Aaron Raitiere Single Wide Dreamer (CD)

(Dinner Time Records) 12 tracks, digisleeve

Debut album from the Nashville singer/songwriter/storyteller who had hits with Shooter Jennings and The Oak Ridge Boys and won a Grammy for a song by Lady Gaga. When a few friends offered to make a debut album with him, Nashville songwriter Aaron Raitiere quickly agreed.

In the four years since that first session for what would soon become Single Wide Dreamer, this promising project has retained its easygoing charm, even as the guest list has gradually expanded. Anderson East and Miranda Lambert, who co-produced the album, now appear alongside Nashville musicians Dave Cobb and Natalie Hemby, Ashley Monroe and Waylon Payne, as well as Robert Randolph, Foy Vance and Bob Wehr. With a relaxed, chant-like singing voice, Single Wide Dreamer immediately conveys something of Raitiere's contentment in living a rather modest life. This is despite the fact that every song on the album could be considered a love song in its own way. What really connects them is his observational songwriting, sometimes thoughtful, sometimes irreverent, but always inspired by his own experiences.