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Taking a more straightforward and polished approach, Stillwater, Okla.-based roots-rock band The Great Divide has embraced it's "Red Dirt" roots while offering an album that is destined to give them a wider appeal. And despite the fact that they are a strictly secular band, popular with college crowds in the Southwest, these four Okies share a Christian faith and aren't afraid to let listeners know as much in a song or two and in the liner notes -- which is to their credit. 

Kicking off "Under Your Own Sun," is "Crazy In California," a mid-tempo rocker with a country heart written by Rand Bishop. The singer, working out in California, pines for his best gal back in Oklahoma. It's a heartfelt track and showcases The Great Divide's cohesion as a band. 

On "You're Not The Only One," the group tells listeners that "if you've ever felt lonely" or "asked God 'why?'" well, you're not the only one. 

Vocalist-guitarists Micah Aills and Scotte Lester handle singing duties with a confidence not often heard in this genre. In fact, listening to it, the vocals reminded me a lot of the current crop of praise-and-worship-type vocalists making the rounds these days. It's just that they do it with aid of a steel guitar. 

Their cover of the Gin Blossoms' "Cheatin'" is a treat as is Aills' beauitiful track "Scared of Heights," a song with crossover potential that would fit comfortably on Christian radio as it would on the growing number of alt-country stations. 

The intimately acoustic "Cowboy Song," with its campfire appeal and cricket sound effects, embraces the romantic Western ideal of the cowboy out on the range longing for a woman while at the same time "bustin' broncs for the rodeo." And what's interesting is that the first minute is low key and the remainder of the song features the band fully rockin' out in bar band style. Dude! One of my favorite tracks is "She's Leavin' This Town," a twangier tune about life after high school and how the prettiest girl in school gets to escape small-town life and the guy has to stay behind. Guest pedal steel player Mike Johnson adds some tasteful flourishes to this wistful song. 

Granted, the lyrics ain't Shakespeare, but that's not what The Great Divide are about. Like their friends in Cross Canadian Ragweed, they're about telling simple tales of love won and lost and what it's like to grow up in the Heartland. 

Andrew West Griffin  7/11/2005