David Nail

David Nail, 'The Sound of a Million Dreams'

On his second album, this Missouri native continues to channel “Honky Chateau”-era Elton John by way of Keith Urban (the latter of whom he covers here, reviving Urban’s 1997 heartbreak ballad, “Desiree”). Nail’s big, bluesy voice and aw-shucks romanticism make him a bit of an adult-contemporary throwback; his closest kindred spirits are probably Lady Antebellum, and sure enough, he knocks it out of the park when teamed up with them on the schmaltzy soft-rock anthem, “I Thought You Knew.” He’s also in top form on album opener “Grandpa’s Farm,” which sounds like Garth Brooks covering an old Black Crowes song, and “Half Mile Hill,” a beautifully restrained ballad unlike anything currently on country radio. –AH