I mean, um, Dwight and Mr. Tom T. Hall.

Random Note: He has a Rebel Without A Cause thing happening on the album cover.

Rating: 7/10