Off To Join The World by Blaine Larsen 1 The Best Man 2 In My High School 3 That's All I've Got To Say About That 4 Teaching Me How To Love You 5 I've Been In Mexico 6 If Merle Would Sing My Song - Merle Haggard 7 Yessireebob 8 The Man He'll Never Be 9 That's Just Me 10 Off To Join The World 11 How Do You Get That Lonely For too long, superficiality has dominated Nashville's marketing of teen artists. Plans to turn "the kids" on to country usually involve offering young fashion-plate acts dishing out trite, superficial music cynically contrived by Music Row to appeal to the MTV crowd. It's an approach that rarely succeeds. To his credit, Blaine Larsen, an 18-year-old native of Buckley, Washington, has no truck with such nonsense. A longtime admirer of George Strait, his muscular, Strait-like traditionalism is long on honesty and heart, free of artifice. He applies an expressive voice, mature beyond its years, to pained love ballads ("The Man He'll Never Be"), thoughtful youth numbers ("In My High School"), homages ("If Merle Would Sing My Song") and affable country pride ("That's Just Me"). "The Best Man" salutes Larsen's step dad. "How Do You Get That Lonely," a gripping tale of teen suicide, pulls no punches. By taking his music seriously and treating his audience with respect, Larsen's stunning, mature debut--one teenagers and parents alike can appreciate--bodes well for his future. --Rich Kienzle All used disks are professionally refurbished and test played before shipping and will play well in most machines.