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By Don Chance/Country Music Writer

July 30, 2004

"SONGS FROM THE NEW SOUTH" by Andy Tanas. As the amp-abusing bass player for the popular '80s "hair band" Krokus, Andy Tanas seemed about as far from a country artists as it was possible to get and still be a Memphis native. But with maturity came the "less is more" yearning other ex-heavy metal headbangers have claimed. And, in this case, that approach led him into country.

But don't expect a playlist packed with beer-drinking, jukebox weepers on his new album, "Songs From the New South." Instead, Tanas has offered a balanced collection of Americana-based songs about, well, whatever seemed to be on his mind at the time.

"Crying Angel," "Southern Side of Me," "Justice," "Her Own Little World," "Stone Fields," "You Didn't Have to Lie" - they're all special, all unique, and Tanas delivers them like a genuine country boy, no matter his mascara-ed MTV past.

"Songs From the New South" is as fine an example of good alternative country music as there is anywhere. (NEXT rating: B-)