The Metropolitan Hotel

1	It's the Song 3:57
2	Back of the Bottom Drawer 3:43
3	I Got Him Ready for You 3:19
4	The River 6:29
5	Just the Way We Do It 3:39
6	The Bumper of My S.U.V. 4:41
7	Your Shirt 3:54
8	Between a Mother and a Child 4:09
9	Southside of Lonesome 4:00
10	Wheels 3:45
11	You Can Never Tell 3:13
12	What If I Can't Say No Again 4:11

Barnes & Noble

Before anyone gets too exercised about Chely Wright's tender, thoughtful tribute to the American troops abroad, "The Bumper of My S.U.V.," be advised that she's been performing for the U.S. Armed Forces since she was in short pants. And though she became something of a talking head for the Republican ticket in the 2004 elections, the "S.U.V." song is political only in that it celebrates freedom of speech, a right some say is under assault by the Bush administration. She's a long way from Toby Keith bluster here, and attention must be paid before the doves write her off -- she admits to "asking questions" about what's going on in the world, even as she earnestly croons her affection and respect for the GIs doing the dirty work. That one song should not close anyone off to a fine collection of songs that Wright co-produced and, in the case of eight of the dozen tunes, either wrote or co-wrote. The timeless conflict between children and their elders is lovingly dissected, with some anger and more than a dollop of common sense, in a piano-based, hymn-like ballad, "Between a Mother and a Child." A woman who made a better man of her ex tells a home wrecker the "tragic but true" reality on the slow-boiling heartbreaker "I Got Him Ready for You." Soaring strings, pulsing percussion, Aubrey Haynie's keening fiddle, and Vince Gill's haunting harmonizing bring vivid life to the sweeping, autobiographical reminiscence "The River." For good measure, Wright breaks into full-bore honky-tonk mode in reconfiguring Chuck Berry's "C'est La Vie (You Never Can Tell)" as a country barnburner, complete with stinging guitar solos and some rollicking piano courtesy Gordon Mote. Some perceptive looks at human nature, a mission statement, and some good, clean fun make this hotel worthy of an extended stay. David McGee

All Music Guide

Chely Wright wasn't the only female country vocalist to straddle the line between neo-traditional country and slick modern country-pop, but she was one of the best of her kind, thanks in large part to her earthy tenor, which gave even the poppiest songs a rooting in real country. In 1999 she had a breakthrough with Single White Female, whose title track not only topped the country charts but cracked the pop Top 40, but she had a hard time capitalizing on its success, stumbling with its 2001 sequel, Never Love You Enough, which may have charted higher than its predecessor, but that was only due to momentum. It not only didn't produce a big hit, it led to a separation from her major label, MCA. When she re-emerged nearly four years later on the indie Dualtone, she was part of a wave of artists from the '90s who turned toward indies after being abandoned by the majors, a movement that resulted in a bunch of interesting records that found artists who played the Nashville game for the better part of ten years finding their true voice nearly a decade into their career. Sometimes the results were uneven, but they were always interesting and often were quite good, sometimes resulting in the riskiest and best work of an artist's career, as is the case with Wright's 2005 album, The Metropolitan Hotel. For the first time, Wright wrote or co-wrote the majority of the material -- eight of the 12 songs bear a writing credit for her -- and produced the entire record herself (five songs were co-produced with Jeff Huskins, one was co-produced with Stephony Smith). While she hasn't completely abandoned the sound of contemporary country-pop -- many of the songs could comfortably slip onto the radio -- the sound is stripped-back and direct, as is the emotion, which gives The Metropolitan Hotel an affecting immediacy. Not that all of it works -- the cloying "The Bumper of My S.U.V." is well-intentioned but is one of the more awkward Iraqi war songs -- but those missteps only enhance the feeling that this album is a personal work for Wright, and that she's willing to make mistakes along the way. Even if this is riskier than her previous albums, this album is still a hybrid of melodic, catchy contemporary country and the gutsy spirit of such '70s trailblazers as Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton, and for every confessional like "Between a Mother and a Child" there are two or three engaging open-ended tales of love. And that's what makes The Metropolitan Hotel such a success -- it's the sound of a professional musician finding the right blend of personal of universal in her writing and the right blend of country and pop in her production, resulting in a record that's fully realized and multi-dimensional, easily her best and most complete album to date. Stephen Thomas Erlewine