Having flitted from alt-country to alt-rock to Grateful Dead moves and a collaboration with Willie Nelson, Ryan Adams [ tickets ] must have been ready for his country-rock album. "Easy Tiger" shades toward the commercial side of that genre: It has just enough roots to offset the production sheen, and the songs go down easy in the country-rock tradition. The result is tuneful, polished and somewhat dull.

"Easy Tiger" can be seen as a typical, stylistic exercise by a talent who can emulate his heroes but seems to lack his own identity. "I Taught Myself How to Grow Old " and "Off Broadway " are about the closest approximations to Neil Young's "Harvest" and "Harvest Moon" periods you're likely to find in 2007. But there's nothing on "Easy Tiger" that packs a tenth of the punch of "The Needle and the Damage Done."

Perhaps that's an unfair comparison. It's no crime, you might say, to make catchy, listenable music. And you would be right. But those of us searching for more than an easy, good time might search elsewhere, whether it's within Adams' own catalog (start with "Heartbreaker") or even Neil Young's. Nine albums into his solo career, Ryan Adams has listeners asking exactly who Ryan Adams is. "Easy Tiger" doesn't provide an answer.