source: Brett Eldredge's Facebook page

I don't typically enjoy music by male country artists, mostly because they tend to be too honky tonk for a city girl like me. So my tolerance for male country artists rests mainly with the likes of Keith Urban, ballad-focused artists like George Strait, and groups that are evened out by some female voices, such as Little Big Town and Lady Antebellum. Now, if you were to ask me, I wouldn't qualify Brett Elredge as a country artist, but Wikipedia does. So does his record label, Atlantic Records Nashville.

Brett Eldredge is 27 years old and comes from a city called Paris in Illinois. He's been active as a country music artist since about 2010, when he released his debut single "Raymond." He released a second single in 2011, and his third in late 2012, but oddly enough, it wasn't until this past week that he released his first album, "Bring You Back." Apparently he's currently touring with Taylor Swift on her RED tour.

To me, Brett's music is a step closer towards country than singers like Matt Wertz, Matt Nathanson, John Mayer. In fact, his tone is very close to John Mayer's, but with a bit more of a country twang, a bit more pop, composition-wise, and a touch of blues. (Plus, he doesn't make those weird duck faces while singing like John Mayer does.) Brett Eldredge's music is basically singer-songwriter with a country accent, country music for those who don't like country music. I think they call it "contemporary country," but I think musical genres have long ago begun bleeding into one another.